How Does Steinbeck Create Tension In Of Mice And Men

In this extract of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Carlson’s eagerness to kill Candy’s dog is effectively drawn out and delayed, but is in the end satisfied with Candy giving in. The tool behind the killing of his dog is a result of the destructive and menacing force of loneliness. Steinbeck displays the effect and power of loneliness through personifying the silence and using it to stall the story which, through the carefully placed tense diction, creates a lot of tension throughout the extract and especially within the bunkhouse. Steinbeck’s strongest demonstration of loneliness’ power is the personification/repetition of silence, and how the silence is the aftermath of loneliness’ mental destruction. The build up to the killing of Candy’s

In the bunkhouse after Carlson leaves the characters are the left to deal with the fact that they are allowing the death of Candy's best friend to happen. Quite clearly the death of Candy’s best friend would lead to great amounts of silence which would thus create tension between the characters. This tension though, has been present throughout the whole extract, not just through the silence, but by the stalling of the narrative that Steinbeck uses. His primary use of this is with Whit and his magazine in the middle of the extract when Slim says, “What you want me to read that for?”(Steinbeck 72). Steinbeck is indirectly slowing down the story and also increasing Candy’s hopes only to increase the blow of loneliness. The stalling distracts the characters of the event that is reaching its completion and lets them ease off slightly like here “Candy said hopefully, You ain’t got no gun”(Steinbeck 72). Steinbeck has allowed for Candy’s to regain some hope for his dog's life even if he knows that it may not be so great. In order for all of the features to come together Steinbeck uses his diction to form the tension and stalling. He spreads it around the whole extract which all resembles around tense diction like here, “Well, I can’t stand him in here, said Carlson.” The