Silence In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Candy lets his dog be shot. At the beginning of the scene, Carlson and Slim begin to pressure Candy into killing the dog. Candy is not bothered by this until they exclaim, “ This ol’ dog jus’ suffers hisself all the time. If you was to take him out and shoot him right in the back of the head… he wouldn’t even know what hit him… he don’t have no fun… I wisht somebody’d shoot me if I got old an’ a cripple”(45). Candy loves his dog so much that it disheartens him to see his dog suffering so much from his old age. Candy begins to realize that his dog will be taken out of his misery if he is killed. Candy cares for his dog so much that he allows Carlson to shoot him for his own good. Candy is also a

When the dog is shot, the reader is impacted. The scene is described as quiet when the author states, “Carlsons footsteps died away. The silence came into the room. And the silence lasted”(48). The author displays the silence as an everlasting silence. To break the silence George asks if anyone wants to play poker. While they are playing they all glance at Candy once in awhile to make sure he’s alright. The tense feeling travels through the room when the author states, “He rippled the edge of the deck nervously… The silence fell in the room again… George brought the cards together tightly and studied the backs of them. The silence was in the room again”(49). As the men begin to play poker they are very nervous and constantly check on Candy. They have awkward pauses in anticipation of the shot they will hear. The reader can tell that the men are worried but none are trying to comfort Candy like a most friends would. Everything in the room is going in slow motion but as soon as the dog is shot, everything goes back up to speed. Later in the chapter Candy says his remorse about his