Of Mice and Men part 6
Killing Candy’s dog and killing Lennie
Subject:
English
Age groups:
11-14, 15-16
Topic:
Of Mice and Men
Quotations about killing Candy’s dog and Lennie explained
This resource was originally developed by S. Matzakand has been adapted for EAL Nexus. Character illustrations by J. de Podesta.
EAL Nexus – free downloadable teaching materials https://eal.britishcouncil.org/
© Bell Educational Trust 2016
Match the quotations and their explanations
‘right in the
back of the
head’
Candy stresses that he is attached to his dog
because he has been his companion for a very long
time.
‘I wisht
somebody’d
shoot me if I
got old an’ a
cripple’
Carlson points out that the dog is worthless to Candy
and, moreover, that he is suffering so much that he
cannot enjoy life any more.
‘opinions were
law’
Carlson explains that the dog is unable to move and
suffers a lot.
‘He ain’t no
good to you,
Candy. He
ain’t no good
to himself’
Slim suggests that shooting another being can be an
act of mercy that brings relief to suffering.
‘had him so
long’
‘He’s all stiff
with
rheumatism’
This description is used in the novel: to describe how
Carlson kills Candy’s dog and how George kills
Lennie. Killing someone by holding the gun in the
back of the head is supposed to be an immediate
death which does not cause the victim to suffer.
Slim is described to be a man who has authority over
the other workers. Everybody does what he says.
They regard his words as if it was the law.
EAL Nexus – free downloadable teaching materials https://eal.britishcouncil.org/
© Bell Educational Trust 2016
Task - Insert the quotations into the text below:
Killing Candy’s dog and killing Lennie
There are some parallels between killing Candy’s dog and killing Lennie. The
dog is killed out of mercy because – as Carlson points out – ________________
__________________________________________. The motive for killing Lennie could
be justified in the same way. Lennie is also killed for reasons of mercy. He has
neither been any good to himself nor to George.
Lennie’s wish to stroke something soft is so strong that he has to do it all the
time. It becomes an obsession. Being so strong, his stroking ends violently. He
strokes so hard that animals die; he even kills Curley’s wife – a grown up
woman. Lennie can be considered to be mentally ill. The dog on the other
hand is physically ‘crippled’: he has no teeth, _____________________________
_______________ and he stinks. Slim, whose _________________________________
_____________________, says _______________________________________________
_________________________. Slim suggests that certain disabilities make life
unbearable and that death is a relief. Thereby Slim justifies George’s act of
killing Lennie in advance.
The others suffer from the dog and from Lennie: Candy feels attached to his
dog because he __________________________. George is trapped by the
responsibility he feels for Lennie. The men on the ranch cannot see another
alternative but to get rid of the dog and later Lennie. The major difference is
that the dog is shot by Carlson who is not emotionally attached to him while
EAL Nexus – free downloadable teaching materials https://eal.britishcouncil.org/
© Bell Educational Trust 2016
Lennie is shot by his friend George. Lennie’s death is thus more dramatic and
more inevitable than the dog’s. Even his friend cannot cope with him alive.
The way the dog and Lennie are shot is almost exactly the same. Both are
killed with Carlson’s gun which is held __________________. Neither the dog nor
Lennie are supposed to suffer. The killing of the dog serves as a model for the
killing of Lennie.
EAL Nexus – free downloadable teaching materials https://eal.britishcouncil.org/
© Bell Educational Trust 2016