Beyond the Line

11.) In the story, Of Mice and Men, Carlson pressures Candy constantly to put the old dog down. Compare a similar instance of when someone else or even yourself experienced the same emotional distress as Candy.

10.) Notice how throughout the book Lennie is often times referred to as an animal. How does his death connect to these references?

Well in the first chapter I believe,the author describes Lennie`s feet and hands as paws and at the end he gets shot for being bad. Picture it, your neighbor has a dog that is kept in their backyard most of the time and is very friendly usually. One day for some strange reason when the mailman comes to deliver your neighbor their mail all of a sudden the once very friendly dog is now chewing up the mailman`s hand and is attacking him like he stole something. Now to make a long story short, when a dog is mad, or crazy or is uncontrollable, it is shot or put to death. Do you see the connection? Lennie, the dog, killed a puppy and Curley`s wife, and injured Curley`s hand, the mailman, and was then.... shot like a mad dog.

9.) Throughout the story it seems as though George was the one who tried to keep Lennie out of trouble. Do you think he did everything he could? Was he successful or not?

I do not believe George was successful because the main times that Lennie got into trouble were when George left Lennie unattended to. For example, when Lennie murdered Curley`s wife, that could have easily been avoided had George stayed or took Lennie with him so much so that Curley`s wouldn`t have had the chance to even get close enough so Lennie could feel her breathe exhale.

Of Mice and Men Exam (Between the Line)

8.)In a sense, do you believe that Lennie`s death was justified? Why or Why not?

It is hard to say, because Lennie does have a condition, and many times throughout the book he is described as being a "nice fella" so the rare occasions that he would lash out were times that he was either at the wrong place at the wrong time, he was being tested, or provoked. Like when Curley attacked Lennie and Lennie stood there defenseless and crying until George forced Lennie to stand up to Curley and defend himself that is when Lennie broke Curley`s hand. Although I can see why people would say that his death was justified because he killed a puppy and Curley`s wife but let`s examine this for a minute. Both instances were accidental because both times Lennie wasn`t aware of his strength and because of his condition, it was extremely hard for him to realize the damage he could cause because of his ignorance. So in conclusion, I feel that technically his death could not have been justified because Lennie was not looked after when everyone was well aware that he had a condition.