Foreshadowing creates suspense for what is going to happen later in the story. The author gives subtle hints as to what is going to happen later in the story. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck tells a story of two people, George and Lennie, who move place to place in search of a new job during the Great Depression. In the novel Steinbeck foreshadows the death of Curlys wife, the death of Lennie, and the loss of the dream by giving subtle hints to readers throughout the story. The death of Curlys wife had been hinted at multiple times throughout the novel. George had warned Lennie to keep away from Curlys wife because Lennie liked to look at her [" I don't care what she says and what she does. I seen 'em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her, you leave her alone]"(Steinbeck 32). Lennie had liked to touch things that were pretty and caught his attention, and Curlys wife had caught his attention. And this had eventually led to him talking to her and feeling her hair. A …show more content…
George had told Lennie where to go if he was to ever get into trouble. "[Lennie-if you jus so happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an' hide in the bush]"(Steinbeck 15). George knew Lennie would remember to go there if he got into trouble, which he did, so when Lennie had killed Curlys wife. George had knew exactly where to go to find Lennie. After finding Curlys wife dead Carlson and Curly were going to go out to find Lennie and kill him. Carlsons Lugar, however, went missing.." Carlson came running in. "[The bastard's stole my Lugar]"(Steinbeck 97). George ends up taking Carlson's Lugar and goes to find Lennie at the bush. George ends up killing Lennie instead of Curly kill him. Lennie's death was due to the death of Curly's wife, which had led to George having to kill him to protect him from being killed painfully by
After Lennie has inadvertently murdered Curley’s wife, Curley’s lynch mob go out in search of Lennie. George’s decision is almost inevitable to spare Lennie’s life, rather than let Curley and his gang destroy the bit of life Lennie has.
Therefore, the foreshadowing in the story creates suspense for both the characters and the readers.
Arguably the biggest example of foreshadowing came from Lennie getting shot. In the book on pg. 12 it said, “George said, ‘I want you to stay with me, Lennie. Jesus Christ, somebody’d shoot you for a coyote if you was by yourself.’” This quote represents foreshadowing as it says Lennie will be shot. The book ended with Lennie getting shot by George as George couldn’t stand seeing Lennie getting killed by anyone else. Also this quote shows foreshadowing as Lennie was shot like a dog. In the quote it said that somebody would shoot him like a coyote. By saying that he would get shot like a coyote, he meant getting shot when he wouldn’t even expect it. This is exactly what George did at the end; he shot Lennie when he wasn’t expecting it.
Curly was extremely hostile towards the newcomers,especially Lennie. George predicts Curly will present future problems and advises Lennie to keep out of Curley’s way. George is trying to keep Lennie from getting into trouble again, so when they meet Curley’s flirtatious wife, George advises Lennie never to talk to her. Later that day, they also meet some of the other ranch hands, Slim, Whit and Carlson.
Because Lennie is confused he grabs her hair and tries to make her stop yelling. But because Lennie does not know how to control his own strength, he squeezes Curley’s wife’s neck too hard and crushes her spine. Lennie then flees the ranch because Curley wants to kill him for what he did to his wife. So Lennie is not brutally murdered by Curley, George finds Lennie and, because he cannot get him out of trouble, shoots Lennie. Lennie’s uncontrollable strength and ignorance destroyed his, George and Candy’s dream
Literature is difficult for some and effortless for others, but there is a type of literature that is commonly used by many people and most use it without knowing. It is called allusion which is the reference to another person or item. John Steinbeck uses allusion to foreshadow what will happen in his book Of Mice and Men. In the book Of Mice and Men the two main characters are George, a smart and short man and Lennie, a strong but dumb man who both lived during the Great Depression. They are migrant workers that get in trouble a lot of times and run from town to town trying to find work, until they stumble upon a ranch that they can work on. During their stay and the ranch foreshadowing suggests what would happen next, but the book still had many twist that foreshadowing did not suggest. In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck uses foreshadowing in various ways to suggest that George and Lennie’s plan would go askew, that Curley’s wife would die, that George and Lennie would lose of the farm dream, and how Lennie would die.
Foreshadowing is used throughout the novel to show how most characters had a dream of their own but it didn’t end up in the right direction. One example of this is when Lennie wanted to tend the rabbits since that was really his dream once they worked and got all them acres. One quote from the book that proves this is “ He shook her then, and he was angry with her. “ Don’t you go yelling’,” he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck.” ( Steinbeck,pg.91) This quote from the text shows the theme by using foreshadowing because since it was Curley’s wife, Curley himself would want to kill him. He would get fired which would make it harder for him to
From the beginning, George tells Lennie to avoid Curley and Curley’s wife. There are multiple uses of foreshadowing that the reader can understand that John steinbeck is leading this to a tremendous event in the end. “"If he tangles with you, Lennie, we're gonna get the can. Don't make no mistake about that. He's the boss's son. Look, Lennie. You try to keep away from him, will you? Don't never speak to him. If he comes in here you move clear to the other side of the room. Will you do that, Lennie?" "I don't want no trouble," Lennie mourned. "I never done nothing to him." "Well, that won't do you no good if Curley wants to plug himself up for a fighter. Just don't have nothing to do with him. Will you remember?" "Sure, George. I ain't gonna say a
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men tells a story of two very different friends how both share the dream of one day buying their own farm. George and Lennie are both two workers that take temporary jobs at different ranches. That the new job that they get to meet Candy, the old “swamper” who cleans the bunkhouse; Slim, the “prince of the ranch”; Crooks, the African American stable hand. Then there is also Curley, the boss’s son and Curley’s wife, women that is desperate for the attention. Throughout the story, Steinbeck uses a lot of foreshadowing to prepare the reader what is about to occur. The plans of the characters going “askew,” the death of Curley’s wife, the loss of the farm dream, and the death of Lennie; are four clear examples of Steinbeck’s
Once again, Lennie finds himself in trouble, when he killed Curley’s wife. He remembers what George told him, “...I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush” (Chapter 1). That is exactly what Lennie does, he runs straight to the camping spot. When everyone finally sees Curley’s wife dead, they all know who it was and set out to kill him. George sets out as well to see if he can reach Lennie before the rest of the men. “I oughtta of shot that dog myself, George, I shouldn't oughtta of let no stranger shoot my dog” (Chapter 3). That is what Candy said to George after Carlson shot his dog. “George… reached in his side pocket and brought out Carlson’s Luger…” (Chapter 6) This is when George finally reaches Lennie and decides to go ahead and put him out of his own misery, so he shoots him. John Steinbeck uses foreshadowing by clearly using Candy’s dog to represent Lennie’s
The author uses Foreshadowing for a number of different reasons including giving background information, to show the character’s motivation, to build a mood and to get the reader’s predicting. One of the most important craft moves that the author uses throughout the book is foreshadowing. “The temporary rose tattoo on his left biceps showed below his sleeve, but the slight bulge of the handgun in his shoulder holster was barely noticeable under his shirt.”(page 3) In the beginning of the book, by using foreshadowing the author achieves the goal of building a mood. When she does this, she makes it seem as if something bad is about to happen. It creates a very suspenseful and eerie mood. Another goal the author achieves by using foreshadowing in the beginning of the book is to provide the reader’s with background information. When the author talks about
One event that foreshadows Curley's wife death is Lennie. Lennie’s actions foreshadow the death of Curley's wife. Steinbeck uses what had happened on Weed as a foreshadowing device to suggest what will happen later on in the novella. Steinbeck suggests that “ like what happened in Weed…touch ever’thing he likes...Feel this red dress an‘ the girl lets out a squawk…”(41). Lennie likes to nice things and soft
Curly was trying to find Lennie to shoot him for killing his wife,But george already new where Lennie would go if he got into any trouble because George is the one who told him if anything happened to go and wait for him by the river.So in Georges mind it would have been better if he would go find Lennie before Curly did.I know that some might say that he could have taken hime to prison but Curly could have killed him anyways and it would have been better
Lennie is in the barn by himself when Curley's wife walks in and makes an attempt to talk to Lennie. Lennie tries to avoid speaking to her because George has told him that if he talks to her, he “...can’t tend no rabbits if I talk to you or anything.” (86) Even though Lennie makes many attempts to not talk to her, he eventually does. Curley’s wife tells lennie that if he likes soft things, he should feel her hair. Lennie does this, but he starts to stroke the hair too aggressively. Curley’s wife gets scared and tells him to stop. Lennie panics and refuses to let go, eventually killing her. When Lennie realizes what he has done, he runs off. Candy and George discover the body along with the other men on the ranch. Curley makes a plot to kill Lennie. All of the men go out the next day to find and kill Lennie. When George find him, he tries to make Lennie happy before he dies. “And you get to tend the rabbits.” (105) After George tells him this, he shoots Lennie in the back of the head. Although George killed Lennie because he did something very wrong, he was not justified in doing it. Lennie did not know what he was doing, and the death of Curley’s wife really was not even his fault. She was the one who started talking to him, telling Lennie to stroke her hair. When George decided to pull the trigger on the gun, he was not being a loyal friend. Friends are supposed to stick together no matter what happens, and George did not stay at Lennie’s side even when he did something that some might look at as being unforgivable. However, one could also argue that George was justified in killing Lennie so that Lennie could no longer hurt anyone by accident or on purpose. There is clear evidence for both sides of the
Later in the story, Lennie kills the wife of Curley, who is their boss’s son. Lennie runs away, and everyone tries to track him down. george knows where Lennie went, and goes there and finds him. George knows what the others will do to him if they find