Of Mice and Men – Tension in Section 3By Angus Lau 9E (13)

In Of Mice and Men, the death of Candy’s dog play a prominent role in foreboding the denouement of the novel, where Lennie is shot by George in the back of the head. Ergo, it is essential for us to study how Steinbeck builds tension in the plot of the story to thoroughly comprehend what Steinbeck wants to communicate and the effect on its reader.

The first hint of tension in this section is when Carlson starts to complain about “I don’t know nothing that stinks as bad as an old dog” and Candy’s dog “got no teeth, all stiff with rheumatism”, then pressurizing Candy into “get him outta here” and to “shoot him right in the back of the head”. When Carlson mooted this, Candy “squirmed uncomfortably”, “scratched the white stubble whiskers on his cheek nervously” and “looked helplessly at him (Slim), for Slim’s opinions were law.” Yet, Slim “gave him none (some reversal)”, and a hush spread the room, which indicated it was the last straw.

After Candy has forsaken his chance and hope to save his dog, we could undoubtedly see a substantial change in Steinbeck’s writing. Instead of the frequent character dialogues, we now observe more descriptions of characters like Candy “lay rigidly on his bed staring at the ceiling.” Slim’s reaction to Candy’s movement was to “get some tar on it (his lead mule with a bad hoof)”, a sign that he wants to evade the uprising tension and break the silence, as everyone in the bunkhouse waited for the sound of the pistol to be shot.

Following this sentence, the word “silence” is repeated three times and personified as it “came into the room”, which also suggested it was not welcomed by the ranchmen. Moreover, they did not want the silence to abide, which would enable Candy to hear the shot of the Luger. Consequently, George tried to strike a conversation about Lennie “won’t want to come in here no more now he’s got a pup” and Slim endeavoured to convince Candy to think about a pup he is going to raise instead of his old dog. Nevertheless, Candy did not answer and silence now “invaded” the room, signalling the rise in tension as Steinbeck used a more powerful word to describe the stillness. George tried afresh to break the hush by offering to play cards but he was too anxious and his distraction did not work because of his clear intention to draw attention from the shooting but bringing in the subject of dogs in his previous attempt, causing the silence to “fall”. Yet, the “little snapping noise” and the “little gnawing noise” which appears later is pivotal as these were sounds that could be noticed in an environment with dead silence, and the fact that it caught all the ranchmen’s attention signifies that Steinbeck has efficaciously conveyed the utter silence to the reader.

The way that Steinbeck has illustrated the passing of time also proved decisive. The reason for this is because of the ranchmen’s anticipation of the shot, the time had appeared slower, causing Steinbeck to write “a minute passed, and then another minute”, like how the ranchmen were waiting for the dreaded moment of the shot.

Up to the sentence after the “little gnawing”, Candy’s actions had differed the most compared to the others, as he “lay (laid) still staring at the ceiling”. This action has appeared four times in the three pages suggests Candy’s utter sadness, and maybe remind of us that the shot was actually not prolonged but merely how the other ranchmen felt because of the tension.

Succeeding the sentence, Whit burst out “What the hell’s taken him so long?” indicating that the tension was too high that the ranchmen could not hold it anymore, yet the silence “was in the room again”.

Finally, after two pages of descriptions with some interjections in between, the shot was finally made, but for the fourth time, Candy was “ lay(ing) still, staring at the ceiling”, which revealed due to his long-time companionship, Candy could not bear with the truth, like the camel could not hold anymore straw. Still, there might be a inquiry why no one was able to comfort Candy, and it might be linked with the utilitarian environment mentioned only a few pages before and the American dream, as this causes itinerant workers to move alone almost on a monthly basis, with no one to support them.

Last but not least, the tension in these few pages were abundantly detailed, like when Candy “rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent”, or “brought the cards together tightly and studied the backs of them”, which meant that it could contribute to how aware a person is when in a tense environment, and proved as a vital part in foreboding how George would need to shoot Lennie in the back of the head at the ending.