CANDY

Character Analysis

Candy is an old ranch worker ("swamper") who has lost one of his hands in a farmaccident. He's spent the best years of his life working on someone else's ranch, only to lose his hand and have little money. Depressing, right?

Wait until you hear the bit about the dog.

Man's Best Friend

Candy's dog was once a great sheepherder, but it was put out to pasture once it stopped being productive. Sound familiar? Candy realizes that his fate is to be put on the roadside as soon as he's no longer useful; his ranch boss won't treat him any differently than his dog.

Candy is actually worse off: unlike his dog, he's emotionally destroyed by the wholebusiness. He can't bring himself to shoot his pet himself, even…