Test: Beyond The Line

In any way do you think there was a relationship between any of the characters is this book?

Throughout this book there were many ways that characters were being compared that I could point out. Two characters that I would most likely like to point out the most is the relationship between Candy and his dog and George and Lennie. Candy and his dog went through a lot and George and Lennie also did the same. There are many reasons to this statement, in the beginning of the book Lennie is constantly being compared to a dog, both the dog and Lennie were in misery at the time, and both the dog and Lennie were put out of their misery.

In the beginning of this book when reading it I realized that Lennie was always being compared to a dog. For instance, that book quotes, “George’s hand remained outstretched imperiously. Slowly, like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master…” Also, “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes…” These quotes simply prove that the book consistently compares Lennie to a dog.

The second comparison that I would use is that Candy’s dog was in misery; he could not eat, walk, or do plenty of other things. Because of this many of the men that worked at this plantation tried to persuade Candy to kill the dog. For instance, in the book Carlson states, “God awmighty, that dog stinks. Get him outa here, Candy!” “Got no teeth”, and “He ain’t no good to you Candy. An’he ain’t no good to himself. Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?” Basically Carlson was saying that the dog needed to be put to death because he was no good to himself nor no one else. In that same way Lennie was suffering. Lennie basically could not do anything for himself. He didn’t know right from wrong and in everybody’s eyes and probably as well as his, he was helpless. So George had to kill Lennie like Candy had to kill his dog. It was the only thing to do or they would suffer their way to death and possibly hurt more.

Another way Candy and his dog and Lennie and George were compared was that Candy didn’t kill his dog himself but George killed Lennie himself. When it was time for Candy’ dog to be put off Carlson killed it. Candy even said in the book, “I should have killed him myself.” But he didn’t and because of that he felt guilty. From reading this book I got the understanding that George learned from Candy’s mistake and took matters into his own hands. Instead of letting Curely get a hold of Lennie and killing him, George did it himself.

In conclusion I would like to say that there were many times in this book when I realized that these characters were to be compared. Candy and his dog and Lennie and George compared to each other in three ways. Lennie was always being portrayed as a dog; both the dog and Lennie were in misery, and they both had to be killed because of their misery. Both Candy and George were the ones who were responsible for these two actions.