Mean or Merciful?

The mercy killing of Candy’s dog took place in the third part Of Mice and Men.  I noticed that Carlson had a very big impact on whether Candy’s dog would be killed or not. Carlson was very influential with Candy telling him that “he ain’t no good to you, Candy. An’ he ain’t no good to himself (44)”. This quote made me feel that his intentions were to truly reduce the dog’s suffering and not just killing the dog to be mean or because he really didn’t like the way it smelled or thought it was unworthy to live. Carlson followed this conversation up by making a merciful suggestion. He said  “The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn’t feel nothing” (45). This statement made me think he recognized Candy’s love and attachment for the dog and he didn’t want it to suffer any longer. The killing of Candy’s dog was thought to be the right thing. Of course, there were no vets on the farm so Carlson was trying to put the dog that “jus’ suffers hisself all the time” out of his misery (45). Although mercy killings are a very controversial subject, I believe it was the right thing to do because it would've been more painful for the dog to live a miserable life. Candy put his needs in front of his dog’s when deciding to put it out if its misery.