The importance of friendship is a strong theme throughout the book and is shown through Candy and his dog, George and Lennie.
Candy has had his dog since he was a puppy and have spent everyday together because of this they have a very strong bond and this shows when he says “i had i’m too long” this is evidence that they have been together for a long time. George and Lennie’s relationship is very similar to that of Candy and his dog as there is always a leader/father figure and a follower/son. Lennie says “i got you to look after me and you got me to look after you” This shows the strong bond between Lennie and George as they will both always look after each other. This links with Candy’s quotation as they mean the same thing as both of them have travelled around together and are there for eachother. It also shows that the dog is the same to Candy as Lennie is to George. There relationship is constant as they always have and always will travel around together, this seems to surprise Slim as they have been together for so long because no other men he has met have moved around together and moved around so much because Lennie always messes up and they have to move on to not be caught whereas most men would stay with their jobs were as jobs were very scarce in these times. “Hardly none of the guys travel together” this shows that it is each man to their own as they don’t want to be responsible for anyone else but themselves. This is portrayed as loneliness in the novel in many ways through other characters such as Curley’s wife and Crooks.
How each (lennie and the dog) die. Look at the passages leading up to this and describing the killings
The deaths of the two characters is similar as they are both foreshadowed in many ways, for example Lennie’s death is foreshadowed when he kills Curley’s wife also by Candy’s dog being shot, this is the main event that foreshadows Lennie’s death.