Otherwise, it is hard to understand how they could have arrived at the campsite by the river so soon after George had shot Lennie. George decided to kill his friend because he could see that Lennie was becoming a menace to society. He had assaulted a girl in Weed and killed a girl at the ranch. He was developing an interest in sex which made him a potential rapist and killer. Furthermore, George felt personally responsible because he had assumed total responsibility for Lennie. Curley's wife would have been alive if George hadn't brought him to that ranch and gotten nim a job and a bunk there. George was thinking about himself as much as he was thinking about Lennie. George was sick and tired of his thankless burden. Lennie was becoming impossible to control. This is something Steinbeck also establishes in the opening chapter. Lennie does nothing but disobey, argue and lie. George wanted Lennie to die--but he didn't want him to be tortured and lynched. He stole Carlson's pistol at the ranch with the obvious intention of using it on