In this essay I’m going to be talking about the death of Candy’s dog was right or wrong. The death of Candy’s caused a major controversy between the readers and some of the characters in the book.
In my opinion I strongly believe that the death of Candy’s dog was right, due to the fact that the dog is ‘no good’ to the farm and even to candy as Carlson stated. Evidence to support this is that Carlson said ‘the ol’ dog jus’ suffers hiself all the time’. This connotes that the dog is old, exhausted and in pain,(which means it suffering) so it would be only be in the dogs best interest by putting it out its misery as it would eventually die soon. If I had a pet and it was elderly and diseased, I would have it put to sleep because I’m only doing it in my dog’s best interest.
However, many readers could argue that it was wrong to kill candy’s dog as it was candy’s dog, so candy should make the decision of killing his dog. Even though candy was being reluctant to killing his dog, the final decision was his and no one to make it for him. For instance, after the dog was shot candy told George that he "ought to have shot that dog myself”. This implies that, after the dog was shot candy realised that he shouldn’t have let a stranger like Carlson kill his dog that he has been with for a long time, because he has “had him since he was a pup”. Also, It foreshadowed the end of the story, which was that George would shoot Lennie instead of letting a "stranger" (the other ranch hands, namely Curley) do it. This quote foreshadows this due to the parallelism that is drawn between the relationship of Candy with his dog and the relationship of George with Lennie.
On the contrary, the dog was useless and couldn’t be of any help to the farm considering the fact that the dog was disabled. Along with this, since the dog was still alive it was eating and wasting the resources needed for the other workers. An example of this is when Carlson stated the dog; ‘can’t walk’, ‘damn near blind’ ‘candy gives him milk’. Also, Carlson says "he’s no good to himself" uncomfortably echoing the idea that if you can’t work (because you’re disabled or old) you ought to be got rid of. He talks bluntly about the animal, just as Curley’s wife says of the dead puppy, it’s "only a mutt". It’s uncomfortably close to thoughts about the value of human life - when it’s all so cheap. This proposes that the dog should be killed because; the dog is so disabled that it can’t even eat or chew, so it’s not living healthy and will die very soon. Additionally we can relate this to candy, himself as the dog reflects everything that has happened to candy. This could be foreshadowing the future of candy as American wasn’t that sentimental in those times.
Nonetheless, candy was pressured into letting Carlson kill his dog. All the farm workers ganged up against him and because he was just an old man and he had no supporters, he couldn’t go up against them. Even slim, who is “hella of a nice fella” as candy stated, even agreed with Carlson saying that “Carl’s right, Candy that dog ain’t no good to himself”. This suggests that candy wasn’t even being allowed to say his point as Carlson, throughout the book before the dog died has been trying to convince candy to kill the dog and even the other men. Furthermore, Carlson also convinced slim and a very high placed jerk line, and quite trusted one we can see here just how much authority and influence Slim wields over the others. When slim gently but firmly tells Candy that the dog has to be shot, Candy simply gives in and says helplessly: ‘All right – take ‘im’. We see from this that no-one goes against Slim, that he holds an unofficial position of leadership among the ranch workers. Also, when slim agreed, candy knew he had lost and couldn’t argue with slim.
Although, the dog stank and the smell was affecting workers as it made the bunk room smell, which was their only retreat after a longs day of work. Again, Carlson, (who has being persistent to kill the dog) complained to candy that the dog ‘stinks like hell, too. Ever’ time he comes into the bunk house I can smell him for two, three days. This connotes that the dog wasn’t properly taken care of, as candy is old and disabled, so he didn’t have the time or energy to take care of the dog properly. Then Carlson goes on to elaborate on the dog's smell stating that he can tells the dog has been in the bunk house for days after because the bunk house stinks for two to three days. This shows how extreme the smell of the dog is so strong that it still lingers around.
Yet, Carlson was thinking of replacing the old dog, with one of the young pups, that was from Slims dog. We learn about this when Carlson suggest that “slim would give you one of them pups to raise”. This shows that Carlson was trying to try and convince candy to kill the dog and tries to tempt him with a younger dog. Also, he rationalizes his desire to shoot the animal by telling Candy that it no longer serves it purpose, and can be replaced by one of the younger dogs. We can link this to candy’s situation and could be foreshadowing that candy could soon be replaced by someone your and fitter.
In conclusion, I feel that candy’s dog should have been killed. This is because the dog has been affecting other worker and was already dying anyway. Carlson was only trying to do the best for everyone and even for candy, as he was old and frail, so taking care of the do would be a big chore. This only isn’t an advantage for the workers but for candy, he wouldn’t have to be worrying about the dog and would be able to focus on himself more as the dog was "no good to himself". Also, candy wasn’t really thinking about how it was affecting the other s and was only thinking for his one interest.