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.
Carlson persuades Candy to give in to the idea of shooting the dog, during the conversation, Steinbeck repeatedly says that candy looks over to Slim waiting for an answer. This is repeated more than once and shows that people listen to Slim and his opinion is respected. Slims approval is given about the dog because it is useless and crippled, this also foreshadows his opinion about Lennie and what should be done about him. Because Candy looks at him more than once, this shows that he is very reluctant about the idea and thinks that slim is wrong by not giving him the answer he wanted first of all.
We learn that Carlson has no respect for other peoples feelings and that he is insensitive, although the idea of putting the dog out of its misery is a good thing, he does not respect candy’s wish to do it in the morning. Also at the end of the book when Lennie dies he says, “what’s eating up those guys”, this shows his lack of understanding for peoples feelings.
Later on in the extract, the sentences are a lot longer and there is less dialogue, as the scene is being described, and the room is in silence, which shows that the atmosphere has become a lot more tense since the dog has left.
There are phrases repeated throughout the extract: “Candy stared at the ceiling” and the fact that the room was silent. These things emphasise the main point of the extract: and the tension in the room before the dog is shot.
The silence that “fell on the room” is personified to further enhance its effect and importance. This makes the reader feel as tense as the men in the room and let’s us know that the scene is important.
The general effect of the scene – of the tension and the breaking of the bond between candy and his dog is quite an emotional scene. I believe that Steinbeck portrays the scene very well through his use of language, and has an effective metaphor that only becomes apparent later on in the book. The fact that the metaphor is only recognisable when the reader has finished the book is clever because it means that the reader is thinking about the book after they have finished it. This is often one of the main goals of writers, as it makes the book memorable by provoking thought and emotions.