Mercy Killing In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In all literary merits, there are passages or texts which have significance throughout the entire work or literary. In the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the most significant passage was when Candy and George talk about Carlson killing Candy’s dog. This is important because it foreshadows the death of Lennie by George himself and develops the theme of mercy killing.
In the book, there were many important sciences, but when Candy and George are talking about Carlson killing Candy's dog is the most significant. Carlson wants to kill the dog because the dog has many internal problems which just lead him to misery. Candy did not want the dog to be killed since it was his best friend and he “had him since he was a pup” (44). Soon after, when all the guys went down to the barn to see if a fight would occur, Lennie and George are talking about the dream and Candy joins in their quest of accomplishing the dream. Then, Candy randomly brings up his dog and tells George that he wishes that he killed the dog. But it was very important when Candy told George that he wants to shoot the dog himself because it was better to have someone shoot you that you know rather than having a

stranger shoot you. This simple dialogue created much more than a simple telling. It created a foreshadowing of Lennie’s death and creates the development of the theme of mercy killing.
The foreshadowing of George killing Lennie was created by the most important passage.

When Candy tells George that he wishes he killed his own dog, that gets George thinking. George knew from the beginning that Lennie would be trouble in this ranch because it's a repetitive act of him. Lennie got in trouble in Weed with the girl, and George knew there was going to be trouble here especially with the flirtatious Curley’s wife even if Lennie never had any bad intentions. Towards the end of the book, George ends up going to Lennie first and killing him instead of allowing Curly killing Lennie. He ends up killing his best friend because Candy told George that he didn’t want “no stranger [to] shoot [his] dog” (61). And George decided to do the same to Lennie so no stranger would shoot

him.
The most important passage develops the theme of mercy killing when it is done with the right intentions. Mercy killing is killing something or someone to put them out of their misery and pain.The death of the Candy’s dog was very significant when talking about mercy killing in the physical forms. Carlson kills the dog because he was very old and in his ultimate misery. The dog was “stiff with rheumatism” and stunk very much (44). Another instance when mercy killing was important was the death of Lennie. Even though the mercy killing of Lennie was not for the physical form, it was for the mental form. Curly was going to kill Lennie anyway and most likely to torture him. Also, even if Lennie was able to survive form Curly, he would constantly do wrong things which would turn up for trouble and end up in a greater mess than death.
In summary, the foreshadowing of Lennie’s death and the development of the theme of mercy killing was created by the most significant passage which was when George and Candy talk about Carlson killing Candy’s dog. The simple line of when Candy tells George that he wanted to shoot his own dog created so many effects in the book as a whole. A passage can create a lot of effects which is in all literary merits.