AP Lit Summer Reading Blog 3

The next day, Slim agrees to give one of his puppies to Lennie, and he is overjoyed. George explains why he watches out for Lennie, talking about how he told Lennie to jump in a river when George knew that Lennie couldn't swim. He almost drowned and from then on they have travelled together. George also tells Slim that in Weed, Lennie grabbed a girls dress out of interest and then got scared and wouldn't let go. They had to get out of town soon after. Lennie comes into the bunk room with his puppy, and George tells him to take it back to it's mother. Carlson complains that Candy's old dog smells too bad and is of no use. He offers to shoot the dog and put it out of it's misery. Candy objects, saying that he has had the dog since it was a puppy and doesn't want to kill it. Slim offers to give him a new puppy, and Candy eventually agrees, letting Carlson shoot the old dog. Crooks the black stable hand tells Slim that he has tar ready to fix a horseshoe and Slim exits with him.  Curley comes in looking for his wife, and then runs to the barn to see if she is with Slim. Candy hears George talking to Lennie about moving to their own ranch, and offers to pitch money if he can go with them. George agrees to his offer. Curley comes back in with Slim, who wasn't with Curley's wife. Curley is still angry, though and picks a fight with Lennie. Lennie resists until George tells him to fight back and instantly breaks Curley's hand. Slim takes Curley out of the bunkhouse and convinces him not to fire George and Lennie.

A big part of this section is Candy's reluctance to killing his own dog. He wants to keep it because he has had it for so long, and he felt very sentimental when considering giving his dog up. This is a common theme in the book, of wanting to hold on to things that have meaning. For some reason, this reminded me of the 7th Harry Potter book, when Harry's wand breaks. He uses a new wand, but could no longer use the one he had for the last 6 years, which is a very weird feeling. This applies to me because I recently moved from the house I had lived in for 8 years, and I felt a sad nostalgia when leaving.