When his dog gets shot he does not have much to live for. He cannot work with the other men and now has lost his one friend in the world. After everyone left the barn and a gunshot was heard in the distance Candy turns to George and says "You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me...
The Bond of Brotherhood “Lennie broke in. “But not us! An’ why? Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why.”
Carlson wanted Candy’s dog to be put down because of the stench and how the dog was in no position to be any use. “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.
During the Great Depression, times were very tough in the United States for everyone. In “Of Mice and Men”, John Steinbeck illustrates the struggles of discrimination and the struggle of finding a job, in everyday life during the Great Depression through Lennie, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. In this novel Lennie, a not so bright but hard worker faces the challenges of trying to find a job during the Great Depression along with a mental disability. George says to Lennie at the beginning of the story, “If he finds out what a crazy bastard you are, we won’t get no job, but if he sees ya work before he hears ya talk, we’re set.”
The setting mainly took place in south of Soledad, California, near the Salinas Valley, during the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Salinas Valley had many substantial farms during the Depression. This was essential because colossal farms employed a massive number of workers, often up to hundreds. Since farm workers with no steady employment, would often head to these communities, it was logical that Salinas Valley was George and Lennie’s destination. Migrant farm workers were perfect examples, to highlight the solitude and loneliness engendered by the Depression. These men had no place to call home, and had only a few belongings to call their own.
In today’s time period, Candy would be re-tired and drawing a deserved Workers’ Compensation check, but in the 1930’s this was not the case. Richard Moore writes, “Candy is an old man, reduced to cleaning the bunkhouse after los-ing his hand in an accident at work” (3). The ranch life is not meant for the elderly, especially the disabled elderly, but due to lack of social security at the time, Candy has no hope of seeing his retirement any time soon. Authors Umadevi and Saranya give prominence to the fact that, “Can-dy is a senior citizen with a physical handicap, and even though we get the sense that he has been at the ranch for some time, he has few ties or friends either, and tells Lennie and George later in the story that he has no family, no kids” (53). Steinbeck shows readers how poorly the elderly were treated before Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s social security program more formally known as the “New Deal”.
In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the era of the Great Depression in the 1930’s is revealed through a simple story of ranch workers who hope to improve their lives. Migrant workers, George and Lennie, have a friendship that is based on trust and protection. The other workers lack the companionship and bond that these two men have. In the novel, the absence and presence of friendship is the motivation for the characters’ actions.
In the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, he writes about two men one named Lennie and one named George having a dream, but is ruined through the troubles of Lennie 's doings. This book was written in the 1930’s talking about migrant workers and how they survived through that era. In that era all migrant workers preferably work alone, but with George and Lennie they stick together because Lennie is a more challenged person so he doesn 't know his wrong doings which causes lots of trouble for George. On page 94, one of the most significant passages is written on having a dialogue between George and Candy about how they were unable to get the farm because Lennie had ruined their chances of getting it. Steinbeck creates a motif of loneliness through the different characters he writes about, ties in different strands of the story to make one storyline, and foreshadows events to come.
The book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck is about two friends that are always working together. One of the three main characters, Lennie, is mentally handicapped, who has a muscular body, strong and tall. His other friend, George, is intelligent but unlike Lennie, he has a small body and he is smart. They move around and work together. Lennie and George try to find new jobs because they have been fired from their previous job that causes them to move to another city. They begin to work in a farm; they help feed animals and other farm works. This book is mostly based on dreams about the characters, so that it can help them keep living. The characters Lennie, George and Candy use the dream as a source of power to gain comfort when they feel uneasy.
Examine how far George and Lennie are loyal to each other throughout 'Of mice and men' In the novella 'Of Mice and Men', by the well-known author, John Steinbeck, the reader is introduced to a varied range of different characters on the ranch; within this realm loyalty between George and Lennie plays a significant role in the lonely itinerant lifestyle. The characters in this short novel act in a world of their own, having no connections to any other type of society; through this Steinbeck can strongly depict the theme of loyalty and friendship in dire situations during this period of time. During the 1930's, at the ranch, a predominant role of intelligent white-males is seen to retain power over lesser groups of people, of which Lennie is portrayed to be this part as he is mentally disabled. Despite this George and Lennie strike up a friendship of loyalty: showing firm and constant support. ' Guys like us got no fambly...they ain't got nobody in the worl' that gives a hoot in hell about 'em' sums up the reason why their loyalty and companionship is so vital and special to each other.
The first suggestion that the dog is going to be shot comes in chapter two, when Carlson and Slim are discussing the litter of puppies and Carlson suggests that they get Candy to shoot his dog. “Why’n’t you get Candy to shoot his old dog and give him a new one to raise up” (). From this quote, it can be inferred that something will happen to Lennie. When the dog is actually shot, by Carlson, Candy later regrets not doing it himself, confessing to George, “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog”.
Moreover, the men living on the ranch share mutual dreams: To George, this dream of having their own place means independence, security, working for themselves, and, above all, being "somebody." To Lennie, the dream resembles the delicate creatures he pets: It means to him security, the duty of keeping an eye on the rabbits, and a place where he won't need to be scared. To Candy, it means security for seniority and a home where he will fit in. For Crooks, where he
George and Lennie, prominent characters in the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, are migrant workers—men who move from place to place to do seasonal work— who end up in California and are faced with numerous problems. Set in the era of the great depression, the story of Lennie and George, two very different men who have formed a family-like union, takes place on a farm where Lennie struggles to stay out of trouble. Having committed an unintentional, harmful act, Lennie is faces severe consequences; and George must decide to make a necessary decision which changes the mood of the entire novel. By the comparison and contrast of George and Lennie, unique characters who are very different from each other, the reader can better acquaint himself
One of the predominant themes that govern the story and characters in the book is friendship, "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world” Lennie And George are very lucky to have each other, although they are rather different to one another,
He said to George, “‘I oughtta of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t oughtta of let no stranger shoot my dog’”(61). This is just like the situation with George and Lennie, because George takes care of Lennie, and George doesn’t want anyone else to kill Lennie. George knows that if Lennie must be shot, then he should be the one to do it. George also knew that he could kill Lennie painlessly, because as Carlson said, if someone was shot in the back of the head they “‘wouldn’t even quiver’”(45).