The extract I am studying is from pages 69 to 80, where the men are trying to convince Candy that his dog should be shot. This is a significant scene, as although the reader does not know yet, it is foreshadowing the death of Lennie at the end of the book. A good way that Steinbeck relieves the tension is by introducing a new character. Candy doesn’t want to have the dog shot, but it has to be as it is old and physically crippled. George doesn’t want to have Lennie killed, but he kills him to put him out of his misery and he is also useless and mentally crippled.
The same gun is used and they are both shot in the same manner, in the back of the head (so they will feel no pain) Lennie is occasionally referred to in animal terms, Lennie is, “as strong as a bull” and George is “like a terrier”. However, there is one difference between the scenes – later, after the dog has been shot by Carlson, Candy says “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog”. George remembers this when the time comes to shoot Lennie. The other men would shoot Lennie, but George has to make sure that he gets there first so that he can do it himself.
The death of Candy’s dog also allows us to believe that the dream can come true. They speak about the dream when Candy is still there but he appears invisible, as he is silent. The main purpose of this part of the story is to develop the tension in the atmosphere and candy’s unwillingness to let Carlson shoot his dog. This is achieved using varying sentence lengths, also by repeating certain phrases, for example (‘silence fell on the room and candy looked up at slim for his opinion, these are both repeated a few times’).
Steinbeck relieves the tension by writing about different subjects. A new character is introduced, Whit, he is proud and excited after seeing an old friend’s name in a famous magazine, this shows us how lonely the men on the ranch are. A similarity is that candy needs his dog because he is very lonely, when his dog is going to be killed he loses hope but because he hears the new dream he also has a New Hope. The information about Whit continues for almost a page and this builds up the tension that we are waiting for something to happen with Candy’s dog.
