The Killing of Candy's Old Dog in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
George is a small man but has strong features and Lennie is a giant
but has a mind of a child. They are the main characters and are two
more migrant workers who travel together from place to place because
of Lennie's stupidity and ability to get attracted to trouble. The
main reason for this is he loves to feel soft things, which leads him
to trouble and eventually to his death. They have a dream of owning
land and settling down, so did millions of other Americans but only a
few succeeded. John Steinbeck tried to draw attention to the social
situation. At the time of 1920's and 1930's there was 12-15 million
out of work, which led to depression. This book was published in 1937
and situated in America. The title Mice and Men came from Robert Burns
poem, which means wrecked by fate. Lennie's death at the end of the
novel and the previous killings of candy's old dog are similar in many
ways.
Candy's old sheep dog is suffering all the time and is stiff with
rheumatism, he has no teeth and isn't any good to himself or anyone
else. Carlson persuades Candy to let him shoot the dog with his lugar
and says he will shoot him at the back of his head so he won't feel it
at all. Whit and Slim tried to change the subject but Carlson wouldn't
be put off and kept on persisting. Candy eventually gave up and
disappointingly agreed. Carlson then put the dog out of his misery.
Afterwards candy felt the guilt of not shooting the dog himself and
told George " I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't
ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog."
Lennie killed Curley's wife acc...
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...after he's gone."
Candy didn't shoot his own dog as Carlson shot it "Tell you what. I'll
shoot him for you" but George did kill Lennie "And George raised the
gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back
of Lennie's head…He pulled the trigger."
Candy regretted not killing his dog himself "I ought to of shot that
dog myself, George." George knew he had to protect Lennie from A death
brought about by someone else "I'll kill the big son of a bitch
myself" said Curley.
Candy's dog's death and the killing of Lennie have many similarities
and differences. Both deaths have features that make them alike
however, their differences are also clear. Lennie's death does appear
to be foreshadowed by the killing of Candy's old dog by Carlson's
lugar, giving an insight into what is about to happen.
One week after Lennie's death, George sits in the dark corner of a bar. The room is all but empty and dead silent. All the windows are shut, through the small openings come beams of dull light that barely illuminate the room. George stares at his glass with an expressionless face, but a heavy sadness in his eyes. The bartender comes towards him and asks if he would like something else to drink.
An Ethical Dilemma. People were terrified and disfranchised, John Steinbeck created Of Mice and Men, which set place during the dirty thirties (time of the Great Depression), a time where strength could not overcome aloneness and alienation. The child-like character Lennie was one of the most misunderstood characters, even with his best friend and caretaker George. In the beginning, they were uncanningly together in a society of loners during the time, having only each other, so close many assumed they were brothers. Throughout the story George had vowed to take care of Lennie, however under the circumstances he faced he chose to shoot his best friend.
he has. It is a dead mouse, which Lennie kept to pet with his thumb as
When asked about John Steinbeck’s career, people often refer to Steinbeck as a playwright, journalist, and a well-known novelist. The book Of Mice and Men is a popular novel by John Steinbeck and a required read for most high school students. Most of Steinbeck 's novels have a central theme focusing on the relationship between man and his environment. The American dream for George and Lennie, two of the main characters in Of Mice and Men, is to have a place of their own, to be respected, and to work hard for everything they earn and deserve. In Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, the land and a hope of a better life becomes the talisman of an American dream for Lennie and George that is left unfulfilled.
Right vs Wrong and Good vs Bad… We are faced with moral dilemmas every day, some are more difficult than others but it is all based on our preferences. It's what we think we should do while we are being forced to choose between two actions. All of the characters through Of Mice and Men, The Crucible, and The Dark Knight undergo situations and have their own way of doing the right thing. Out of all the characters, the dilemmas dealt with by Of Mice and Men characters were the most heartfelt. While, Batman had the toughest dilemmas.
The title of the novel Of Mice and Men has a unique meaning behind it. The saying “Are you a man or are you a mouse?” has a connection to novel itself but more importantly the characters. Each main character in this novel can be classified as either a “man” or a “mouse”. The “men” seen in the novel are George Milton, and Curley. The “mice” can be classified as Lennie Small and Curley’s wife. The “mice” are represented by the weak or the socially unacceptable characters; the “men” are represented by the strong, independent characters.
George and Lennie had a plan to move on and get out of the bunk house.
The beginning , or near beginning of "Of Mice and Men" , starts at a
Through George, Steinbeck establishes two themes of the story early: loneliness and male companionship. Later in the story, it is shown how all of the workers on the ranch besides Lennie and George travel alone. Because of this, all of the characters in the story exhibit some sort of loneliness throughout the story, and it becomes a recurring theme. All of the other workers on the ranch feel jealous of the relationship that Lennie and George have and also want that type of male companionship.
Death happened every day in the world, people gets killed for different reasons, and “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” (Steve Jobs). In the john Steinbeck of mice and men lots of death happened for example Curley’s wife and even animals gets killed by Lennie and Lennie gets killed by George.
John Steinbeck was inspired by the line "The best schemes o' mice an' men [often go awry]" by Robert Burns in one of his poems. This line refers to ambitions that went off track during the process. There are multiple examples in the novel that refers to the line in the poem, that inspired John Steinbeck. Those examples are Curley's boxing career coming to an end, Curley's wife not becoming a actress, and Lennie's plans of tending the rabbits, but messed everything up.
In 1935, his novel Tortilla Flat established him as a popular and critical success but unfortunately his parents died before he achieved his first success.
Conflict, by definition, is a back and forth struggle between two opposing forces. In the literary work, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, it is clear, the protagonist, George Milton, undergoes many conflicts that lead to the novel’s overall purpose. Steinbeck weaves together George’s conflicts with others, himself, and with society to illustrate what the true meaning of friendship is.
In Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, the characters display a definite violence directed toward those they love. "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" relates to what seems to be the destructive tendencies of the men in this book. Though Lennie's ruinous behavior originates from his childlike fascination with soft things, George and Candy appear to have almost productive reasons for causing harm. The differing means of hurting those they love emerge throughout the book in harsh words as well as in violence. Love can wound for different reasons and in different ways as in correlation with the poem, but that love is not always disastrous.
As we journey through life, we must make difficult decisions, even when few options exist and the situation is grim. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the decision George faces after Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife is complicated, as none of his choices are good. The importance of his relationship with Lennie forces George to look at the big picture and act in Lennie’s best interests, even though the action he must finally take will result in a weight that he will carry forever.