A World Without Motivation In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Candy wished he had shot his dog himself because he was supposed to be the one who cared for him. He was also very upset because he lost the only thing that he cared about, the dog that he had sense it was a pup. “I wish somebody would shoot me when I become useless” (60). Candy doesn’t want to be useless and just be there he actually wants to have a purpose. As it is he doesn’t really get to do much because of his injury.

He tells George that he does not have any relatives, so he would be able to give all of his money to him and Lennie. That is if they let him in on their dream to buy their own house. This shows just how bad Candy wants to get out of that ranch and that he will do anything to not be lonely. Loneliness is shown through Candy because he feels like he does not belong and because he has no other friends except his dog, so he feels secluded from the others.

On pages 63 to 65, Lennie struggles internally over his own unrealized strength. After Lennie crushed Curley’s hand, Lennie sat cowering in the corner. He’s scared that he did something wrong but he never meant to hurt Curley. He only fought back because George told him to. George and Slim assured George that it wasn’t his fault and that he didn’t do a bad thing. On pages 44 to 48, Candy undergoes a personal struggle. When Carlson tells him that his dog is old and suffering and should be put down, Candy does not want to give up his dog. After Slim agreed that Candy’s dog should be put down on page 45, “Candy looked helplessly at him, for Slim’s opinions were law.” After being defeated by Carlson’s reasonable argument, Candy finally forces himself to give up his dog, knowing that he won’t have to suffer any more.

In the same way that Crooks looks weak, Candy shows weakness when he lets Carlson shoot his old dog. Killing the weak old dog shows how important it was to be strong. Candy regrets letting a stranger take his dog away to shoot him, and feels like he should have taken the dog himself because he had him since he was a small puppy.. He feels weak because he didn’t

The way the characters react towards the shooting of Candy’s dog reveals a lot abut the characters that we might not have expected. Carlson offers to shoot the old dog, complaining many times of the smell. The shooting of Candy's dog shows the callousness of Carlson and the reality of old age and infirmity. Carlson typifies the men George describes as “the loneliest guys in the world”. He is outwardly friendly, but essentially selfish. He finds the smell of an old dog offensive so the dog must be shot. He shows very little regard to the dog’s owner, Candy. He relentlessly pursues the dog’s death, more for his own comfort than to put the dog out of its misery. However, Steinbeck does show some sympathy in Carlson, when he suggests “he won’t

Candy and his dog’s relationship is seen by the audience as very realistic. It is a relationship between a human and a dog companion. As Candy said “Well-hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup,” on page 71, like Candy most people have had their dogs since they were pups and has grown a very close and strong bond with it like Candy has done with his dog. Also if he had it from a pup it’s like a child to him and as an old swamper with no family the dog is his only source of companionship and friend.

The killing of Candy's dog deepened his loneliness, just as the killing of Lennie totally destroyed George. Since the dog was Candy's best friend, its death was drastic to him. Candy was rejected by the society because he was old and had only one arm. He was useless to it; therefore they did not care about his feelings. Also, since he was weak no one cared about him and he could not do anything about it. A stronger person like Slim had the respect of everyone and this forced the society to listen to them. Candy was deeply saddened by this, and this was shown when he said "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They say he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else."(Pg.60). Then he said "When they can me here I wished somebody'd shoot me. But they won't do anything like that. I won't have no place to go an' I can't get no more jobs."(Pg.60). This showed that Candy was hopeless and had no place to go. Without his dog, he was now alone.

Aspirations of success often drive individuals toward success. However if one only focuses on their dreams and not on working to achieve their goals, they will not be successful. Charles Dickens and John Steinbeck in their respective novels Great Expectations and Of Mice and Men, use their main characters failures in manifesting their aspirations to warn about the dangers of aspiring about the future and not focusing on success in the present.

On page 47 they have the discussion about killing candy’s dog. You can tell Candy as opposed to it saying stuff like “Maybe tomorra. Le’s wait till tomorra.” Then Carlson says, “Let’s get it over with,” he said. “We can’s sleep with him stinkin around in here” Proceeding Carlson saying that, Candy gives in and says, “softly and hopelessly, “Awright-take ‘im.” Later in the book Candy reveals that he should’ve killed his dog himself on Page 61, Candy says “I oughta of shot that dog myself, George.

In the third chapter, Candy, an aging farm worker, is introduced to the story along with his blind, smelly old dog. Another one of the ranch hands, Carlson, forces Candy to allow him to shoot the dog, stating that he can not stand the putrid stench. “I’d put the gun right here… Right back of the head.” (Page 45).

Like Candy, Candy’s dog is faced with the ultimate punishment for his age and disability. Candy’s dog is old and said to smell bad and isn’t worth anything, the dog is shot because of its disabilities. This event foreshadows Lennie’s fate at the hand of George. Both of these characters’ euthanasia is rationalized to put them out of their misery and to prevent future suffering from happening due to their disabilities. Which is almost a mirror image of George and Lennie’s relationship where George has known Lennie for a considerable amount of time and George knows that he is completely responsible of Lennie’s well-being and when that well-being is in jeopardy George feels a moral obligation just like Candy did when he gave permission to Carlson to shoot his dog. The euthanizing of Candy’s dog is a “foreshadowing of what will happen with Lennie and George” (Thomas Scarseth) because both Candy and George’s relationship to those dependent to them end with them killing them in order to save them from suffering.

This quote shows Candy cannot bare the thought of his dog being gone and losing the long friendship they have had for years. For George it was much harder having to kill his best friend himself. “ ‘I just done it,’ George said tiredly” (107). We see George’s exhaustion from dealing with Lennie and we also see how much strane this decision has put on him. These decisions were both very hard to make.

Despite his loneliness, he is accompanied by his dog, which he has raised since it was a pup. They share the characteristics of being old and disabled. His dog is stiff from rheumatism, unable to eat because he has little to no teeth, and is blind due to old age. Candy agreed with one of the ranch hands to end his dog’s life by putting a bullet in his he His dog was his main, if not, only source of companionship. We see that after Candy loses his dog, he opens up to George and Lennie about his fear of being disposed of after the boss decides that it's his time to leave the ranch.

With him losing his hand four years back and recently losing his dog, Candy knows the end of his job at the ranch is coming to a close. His dog was his last bit of family he had left and with no hope left, all he wants is a nice place to live. When he overhears George and Lennie talking about their dream home, he offers his help. “S'pose I went with you guys, I ain’t no good, but i could cook and tend the chickens. I ain't got no relative nor nothin.”

The parallels between Lennie and George’s relationship and the relationship that their workmate, Candy had with his dog reaffirm the power dynamic between George and Lennie. In the novella, Candy must kill his dog because it is old and weak. Candy felt such extreme regret when it came time to kill his dog, that instead of doing