Essay about Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

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.

Candy is a worker at the Ranch, he is very old and lost his hand in an accident working at the Ranch which lead to him becoming the cleaner. Candy overheards George and Lennie discussing their dream and joins them, as he can help cover the dream financially “I ain‘t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden“ Candy‘s dream is not to do as much with property but more to do with friendship and to have an easy life with minimal work.Candy found companionship with his dog on the ranch, Candy’s dog used to herd sheep on the ranch however it was now very old. Candy’s fellow workers on the ranch persuaded him to shoot the dog as he was no use on the ranch, ‘The old man squirmed uncomfortably “Well-Hell! I had him so long.

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

An old and aging handyman they all call “Swamper” named Candy working at the ranch greeted George and Lennie at the bunkhouse. It was then revealed in the story that he had lost his right hand, hence when he “pointed with his right arm, and out of the sleeve came a round stick-like wrist, but no hand” when he was leading the two to their accommodation. This is a clear projection of his missing arm, hence also an iconic trait of Candy.

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

Candy is a character that suffers a lot since the time he is mentioned in the book because he is an old man who didn’t have a hand, and who had an unconditional love to his only true friend, his old dog. He admits to himself that soon he won’t be of use in the ranch when he said, “Soon I won’t be able to swamp out no bunk house” (Steinbeck 59). This quote means that Candy knows that he won’t be able to do his job and that he isn’t doing a good job thanks to his incapability. He feels miserable. However, he feels even more miserable when is left bereft when Carlson killed his dog with the argument that his dog was very old. Therefore, in order to move on

On the other hand, Candy’s dog is probably incapable of doing harm to people. But the dog is seen as an object rather than an individual, so the way that he feels towards other characters is unclear; therefore it’s hard to say what actions he would take against people if he were given the chance to. It is said in the novel that Candy’s dog is strong, but he is too weak to make use of his strength. While Lennie could hurt anyone he wanted to, but he chooses not to. This is one of the differences between Lennie and Candy’s dog; Lennie is in control of his actions, Candy’s dog is not. However, George tries to control Lennie’s actions. While he thinks this will help Lennie, by doing this George is robbing Lennie of his voice. Contrastingly, Candy is doing the opposite for his dog. By speaking up for his dog, Candy is giving his dog a voice; his dog cannot communicate in the way humans can. Another difference between Lennie and Candy’s dog is their quality of life. Much of the excitement and happiness that Candy’s dog probably used to have in his life is now absent. He is only wanted by Candy-he’s considered useless to everyone else, and he has nothing to look forward to. Candy’s dog may have wanted to die. Lennie, however, had a life that was practically just beginning. He dreamt of owning a farm with George, and he actually had a chance to make this

Just like George and Lennie, Candy was also lonely and alone in the world, “... I ain’t got no relatives nor nothing...” it was a different matter when he

This incredible injury makes him unable to work in company with all of his fellow workers. As a result, his job is lessened to just a swamper. In addition to the loss of his hand, the dog he became very close with throughout years, is shot and killed. Both of these factors make Candy feel extremely isolated. Because of Candy’s difficult life

This affected the story by making the audience really sad when they killed his dog. If he hadn’t been seen as a vulnerable person then Candy could have stopped them from killing his dog. That wouldn’t have made the audience sad. After becoming sad the audience would start to see how bad Candy is treated because of his age and understand how the discrimination was. It also affected the story by putting Candy in a mindset of wanting to get out of there, so he proposes to join George and Lennie in buying the little house. This pretty much sealed the deal for the house, until Lennie killed Curley’s wife.

He had a happy and a great life. In addition, he had a son who he named Lennie Jr. in loving memory of his friend Lennie. George’s son had some resemblance regarding Lennie, they both loved to pet soft animals. Lennie Jr., loved to tend the rabbits and had lots of animals just like his deceased uncle, Lennie. George remembered Lennie everyday, he remembered their adventures together and the whole life together. Even though Candy died some years before, he got to seee their successful ranch. Both were proud of it and invited some of the guys from the ranch like Slim and Crooks who was not isolated

”(Steinbeck 72) Crooks shouts at other people on the ranch because he is mistreated and feels that he can take it out on other people. Another example of Crooks impairment is when he is left at the bunkhouse whilst all the other men get to go to a cathouse. Crooks does not get to go places that normal people go to because he is black. (Steinbeck 73) A final example of Crooks not getting treated the same is when he is forced to sleep in a barn and not in a normal house like the rest of the men that work on the ranch.(Steinbeck 65)

Candy’s dog was his only friend before Lennie and George and gave him companionship but Carlson and the other guys decided to kill the dog because it was an inconvenience to them. When the shot that killed Candy’s dog rang out Candy “For a moment he continued to stare at the ceiling. Then he rolled over and faced the wall and lay silent.”(pg 49) Candy is heartbroken that his friend had died and turns over to presumably cry. Because it was not acceptable for men to cry in the depression he cried silently with no one to comfort him.

Crooks is the Negro stable hand whom has a crooked back from when he was kicked by a horse. In the novel, Crooks admits he is lonely. For example, on page 72, Steinbeck writes, “…‘S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black. […]

The greater the age the more “useless” one seems to be. Candy is affected by ageism as the older he gets the less tasks he is able to fulfill. It has come to a realization that once one is old they are not capable of much which, in this case, can lead to being kicked off the ranch and left to suffer with no income. Candy’s dog was getting old as well, and Carlson ends up shooting it to end its misery. Candy relates to this and