OMAM Conflicts

    One conflict I see arising is how the workers such as Carlson and Slim took it to their decision to kill Candy’s dog. On page 45 Candy says, “‘No’ he said softly. ‘No, I couldn’ do that. I had ‘im too long.’” This shows Candy’s resistance to killing his dog. Candy had owned him for a long time and he didn’t want his dog to die even if he didn’t do any good. As the page wears on, Carlson and Slim keep pushing him to kill the dog and eventually he gives in. This shows that, although they are all workers making the same pay, Carlson and Slim have more power over him. This could prove as a conflict because, If Carlson and Slim have more power they can start getting what they want. The only reason the dog was killed was because he was smelly and Carlson didn’t like that. Candy eventually bowed down to their power and let in to them. His dog was shot and Candy only regretted his decision.

   The other conflict I’d like to address has to deal with Crooks and his relationship with others. In the book we read “ He kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs.” (67). This shows that Crooks doesn’t talk to other people and he doesn’t like to be around them. All the other men treat him badly since he’s is black and he was even separated from the other workers in the bunkhouse because of his race. White men take advantage and play around with him and they talk as if they are above him. On page 51 it says “‘She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck the eye’”. This is when they are talking about Curley’s Wife and how she looks at other people but they say, “‘I bet she even gives the stable buck the eye’” which you can infer means that she would look at someone as lowly as him. I see this as a conflict because in part 4 of the book, Lennie starts talking to Crooks. Since Lennie doesn’t know much, he doesn’t comprehend that Crooks is different from him. Since Lennie shows interest, it’s very possible Crooks will play a bigger role in the story. With his bad experience with white men taunting him he might play as another conflict between some of the characters.