Short answer: In the final scene George tells Lennie — in a tone of unusual tenderness — that he isn’t angry with him: "I ain’t mad. I never been mad, an’ I ain’t now." He follows this with the gentle retelling of the dream about the farm and the rabbits so Lennie dies calm and happy. This admission and reassurance are more openly affectionate and unequivocal than anything George has said to Lennie before.
Step-by-step explanation:
- What George actually admits and reassures. He explicitly tells Lennie he is not angry with him — an admission of patience and forgiveness — and he comforts him by describing the dream farm one more time so Lennie can be peaceful. The tone is quiet, personal and consoling, not the mixture of scolding and care we see earlier in the book.
- Why George does it.
- George knows that capture or lynching is imminent. He wants Lennie to die free of fear and confusion, so he calms Lennie with the only thing that truly comforts him: the dream.
- George also feels a deep personal responsibility for the trouble Lennie is in — both because he brought Lennie to this life of itinerant work and because their pattern of getting into trouble has culminated in catastrophe. By reassuring Lennie, George tries to take responsibility in the only way available: to make Lennie’s last moments peaceful.
- What this reveals about George’s feelings and his sense of responsibility.
- Deep affection and paternal love: the admission "I ain’t mad" strips away George’s usual tough, impatient exterior and shows how much he cares. He acts more like a parent than a friend or employer.
- Guilt and ownership of consequence: George’s tenderness is mixed with an awareness that his choices and their way of life contributed to Lennie’s fate. That awareness helps explain why he takes the final, painful action himself — to spare Lennie from a worse death at the hands of others.
- Moral complexity and mercy: by choosing to reassure Lennie and then end his life himself, George demonstrates that he believes mercy — a calm, loving death — is preferable to the brutality that would follow if others captured Lennie. The reassurance prepares Lennie to die without fear, and it shows George accepting both the emotional burden and the moral responsibility of that choice.
In short: the unusual admission and reassurance reveal that George’s feelings are far more tender and full of responsibility than his earlier irritability suggested. He is guilty, deeply protective, and determined to control the ending in order to spare Lennie pain — an act that marks the tragic culmination of their relationship and of George’s sense of duty toward Lennie.