Candy In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

“If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there” (Anton Chekhov).In the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the author uses foreshadowing to hint at events that will happen in the future. One example is on page 15 :”Well, look. Lennie-if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush.” “Hide in the brush,” said Lennie slowly.

Steinbeck gives the reader a first impression of Candy as a ‘tall, stoop-shouldered old man’ with only one hand. The author constantly refers to him as ‘the old man’, ‘the old swamper’, and ‘old

The dog lived just because Candy loved him too much, but it was inevitable he would be put down because the dog was causing problems for other people which was what really led to his death. Very alike to Candy’s situation, George had to make the same decision with Lennie. Lennie is a good and strong worker, but he causes a lot of problems for not only himself, but for George as well.. George and Candy share a similarity by showing compassion toward their “children”. George could have just left Lennie at any time and traveled on his

Lennie is retarted and can not survive a day alone, while George is very street smart and wily. George takes care of Lennie and keeps him alive, because he “knowed his Aunt Clara” (40) and when she dies George starts looking after Lennie. They work on a ranch with other migrant workers, like Candy. Candy is an old man who lost one of his hands four years ago. George, Lennie, and Candy experience a lot of disappointment throughout the novella.

They have helped each other a lot and george has taken care of lennie for the longest time just like candy and his dog where candy never really killed his dog for the longest time. Another example example of their relationships being similar is when george and candy had to kill the other like where george killed lennie and candy had to kill his dog. “George shivered and looked at the gun, and then he threw it from him” (steinbeck pg.106) this quote shows george immediately regretted the decision he made candy did the same and regretted killing his dog and wish he could take back his decision. Candy shows this when he stated “i ought to of shot that dog myself,george I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog” (steinbeck pg.61) candy regrets not killing the dog himself.

In the book, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck tells a story of two workers who travel the world together and look after each other. They’ve encountered some hard times along their journey but they managed to settle down on a ranch. On that ranch they met an old swamper named Candy. Candy is an outgoing, miserable, and easygoing man.

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.

but has a mind of a child. They are the main characters and are two

(1) In fact, some student and workshop productions of the play omit the dog entirely. But Candy and the dog are very important to the action. The point of Carlson's shooting of the dog--who is old and blind and smells--is not to make an easy parallel with George's shooting of Lennie, as Peter Lisca and Harry T. Moore seem to think. (2) It is not so much the dog who is in the same position as the imbecilic Lennie; it is the shooting of the dog that places Candy in the same position. Once he does not have his dog to look after anymore, Candy realizes the precariousness of his own position on the ranch: he is without one hand and therefore only able to "swamp out" bunkhouses, and he is fast approaching

The killing of Candy's dog was related to when George killed Lennie in several ways. First of all, both the dog and Lennie were weak, and killed as soon as they became useless to the society. Also, the dog was Candy's friend, and Lennie was George's friend. In both cases, Slim viewed the deaths as mercy killings. The last similarity was that both Candy and George felt lonely after the death of their companions. The difference was that Carlson killed the dog for selfish reasons, while George killed Lennie out of mercy. This was how the killing of the dog relates to the killing of Lennie.

In chapter three, an older migrant worker called Candy explains to George how he lost his hand on the ranch and was compensated with a “swampin” job and 250 dollars. Because of Candy’s older age, readers can infer that he has outlived many of his friends and family members; consequently, Candy feels all alone and longs to find a “family” before he dies. Knowing that Candy doesn’t have any remaining family helps the audience understand why he struggled so much with Carlson’s proposal to end his dog’s suffering: “ I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup… You wouldn’t think it to look at him now, but he was the best dang sheep dog I ever seen” (44). And moments later, after Slim supported Carlson’s decision to shoot the pup, Candy added, “Maybe it’d hurt him… I don’t mind takin’ care of him” (45). In this scene, Candy loses his best friend -his only friend- and this tragedy forced him to not only recognize just how much he relied on his dog for companionship, but also just how much his dog kept him going each day. At the same time, Candy is

During this time, Lennie and George also experience how cruel the real world can be, and realize that even though they are working for basically scraps, they had to settle because their job options were limited. Soon after, Candy’s wife comes looking for him, and Lennie then comments on her beauty to George. George, knowing that this would not end well, quickly reminded Lennie of his previous run in with women and how they were kicked out of the previous city because of it. (Steinbeck 97). George then asks Slim, another ranch worker, if he could have one of his puppies to comfort Lennie because he is getting somber at how the ranch owners are treating him (Steinbeck 101).

The idea that George uses Lennie’s retardedness for amusement relates back to ableism. Instead of helping Lennie and build him up, George sinks him down with harsh words and cruel pranks. Society does not help people with disabilities, they mock, like George would mock Lennie. Steinbeck uses symbolism as well to explain ableism in society, in specific Candy’s dog. This point is further shown in the novella, Of Mice and Men, when Steinbeck writes, “Well--hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him,’ he said proudly,’ You wouldn’t think it to look at him now, but he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen.’ … Carlson insisted. “And he stinks to beat hell. Tell you what. I’ll shoot him for you.’” (44-45). Candy’s dog sees no mercy in the eyes of Carlson. Carlson insists on the dog’s death, so far as to murder the animal himself. This shows the cold, harsh reality of those with disabilities in society. Though the mutt was once great, one of “greatest” sheep dogs Candy has ever seen, has been beaten down by age. Carlson coldly decides the dog’s fate, the old greatness

Of Mice and Men is a story about two friends, George and Lennie. They travel together to find work, and eventually find a ranch. At the ranch, we met many characters. One of them is Candy, an older man. He has a fear that his boss will find him useless. He also has a dog referred to as Candy’s dog. Candy’s dog is an old and smelly dog that Carlson, one of the workers at the ranch, wants to get rid of. He thinks that Candy’s dog is old and useless and should be put “out of his misery” (44). In response to this, Candy tells him that he raised the dog from when it was a puppy and “was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen” (42). Candy and Carlson argue for a bit, and Candy eventually gives in. He lets Carlson shoot his dog. The dog is a symbol for

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