Role Of Suffering In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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.

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.

George although seemingly ‘Casual’ and ‘Uninterested’ listens to Candy’s opinions without seeing an old crippled man, pleasing Candy. The other men rarely take Candy’s views into consideration; this is true of the death of his dog, which was ultimately Slims decision. Candy is subservient

In the foreshadowing Carlson shoots Candy’s dog. Carlson's reason for doing this is that it’s too old and doesn't have fun anymore. When Carlson does it Candy say “ I ought to have shot that dog myself George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.” (61).George probably took this and put it in perspective with Lennie. If he would’ve let Curley shoot him then things would've been worse because he would've suffered more. Another reason the reader thinks he did the right thing is because of what slim says.

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.

It's been four months, the doctors don't know what else they can do. You don't want to accept it but, she tells you to. Your daughter, your own flesh and blood, pride and joy, is begging you to stop the pain and suffering with her big cloudy doll eyes. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, one of the main characters, George, had come upon an unthinkable situation, where he best friend, Lennie, murders the wife of Curley. George faces the decision to weather let Lennie live, and suffer from Curley's vengeance, or to end Lennie's life permanently, and save him from suffering. The novel makes it clear that mercy killing, the act of putting an animal or human down painlessly without suffering, is a human way to show compassion towards

Candy risked his life and reputation to save George’s. When George wanted to make sure people didn’t think that he was in on the murder of Curley’s Wife, he said, “The guys might think I was in on it. I’m gonna go in the bunkhouse. Then in a minute you come out and tell the guys about her, and I’ll come along and make it like I never seen her. Will you do that?” Candy had no problem helping his friend out. He had just as much motive as George did, but he still went along with the plan, as if it wasn’t as huge a deal as it was. Candy sacrificed his freedom and life to make sure no one thought George killed Curley’s

George afterward agrees to what Slim says about locking Lennie up. George knew that if he didn't kill Lennie that the state may send him to an insane asylum if Curley didn't find him first. So it was clear to George that he had to kill Lennie, as a result, he wouldn't be caged up the rest of his

This profound adjustment hints on the upcoming misfortune, Lennie's termination. The evidence that the death of Candy's dog and of Lennie are indistinguishable reflections for the way his murder was achieved. George shot him in the back of the head just like the old dog was. Candy said to George, "I ought to of shot that dog myself"(p.61) making George decide to kill Lennie himself to protect him from dying scared and panicked by a stranger. Killing him the way that Carlson did, for his sake, it was for the best so Lennie would feel no

Every ranch they go to, Lennie manages to mess something up, even though he doesn’t mean to do it. He isn’t able to control his actions. That being said, George knows that the sooner he can end this, the sooner he can go on to live a normal life. Whether that’s what George wants or not, he knows that this is what’s best for Lennie. Just like Slim tells George after Lennie kills Curley’s wife, “An’ s’pose they lock him up an’ strap him and put him in a cage. That ain’t no good, George” (Steinbeck 97). When Slim says something, you know it’s right, so when George hears Slim say this, he knows what he has to do. He isn’t doing a bad thing, he’s doing what’s best for

This is foreshadowed when Candy tells George that when Carlson killed his dog, Candy should have done it himself. That put forward the thought that if Lennie was to die, then George should be the one to do it and not anybody else. So if someone was to want to kill Lennie (like Curley did after he killed his wife), then George should be the one to kill him, not anyone else. This makes sense because both Lennie and Candy’s dog have impairments. They are reflections of each other, as in where Carlson says, “That dog smells and is no good to himself nor anybody else,” this reflects Lennie because he can’t take care of himself and he is always causing trouble for George.

George knew that Lennie had caused another incident and did not want him to suffer anymore so he decided to put him out of his misery. The same goes for Candy's dog. The dog was very weak and did not have any use anymore. When the guys in the cabin offered to shoot the dog, Candy was hesitant because that was the only thing he had close to a relative and if he shot the dog it would be like shooting himself since they're both old. He later gives in and lets Carlson kill his dog. Moments later, he regrets not shooting his own dog as he states “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog." Candy would have rather ended his dog's misery than have someone else do it, they are still sacrificing the dog's life in a helpful way but Candy did not did it

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.

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

He seemed to shake himself free for speech. Carl’s right, Candy. That dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old and’ a cripple.” (45)