English essay on Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

English essay on Of Mice and Men Essay Steinbeck uses an example of symbolism in the form of Candys dog. Re-read pages 70-76, what qualities/ values does this dog represent? Which human characteristics could be represented by these qualities/ values? Candy is the oldest man on the ranch. As he is the oldest, he has more things to worry about than the others. He has only one hand and a womens name, and through Steinbecks writing, we know why this is, because he has lost his masculinity and pride. He also has a pet extremely old pet dog, which he loves and everyone loathes, as they think it is useless and suffering, Candy thinks otherwise and doesnt want it shot. Candys dog, which doesnt have a name and is incredibly old in the story, represents the fact that things that are unimportant are unknown to other people. This represents Candy as an old undervalued character that is slowly loosing value like his dog. It establishes that if youre an old animal, then youre in trouble. This is why Candy is so reluctant to have his dog shot because he knows what its like to be old and unwanted, but because he and his dog share the same qualities, he feels like they are close friends that rely on each other. In the book, he says Im so used to him, he said softly. I had him as a pup. This shows the closeness between the two. Candy cant bear to imagine loosing something he has been so close to for most of his life on the ranch. And has he and the dog dont have anyone but themselves, Candy feels that he will be completely alone after the dog dies. Because Candy doesnt want the dog to die before him, he wants to savour what he has got left. Candy and the dog are both living on borrowed time, which means as soon as the boss finds out Candy is too old to work, hell throw him, and Candy wont have anywhere to go. When Candys dog does get shot he feels instant regret. This is because he felt he should have shot the dog, and not Carlson. Candy feels that by not doing this, he has betrayed his dog and let him down. If anyone is supposed to take responsibility over anyone, it should be their best or closest friend. He wasnt there to comfort the dog too, he feels guilt and is let down by his actions. Some one else that is in the same position as Candy and his dog are Lennie and George. George being the strongest to the two is very protective over Lennie. He makes a point of always telling what to do, but for his own good. People at the ranch criticize George on his choice of friendship, but this is because no one else seems to have a close companionship except them and Candy and his dog. They are jealous they dont have the privilege to have someone to rely on. George and Lennie really do count on each other, as they are planning to get some money together and buy and farm so they can grow their own food and have animals. At the end of the book, when George kills Curleys wife, he runs away just like George told him to and hides. When George finally finds him, he knows Lennie is going to be killed by an angry mob, so he takes the matter into his own hands. He speaks to Lennie about how theyre going to live, and about rabbits, as Lennie loves them so. This way he can kill Lennie without a sore consciousness and with Lennie truly happy. The only other couple in the story are Curley and his wife, who has no name in the book. This shows that women werent the same status like men, and also like Candys dog, she doesnt really have any value to anyones life in the book, so she dies along with Lennie and the dog. Though she and Curley didnt have a good relationship, he obviously cared for her, and went crazy when she was killed. Because it was Lennie who killed her, Curley felt like it was his responsibility to kill Lennie. Curley new what his wifes nature was like, flirtatious and open. This would make the reader think that Curley was maybe jealous that it wasnt him that killed her, but Lennie, who is seen as the village idiot. In this novel, I think Steinbeck was trying to tell us that if you have companionship throughout the toughest times of your life, dont count on it, because one day the other person will let you down. He also wanted to show that whoever you take companionship with; you will have to take responsibility of their death. He wanted to show the readers that in a tough time, you cant have someone to reply on all the time you have to be independent and strong.