John Steinbeck's 'Walking Up The Social Ladder'

Lennie symbolizes ignorance. More specifically, he is the American dream. Lennie is an inadequate thinker, and more importantly, has little common sense. In this section of the book, Lennie killed a pup by playing with it too harsh, his ignorance and stupidity doesn't help: “Why do you got to get killed? You ain't so little as mice. I didn't bounce you hard” (Steinback 85). This justifies Lennie’s ignorance. Lennie's mind troubles to process little everyday issues, therefore, he has to have George to help him survive in a society of snobs. He’s incapable of doing things on his own, George is his mind and tells him everything of what to say and do. Lennie went back and looked at Curley’s dead wife. The puppy lying close to her. Lennie picked

John Steinbeck characterizes mercy killing a controversial one as it can be done out of good or avaricious intentions. Throughout the novel, he validates the statement with three disparate episodes: the killing of Candy’s dog, the drowning of Slim’s pups, and Lennie’s death. Although the purpose of mercy killings is to extricate the people from an even more excruciating affliction, the characters in “Of Mice and Men” either perform mercy killing for its actual purpose or for their own good. To start with, Candy’s dog “is so God damn old he can’t hardly walk”, “Stinks like hell”, blind, and deaf. Therefore, the men on the ranch could not stand the malodorous dog any more.

     Using the two main characters of the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck shows that in life, responsibility must be taken in moderation. George takes on the challenge of caring for Lennie. In doing this, George loses a job in weed and is often short-changed when it comes to food and other amenities. Eventually, George realizes where he could be without Lennie and kills Lennie to free himself of the responsibly. Lennie, in a life where he has always been protected by loved ones, looks for responsibility in dependent pets. Each time he is given a chance with an animal, he always cares for it with gentile love. Often times, Lennie’s strength would be too much for the animal and they would fall under his powerful hands. In the end, both men see that they were not capable of conquering the tasks at hand. George

The author, Steinbeck, uses his own personal experience to “serve as an inspiration…” (Johnson 1) when writing this particular story. His past experiences also helped him for the future. Lennie, of all characters, is the least dynamic. He undergoes a significant amount of change and develops throughout the story. He has been isolated with George throughout his life. His sole purpose in life is to make George happy and to own a farm with George and take care of the soft rabbits. Lennie is the most innocent and defenseless. He also is the largest and strongest, which does not help in certain situations. Lennie is the protagonist in the story. He gains the readers sympathy by his intellectual disability and helplessness. Lennie murders things by accident such as the mouse in his pocket, the puppy and Curley’s wife. He enjoys the touch of and somehow uses those murders and experiences to scare him from doing it again. George’s opinion means the most to him.

Candy and his dog also draw similarities to George and Lennie, who are companions. When the dog is shot, and Candy is alone, it foreshadows what will happen to Lennie and how George will be alone. But the difference is that Candy lets Carlson shoot the dog, while George will not let anyone but himself shoot Lennie. However, Candy later admits that he ‘ought to of shot that dog myself’, which again creates sympathy for him, because the reader knows that he regrets letting Carlson shoot the dog for him.

The characters’ fates in the novel develop individually through separate journeys all controlled by power. The scene depicting Carlson influencing Candy to let him kill his dog represents the idea of power, and the concept of the characters’ journeys with power. Candy is an old man, and because of this, he does not have a powerful position in the social structure on the ranch. Carlson and Slim have power over him because of their younger age and physical abilities. Slim agreed with Carlson’s idea and had the last word on the matter when the book states, “Slim’s opinions were law” (45). Candy knows that he does not have any power over the situations or even himself as he becomes obsolete on the ranch. The dog symbolises Candy and represents the end of Candy’s life journey and the loss of power and worth due to old age when Slim states, “I wisht somebody’ed shoot me if I got old and’ a cripple” (45). The idea that Candy has no power over himself because of his social status and

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Steinbecks novel, Of Mice and Men portrays the

One way the characters help unveil the theme is how Lennie the childlike worker has a strong relationship for animals and his partner in crime George. Lennie has a mental disability and he depends on his strong friend George for protection and guidance. “Lennie who had been watching, imitated george exactly. He pulled his hat down like a little more over his eyes, the way that George hat was” (Steinbeck 10). This quote shows that there Lennie admires and wants to be just like his partner George. Lennie loves to touch and pet soft things such as animals, peoples hair, & dresses which eventually leads to disaster. “Lennie looked sadly up at him. "They was so little," he said apologetically. "I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then

Both are strictly reliant on someone and can’t survive on their own. In Carlson’s eyes, killing the dog is “putting him out of his misery.” Like Carlson, George may think that he is putting Lennie out of his misery. The dog’s death foreshadows Lennie’s

First, animal importance is used to help foreshadow George and Lennie’s disastrous conclusion. One example of this is, ““The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn't feel nothing. I’d put the gun right there.” He pointed with his toe. “Right back of the head. He wouldn’t even quiver,”” (Steinbeck 45). This shows that Candy's dog is representing Lennie. In the end Lennie is shot in the back of the head, like the dog. Also, it shows that the dog is suffering enough already, which also represents Lennie. In the poem “To a Mouse” it says,” The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew,” (Burns). This reveals that mice and men are similar because the mouse’s plan didn’t go as expected, and neither did George and Lennie’s. Animal importance helps foreshadow the events

As the reader compares and contrasts the relations of power between characters in Of Mice and Men, the reader discovers that power affects the lifestyles of people, which is important because it affects how they treat others of higher and lower powers, their responses to others, and it affects their future. Candy, Curley’s Wife, and Crooks represent victims who are influenced by the power of others in a harmful way. Starting off, Candy represents the low ground of society. The power of others influences his decisions to kill his dog, his responses to those of authority in contrast to Curley’s wife and Crooks, and how he foreshadows his future. When Carlson asks Candy for permission to kill his dog because it struggles to live, Candy’s first

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.

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. One event that foreshadows the death of Lennie is the death of Candy's dog. Carlson tells Candy that his "Ol' dog jus' suffers hisself all the time," It would best if Carlson "take(s) him out and shoot him right in the back of the head." As the novel progresses George mirrors the actions of Carlson when he struggles to lift the gun to shoot his dearest friend. "George raised the gun... hand shock violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger." It is fair to draw a comparison between these two events, because candy's dog is not doing himself any good and can't do anything by himself. Lennie is stuck in the same situation. The best option is to kill them both to stop the

How are we categorized as Americans? Could it be that we feed an untrue “American” dream or our blindness from the real world due to others? Of Mice and Men is an immense allusion of the world we know today because how issues are presented and how the are dealt with.

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