Josh Thompson Compare the episodes in which Candy’s dog and Lennie die. How has Steinbeck made these events effective for the reader? The story ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck was written in 1937. The tragic story is about two displaced migrant ranch workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, during the Great Depression in California. The two men were forced out of their home town in Weed, due to Lennie being accused of rape.
Slim, another character, gave Lennie one of the pups from the litter his dog just had. Well, according to Crooks, the stable buck, Lennie has been “taknin’ em outta the nest and handlin’ them,” (50). Just like the mice, if Lennie continues to pet the pup continuously, then the dog will never get its chance to live and will die. Additionally, Candy’s dog’s death is a major symbol in foreshadowing the death of another character. Carlson mentions to Candy how the dog “ain’t no good to” him and “he ain’t no good to himself” (44).
Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life that not even the strongest can avoid. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men is an exploration of the effects that isolation and lack of companionship can have on individuals at a rural ranch in the Salinas Valley, California during the 1930’s. There are several characters in the novel that experience greater seclusion than Curley’s wife, and that this is not a true assessment of the novel. Throughout this essay, through looking at forlorn characters, the ways in which Curley’s wife is not the loneliest character in the novel will be made evident. Crooks the Negro stable-buck experiences isolation because the society in which he lives is racist.
2. Carlson persuades Candy that his dog must die: a) Carlson introduces the idea that the dog must die but who finally convinces Candy that this is the best option? Slim convinces candy that shooting his dog is the best option. He backs up his argument by stating that the dog is no good to itself and is offering one of his pups to Candy to replace his current one. ‘Sure, you can have any one of them pups you want.’ ‘Carlson is right Candy, that dog ain’t no good to itself.’ The expression in Candy’s face shows that Slim offering his pups and wanting the dog put down has changed his mind.
Candy tells George that he “ought to of shot that dog [himself]“(60) and that he “shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot [his] dog”(60). Then, as George finds out about the death of Curley’s wife, it soon becomes apparent that George won’t make the same mistake as candy, that he will kill Lennie. Curley’s wife’s death is foreshadowed by Lennie’s obsession with soft
Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?’” Another man, Slim, also agrees with Carlson’s beliefs. “‘Carl’s right, Candy. That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old an’ a cripple.’” (Steinbeck, 44-45) The men all agree that the dog is old and has suffered enough, living through the last days of his life. They all want to end the dog’s misery by killing him.
Guilt: The Snowball Effect Dunstan (Dunny) Ramsay is constantly affected by his guilt throughout the novel Fifth Business by Robertson Davies. This guilt is centered on Mary Dempster and her son Paul, because of the snowball incident at the beginning of the novel. Dunstan, unlike Boy, consciously recognizes his guilt and allows it to affect him while he is a boy, when he goes to war, and even when he returns home as an adult, and through his life into his sixties. When Dunstan was ten years old, he was involved in a conflict with a childhood rival, Percy Boyd Staunton, in which they get into a snowball fight. Percy resorts to a rock loaded snowball to make the final blow on Dunstan, but when Dunstan gets out of the way, the pregnant Mrs. Dempster and her husband Amasa are walking by, and Mary gets hit in the head.
Physically Candy is presented as old and frail. He is introduced in this passage as " the old man" immediately instigating a feeling of frailty and exhaustion. However this is contradicted by his opinionated and judging nature in the passage. Steinbeck also echoes Candy's character and overall appearance in his dog. The writer associates the dog and Candy as one using synonyms of the same adjectives to describe the two:" The old man moved towards the door and his ancient dog lifted his head" This further instigates the feeling of fragility in Candy, as it shows how him and his closest companion are old and in terms of the ranch, which depends upon strength, expendable and useless.
Some of the most notable would be Lennie when he was in Weed. As George tells Candy the events of Weed, and being chased out of Weed after Lennie got them in trouble (Steinbeck 41). Here is a time when George and Lennie fall into trouble after a rise, the job in Weed, as Steinbeck make a point that live is full of ups and downs. Next when in the barracks when George plans to buy a land and a house Candy ask if he can get in the plan George is unsure if he should let him, until Candy puts up almost half the cost of the land and house (Stevens). Here George, Lennie, And Candy become close to the goal of buying a house to live the American dream.
Portfolio 3 5.2: Researching a Novel 3/24/14 Part 1: A summary of the novel, including the main characters, setting, plot, and major conflicts (one page, single-spaced) The story of of mice and men is an American classic that revolves around that classic issue of racism and the American dream of being independent and owning land. The novel starts out with two main characters, on their way to a ranch, stopping at a stream. George, who is short and dark, leads the way. The person following him is Lennie, a giant of a man with huge arms. After they reach the ranch, we are introduced to the workers who are considered main characters too: Candy, Curley, Curley's Wife, Crooks, Slim and Curley's dad.