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Of Mice and Men

Decent Essays

Of Mice and Men Essay - Fate or Choice?

Choice is defined by the ‘Shorter Oxford Dictionary’ as; “The act of choosing; preferential determination between things proposed.”
It also states the definition for fate; “The principle, power, or agency by which events are unalterably predetermined from eternity.”
Is our life choice, can we determine our fate by choosing our path or is our destiny determined for us?
John Steinbeck puts forward this question in his novella Of Mice and Men. George and Lennie are two completely juxtaposed men that John Steinbeck portrays to his readers to show fate, using foreshadowing.
A different approach to this question is that our life’s destiny is predetermined for us, but based on the …show more content…

This happens in Of Mice and Men, the fact that Lennie dies signals to George and Candy that the Dream was never real, just something to keep them going, to make life worth living.

It was, always from the beginning, inevitable that Lennie was going to die at some stage near the end. This was shown with the use of foreshadowing.
John Steinbeck uses imagery to represent characters, in nature, to foreshadow coming events. The river, the water-snake, the sunset and the heron. The water-snake – temptation and downfall, the heron – one being tempted, the river – journey/cyclic, sunset- end of something, start of a new beginning.

It was also inevitable that Curley’s wife would die. The lead up to the death is quite obvious. The attraction Lennie has to her and the way she talks to him. Also at the scene where she dies there is some back-tracking. In Weed Lennie felt that girl’s soft red dress, this led to trouble, and George and Lennie had to leave. In the barn he felt her soft hair. This led to his vice-like grip not letting go and a dreadful end for her.
This simple quote perfectly explains Lennie’s actions, and why he does the things he does:

“The fly is attracted to the light” (scribd.com)

Lennie takes the old, “think before you act” way. He does not know what he is really doing until it is done.

Is Of Mice and Men a story about choice or fate? We can never really and truly decide because it is made up of a little bit of both.

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