Of Mice and Men
Prompt #19 · Of Mice and Men
Prompt Type: Symbol/Motif
Candy's dog appears briefly but resonates throughout the novel as a symbol of mercy, utility, and foreshadowing. Analyze how Steinbeck uses this symbol to prepare readers for the novel's conclusion and to explore what society deems worthy of life. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
“And at his heels there walked a dragfooted sheep dog, gray of muzzle, and with pale, blind old eyes.”
Chapter 2
Argument
This early description of Candy's dog establishes the symbol's physical deterioration and uselessness, introducing the novel's central question of what makes a life worth preserving when utility has vanished.
Quote 2
“You seen what they done to my dog tonight? They says he wasn't no good to himself nor nobody else. When they can me here I wisht somebody'd shoot me.”
Chapter 3
Argument
Candy's reflection after his dog's death explicitly connects the dog's fate to his own vulnerability, crystallizing the symbol's meaning: society measures worth by productivity, and those deemed useless face elimination.
Quote 3
Chapter 3
Argument
Candy's regret about letting a stranger kill his dog evolves the symbol into a meditation on mercy and agency, directly foreshadowing George's decision to personally shoot Lennie rather than allow a mob's brutal justice.
Quote 4
“And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.”
Chapter 6
Argument
George's execution of Lennie directly parallels Candy's dog's death, completing the symbol's arc: just as the dog was shot for being 'no good to himself nor nobody else,' George kills Lennie to spare him from a society that cannot accommodate his difference, demonstrating that mercy and murder become indistinguishable when utility determines worth.
Quote 5
“And the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young.”
Chapter 5
Argument
Curley's wife's transformation in death—from 'meanness' to 'pretty and simple'—mirrors how Candy's dog is remembered more kindly after death than in life, reinforcing the symbol's critique of how society strips dignity from the living while romanticizing the dead who can no longer burden the useful.