In the first part of chapter three, we spend a lot of time hearing Carlson complain about Candy's dog. As we read today, we kept track of information about this dog. Here's what we came up with:
He smells
He has no teeth
Horrible eyesight
He can't move quickly
He's lazy
He's old
Used to be a sheep dog
Has been w/ Candy since he was a puppy
In danger of being shot by Carlson
After we developed this list, we created one to describe Candy. Here's what you came up with:
He's old
He's crippled
He's now a janitor
Used to be important, skilled worker
Needs to work but is not valued
In danger of being fired by boss
He's crippled
After we created these two lists, some of you noticed that there was a parallel between Candy and his dog. To illustrate this further, we talked about symbolism. First, we defined symbolism as a picture, object, or character that represents a feeling or an idea. One of you came up with the Nazi swastika as an example of a symbol. We explored what this symbol might mean to a Nazi (a shared vision with Hitler, a pledge to Hitler) and to someone who opposed Hitler (fear, hatred).
After reading to page 61 in Of Mice and Men, we stopped to complete a symbolism worksheet. If you were absent or did not finish this worksheet, you need to do so in order to earn credit for this missed assignment.
