How Does Steinbeck Make Candy's Dream In Of Mice And Men
Dreams. All people have dreams, things they want, things they want to achieve in life. Eventually, everyone’s life will come to an end and we all know it. When we reach a certain point in our older lives, we will probably just want to be happy and enjoy our lives. In The book “Of Mice and Men,” candy is an old man who spent his life working on a farm. Candy loses his hand and when George and Lennie appear with their “dream” of owning land, Candy begs to join the “dream.” Candy lost everything including his beloved dog; he is desperate. This leads to my question, why did Steinbeck choose to make Candy join the dream over any other character? Steinbeck chose Candy to join the dream because he is the most desperate and Steinbeck wanted to
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show Candy’s vulnerability. Candy’s missing a hand; he’s old and about to be fired. His dreams can’t be fulfilled by himself. Steinbeck does this to show hoe even the worst of situations can be turned around. In order to show desperation and dreams in Candy’s life, I will be looking at the many hard times Candy has faced.
Soon after Carlson killed Candy’s dog, George and Lennie start talking about their “dream.” George starts telling the story of their dream and then Candy asks a few questions about the land they were planning to buy.
“They’ll can me purty soon….Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunk houses….Maybe if I give you guys my money, you’ll let me hoe the garden even after I ain’t no good at it….You seen what they had done to my dog tonight?....When they can me here, I wisht somebody’d shoot me.” From what I understand, Candy knows that he is going to be fired, and he wants to live off the land with George and Lennie. Candy expresses that the he wants to grow old working, and when he is of no more use, he just wants to die. This quote shows Candy and how he views life. It seems as if Candy just wants to be happy, yet he has no one and nowhere to go after they fire him from his job. This tells me that Candy is desperate and was willing to give everything he had to not die alone. Candy knows that he is getting more and more useless, but he has given up on a lot of things, maybe even his own dreams. Candy is saying that if he can’t work, he can’t do anything and should die. This quote showed me how Candy has no power and feels so passionately about life, unlike all the other characters, Candy has more
compassion. Shortly after George and Lennie agreed to let Candy join the “dream.” Candy thinks and said, “George….I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.” Here, Candy regrets letting his dog die by the hands of another person. Candy knows that he made a mistake because he raised it since it was a pup and he thinks that if it should die, it should be by the hands of Candy, its master. This tells me that Candy is the type of person conflicted by his own thoughts. Although he is often confused by his emotions, he wants to hold on to bonds that he had and create new ones. This shows a lot of emotion from Candy and I believe it is more than any other character in the book. Candy goes through so many rough patches in his life and he keeps it inside because he was all alone. This passage provides me with the knowledge that because Candy can connect with the other characters and really digs down into their feelings and connect, he is most likely to go with George and Lennie and pursue the dream. As we’ve seen, by the end of the novel, Steinbeck has shown us the grueling challenge to find a happy life. We see Steinbeck, showing how people want to be happy by using Candy’s old age, missing hand, and desperation. Steinbeck wants to send a message to his readers that people work all their lives just to try and be happy in their final days. People face hardships everyday. Through our lives we go through school and work, just to find an overwhelming emotional and physical stress. I ask myself, why? Why do I put up with this anxiety everyday? It’s for happiness. Truthfully, I don’t know if it’s worth it. Yet, so many people struggle everyday just to find this glimmer of hope. In “Of Mice and Men,” Candy did everything he could just to grasp a fraction of a dream, a small amount of happiness. In the world as we know it, we must do everything we can to chase our own dream, to find our own form of happiness, for life is pointless if we don’t. Even after all this, Steinbeck cuts us short by telling us that even if we try, you might not get anything in the end, by showing us how Candy ultimately loses the dream.
show Candy’s vulnerability. Candy’s missing a hand; he’s old and about to be fired. His dreams can’t be fulfilled by himself. Steinbeck does this to show hoe even the worst of situations can be turned around. In order to show desperation and dreams in Candy’s life, I will be looking at the many hard times Candy has faced.
Soon after Carlson killed Candy’s dog, George and Lennie start talking about their “dream.” George starts telling the story of their dream and then Candy asks a few questions about the land they were planning to buy.
“They’ll can me purty soon….Jus’ as soon as I can’t swamp out no bunk houses….Maybe if I give you guys my money, you’ll let me hoe the garden even after I ain’t no good at it….You seen what they had done to my dog tonight?....When they can me here, I wisht somebody’d shoot me.” From what I understand, Candy knows that he is going to be fired, and he wants to live off the land with George and Lennie. Candy expresses that the he wants to grow old working, and when he is of no more use, he just wants to die. This quote shows Candy and how he views life. It seems as if Candy just wants to be happy, yet he has no one and nowhere to go after they fire him from his job. This tells me that Candy is desperate and was willing to give everything he had to not die alone. Candy knows that he is getting more and more useless, but he has given up on a lot of things, maybe even his own dreams. Candy is saying that if he can’t work, he can’t do anything and should die. This quote showed me how Candy has no power and feels so passionately about life, unlike all the other characters, Candy has more
compassion. Shortly after George and Lennie agreed to let Candy join the “dream.” Candy thinks and said, “George….I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog.” Here, Candy regrets letting his dog die by the hands of another person. Candy knows that he made a mistake because he raised it since it was a pup and he thinks that if it should die, it should be by the hands of Candy, its master. This tells me that Candy is the type of person conflicted by his own thoughts. Although he is often confused by his emotions, he wants to hold on to bonds that he had and create new ones. This shows a lot of emotion from Candy and I believe it is more than any other character in the book. Candy goes through so many rough patches in his life and he keeps it inside because he was all alone. This passage provides me with the knowledge that because Candy can connect with the other characters and really digs down into their feelings and connect, he is most likely to go with George and Lennie and pursue the dream. As we’ve seen, by the end of the novel, Steinbeck has shown us the grueling challenge to find a happy life. We see Steinbeck, showing how people want to be happy by using Candy’s old age, missing hand, and desperation. Steinbeck wants to send a message to his readers that people work all their lives just to try and be happy in their final days. People face hardships everyday. Through our lives we go through school and work, just to find an overwhelming emotional and physical stress. I ask myself, why? Why do I put up with this anxiety everyday? It’s for happiness. Truthfully, I don’t know if it’s worth it. Yet, so many people struggle everyday just to find this glimmer of hope. In “Of Mice and Men,” Candy did everything he could just to grasp a fraction of a dream, a small amount of happiness. In the world as we know it, we must do everything we can to chase our own dream, to find our own form of happiness, for life is pointless if we don’t. Even after all this, Steinbeck cuts us short by telling us that even if we try, you might not get anything in the end, by showing us how Candy ultimately loses the dream.