Foreshadowing
In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, foreshadowing is used a great deal throughout the whole story. From the beginning to the end, it appears everywhere hinting on what will happen in order to make the book more interesting.
Foreshadowing plays a large role in indicating that Lennie isn't going to last long in this harsh world. The beginning introduces this world in such a great way, raising your emotions with a happy tone in a wonderful peaceful scene and then sends that scene plummeting into a dark unhappy environment.
The fact that the death of Candy's dog and the death of Lennie are identical reflects on the way his murder was carried out. He was shot by in the back of the head the same way the dog was.
After Lennie killed Curley’s wife, things for him weren’t looking so hot. George told him if he had got into any trouble to head back to the river and hide there until George came for him. When George found Lennie, you knew actually what was going to happen. Steinbeck explains,”Lennie obeyed him. George looked down at the gun. There were crashing footsteps in the brush now. George turned and looked toward them…The voices came close now. George raised the gun and listened to the voices"(106). From the looks of it, Lennie was a goner. You kind of knew from the beginning that Lennie wasn’t going to make it will his disability.
Howard Levant says, “In fact, Steinbeck uses every possible device to thin out the effect of the materials. Foreshadowing is overworked. Lennie’s murder of Curley’s wife is the catastrophe that George has been dreading from the start. It is precisely the fate of a fluffy animal like Curley’s wife should meet at the hands of Lennie; who has already killed mice and a puppy with his overpowering tenderness. When Curley’s wife makes clear her intention to seduce the first available man and the course of events abandons Lennie to her, the result is inevitable” (358).
Steinbeck used the technique of foreshadowing to make the book Of Mice and Men more than just merely a book. He made it a book where the reader can predict what will happen before it happens through hints in the surrounding events.
Foreshadowing plays a large role in indicating that Lennie isn't going to last long in this harsh world. The beginning introduces this world in such a great way, raising your emotions with a happy tone in a wonderful peaceful scene and then sends that scene plummeting into a dark unhappy environment.
The fact that the death of Candy's dog and the death of Lennie are identical reflects on the way his murder was carried out. He was shot by in the back of the head the same way the dog was.
After Lennie killed Curley’s wife, things for him weren’t looking so hot. George told him if he had got into any trouble to head back to the river and hide there until George came for him. When George found Lennie, you knew actually what was going to happen. Steinbeck explains,”Lennie obeyed him. George looked down at the gun. There were crashing footsteps in the brush now. George turned and looked toward them…The voices came close now. George raised the gun and listened to the voices"(106). From the looks of it, Lennie was a goner. You kind of knew from the beginning that Lennie wasn’t going to make it will his disability.
Howard Levant says, “In fact, Steinbeck uses every possible device to thin out the effect of the materials. Foreshadowing is overworked. Lennie’s murder of Curley’s wife is the catastrophe that George has been dreading from the start. It is precisely the fate of a fluffy animal like Curley’s wife should meet at the hands of Lennie; who has already killed mice and a puppy with his overpowering tenderness. When Curley’s wife makes clear her intention to seduce the first available man and the course of events abandons Lennie to her, the result is inevitable” (358).
Steinbeck used the technique of foreshadowing to make the book Of Mice and Men more than just merely a book. He made it a book where the reader can predict what will happen before it happens through hints in the surrounding events.