Beginning of Essay
In Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" the characters struggle with loneliness and loss of dreams. These themes are highlighted by the use of parallels that tie the novel together. The relationship between Candy and his dog parallels that which exists between George a ....

Middle of Essay
.... himself" (p. 44). After Lennie kills Curley's wife, he's no good to George or himself. Carlson's luger, which is used to shoot Candy's dog in the back of the head, is also used by George to shoot Lennie in the back of the head. Slim had said earlier that he wished "somebody'd shoot [him] if [he] got old an' a cripple" (p. 45) and he also acknowledges that George has to shoot Lennie, telling him that he "hadda" (p.107). Both Candy's dog and Lennie are killed out of love. Candy feels that his dog no longer needs to suffer and George never wants Lennie to suffer for a crime he did not mean to commit. The parallels that exist between the outcasts a ....