After he shoots the dog, he does not apologise to Candy and he even cleans his gun in full view of everyone, this shows that he is an insensitive character. Another example of his thoughtless behaviour is when he says, “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?” Throughout the novel it becomes clear to the reader that he does not understand why George and Slim seemed to be upset, he sees Lennie’s death as practical and he does not feel any emotions about it – he just believed that Lennie had to be killed and he was. This shows that living on the ranch as a travelling worker was difficult as he had to take many temporary jobs wherever he could find them, he could not have time to build strong friendships with people which made him an aggressive character and made his loneliness turn into anger. Whit is the opposite to Carlson, he has a bubbly personality which explains why his name sounds like ‘wit’, as he is witty. He is not bitter about life on the ranch – although it was awful to have the life of a travelling worker because it caused him to have to constantly travel around and made him not have a dream or a
This highlights the main theme of the novel: loneliness. Living alone in his room Crooks craves the company of others but, because of his coloured skin and the era he lived in, he is shown to be separated from the other ranch workers and thus suffering from loneliness more than his colleagues. Because of his skin colour, Crooks is shown to have “kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs.” Steinbeck describes how crooks wants others to stay away from him and reciprocates their feelings towards him but, later in the novel, he reveals that he is very lonely all by himself and would like to have someone to talk to. However, because he is so used to being shunted away by society, he pushes everyone away from him before they have the chance to do the same, portraying him as a “proud, aloof man”. Again, this fact highlights Crooks' loneliness and, even though he has convinced himself he doesn’t need anyone else, he knows the pleasure of having company and this is something that can’t be replaced by the many possessions he has acquired.
As he tries to help the men attain their dream, he also reminds them of the possibility (and indeed, likelihood) that it’s going to fail. Once it does indeed fail, it’s Candy more than anyone else who feels the loss. While George mourns what he must do to his friend, and Lennie worries for the future rabbits, Candy is left to embody the despair one finds at the end of a long, hard-working life when you’re done with your career and no closer to the American dream. And also, your best friend (even if it is a dog), is
After the conversation about Candy’s dog. Carlson wouldn’t let it go. He even said, “Tell you what, I’ll shoot him for you.” (page 45) Carlson is so set on getting rid of Candy’s dog, he won’t let it go. He can even see the impact it is having on candy, yet, he still presses. So the intolerance we have talked about so far has been more specific about actual people.
Jordan Houri 2/15/2012 Of Mice and Men Essay Mr. Wenger Symbols for the Impossibility of Dreams in Of Mice and Men In his 1937 novella, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows via numerous examples of symbolism that one can dream with as much ambition as possible, but, due to the restrictive nature of fate, these desires do not blossom. George always tells Lennie about their dream house. “O.K. Someday—we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and—” (Steinbeck 14). The dream house is a particularly important aspect of the story because it is a symbol of how close someone can get to his goal after working extremely hard, just to have it all fall apart because fate would not allow it.
The narrator depicts him as “ seeming slightly dazed”, possibly from that he couldn’t believe that he had a swooning spell, which in Curts’ pompous opinion, was most probably a sign of his inadequacies. That he considered it a serious crime is obvious, from his reaction when he woke up, “ He wouldn’t talk to anyone…stayed off by himself…sitting alone…staring down at the field tent…could hear him cussing and bawling himself out…” The narrators next statement is the key in this portion, and perhaps this whole paragraph, because ultimately shows the speakers opinion of Lemon. “ Anyone else would have laughed it off, but for Curt Lemon it was too much. The embarrassment must’ve turned a screw in his head.” The narrators meaning is plain enough, that Curt Lemon was not your good ole’ average Joe (pun intended), but someone bizarre, because his pride could predictably drive him to pull stunts. As to the “ screw in his head” it is apparent that the narrator not only finds him crazy, but irrational.
Steinbeck uses Candy to show the theme of loneliness. He initially becomes lonely once his dog is shot and killed. The dog was his closest companion. Candy told George, "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else.
When Lenny visits Crooks, Crooks says a few things that verify his loneliness and how much he wishes he could be accepted. ‘Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.’ This quote shows how being black has affected Crooks, because he has nobody to turn to. Although this shouldn’t be the case, just by the colour of his skin Crooks is leading a miserable life.
Lennie was very isolated also from the ranch workers because he wasn't normal and acted very childish, this mustn't of been nice for Lennie and that is how the ranch is unpleasent for him. Carlson made Candy's life on the ranch very hard because he depised Candy's smelly old dog, in the book Carlson kills the dog because it was old and it stank but he never cared about how Candy felt about the dog he just cared about himself. Carlson killed the dog eventhough he knew how much Candy loved it, when Carlson suggested killing the dog “Candy looked for help from face to face” but nobody helped him. The reason why Candy couldn't stop Carlson from killing his dog was because he was a very brittle old man and was mainly over powered by people stronger than him. This event was very unpleasent for Candy.
Later, after Mr White stops the sergeant from burning the monkey's paw, the sergeant warn Mr. White to “let it burn” (3). Mr White doesn't pick up on the warning the sergeant is giving which leads his family to destructive downfall. Through foreshadowing, Jacobs shows that destruction will occur when fate is tampered with. Throughout the entire story, frightening mood is used to argue that changing fate will cause grief. When the sergeant was asked about his wishes, “his blotchy white face whitens” (3) and when the family begins to joke about his story, the sergeant gets “a look of alarm on his face” (3).