Comparing Candy's Dog And Lennie In 'Of Mice And Men'

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Josh Thompson Compare the episodes in which Candy’s dog and Lennie die. How has Steinbeck made these events effective for the reader? The story ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck was written in 1937. The tragic story is about two displaced migrant ranch workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, during the Great Depression in California. The two men were forced out of their home town in Weed, due to Lennie being accused of rape. Lennie is a large, lumbering, childlike migrant worker. Due to his mild mental disability, Lennie completely depends upon George, his friend and traveling companion, for guidance and protection. George is the opposite, a miniature, intelligent man, always alert and focused. Lennie is like George’s child, imitating his wise skilful actions. In…show more content…
Lennie is intended to be loved by the reader, but his physical actions cannot be controlled. Consequently, his actions took the better of him, accidently murdering Curley’s wife. Lennie is a sincere and innocent fellow, just like a young child, but he has the body of a bear. He had no intention of killing Curley’s wife, but he has a hobby for “petting soft things”. This follows on to the death of the lady, due to Lennie stroking her hair, gradually petting harder and harder, tragically breaking her neck. For George, this only came down to one decision, to shoot Lennie himself. Lennie was on the run; after earlier in the story being told that if he had been involved in any trouble, to meet at a certain place. Lennie fortunately remembered this, resulting in George eventually accompanying him once again. George decided to kill Lennie himself because he knew that if Curley found the beast, he would instantly shoot him. As George hears the other people who are trying to hunt down Lennie he draws the gun and shoots Lennie in the back of the head. In my opinion it was the most human way, as he never really felt any

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