How Does Steinbeck Present Death In Of Mice And Men

“He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.” (Steinbeck 106). These are some of the final lines of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Death is a recurring scene in this novel. The first death we see is the death of the mouse that Lennie finds and pets, but ends up killing. Second, is the death of the swamper’s, Candy, old, smelly dog. The next important death is the death of the young puppy that Lennie kills by petting. The death of the puppy sets up for the final chapter, which begins and ends with death. The death of Curley’s wife and the death of Lennie.

The death of Candy’s dog was very long and exaggerated. The killing of the old dog was brought up by Carlson because Carlson thought the dog smelled terrible. Carlson said to Candy, “Well, I can’t stand him [Candy’s dog] in here.” (Steinbeck 44). Later Carlson followed himself with, “Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?” (Steinbeck 44). Candy stated that he did not mind the smell of the dog, and that he wants to keep the dog. Carlson became angered by this. He keep trying to get permission from Candy to kill the dog. After much persuasion, Candy hopelessly gave into Carlson’s requests. Candy, “Did not look down at the dog at all.

“The reason being is women were not treated with the same respect as men” (Moran), despite being given the right to vote on August 19, 1920 (19th Amendment) . In Of Mice and Men, even Candy’s dog is treated better than Curley’s wife. Both characters were not given names, putting them on an equal level. This also showed that they were both items of possession, which is how women were treated during the Great Depression. The deaths of the two characters make them different. Their death shows that the dog was cared for by its owner more than the woman