Have you ever read Of Mice and Men? Were you aware of the heavy foreshadowing in it? By the time you finish reading this, you will. Of Mice and Men is about two migrant workers, named George and Lennie. In three days, multiple major events occur. They make plans to get their own ranch with the old man, named Candy. Unfortunately, their plans go askew when Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife. The whole book, including the title, foreshadows the big ending of the book. It’s quite intricate how Steinbeck works this foreshadowing throughout the book. You might have missed some of this information on your first read because some of it even relates to events outside of the book. One of the first and most complicated example of foreshadowing, was the title; Of Mice and Men. The title refers to a poem by a farmer named Robert Burns. The poem is called “To a Mouse” and in it Burns says, “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew” The poem is about Burns destroying a mouse’s house and how sad he is about it. The point of the poem is his apology to the mouse and how plans go askew. The foreshadowing in this allusion is about how George, Lennie, and Candy’s plans are skewed. It’s a cool and complex move done by Steinbeck. The second foreshadowing technique done by Steinbeck was how he hinted how Lennie would kill …show more content…
Lennie was killed by a fatal bullet to the back of the head; so was Candy’s dog. This was not on purpose. Most if not all of the deaths of the book involved injurious to the head/neck; including Lennie. For example of foreshadowing was in chapter 3. When Candy’s dog was killed Candy said, “I [should have] shot that dog myself… I shouldn’t [have] let no stranger shoot my dog.” Why is this important? Well why does George want to shoot Lennie? To prevent someone else from killing their beloved creatures. Except in this case it does happen instead being wished it
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
The foreshadowing proved he would kill bigger things as he started with mice, then a puppy, the Curley’s wife. The quotes prove the progression of Lennie’s killing small things like mice, to medium things like puppies, to large things like Curley’s wife, a human
How does steinbeck use foreshadowing? By seth springs Often the best laid schemes of mice and men go astray. In the story of mice and men the two main characters george and lennie are migrant workers looking for a job they go to this ranch and work as farm hands they meet carlson candy slim crooks and curley's wife. Curly doesn't like lennie because he’s tall eventually he gets into a fight with lennie and lennie crushes his hand.
Any good detective looks for clues or hints to solve a case. As readers, we act like detectives to put clues together and find out what really happened. Foreshadowing is similar to this because it gives us clues to see what will occur in a future event. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses foreshadowing very often to tell us what could possibly happen. In this book, two men dream to have their own piece of land together, but they can’t buy it because they don't have enough money. The two men set out find a job for money but along the way, many obstacles are thrown at them, and some of them they ca
To have something foreshadowed is to have “inside” knowledge on what’s about to happen to someone or something. For example, when candy was telling George and lennie how curley’s pride gets him in trouble with other men in the farm leading George to think curley will tangle with one of them, foreshadowing what’s going happen. The death of various mice, Carlson’s dog and slims puppy all foreshadow Lennie’s imminent Demise.
Foreshadowing is the use of subtle hints in written text that insinuates what will occur in the future. Foreshadowing is used throughout the story “Of Mice and Men” by author, John Steinbeck, to indicate to the reader which events are likely to take place going forward. In “Of Mice and Men” migrant workers George and Lennie strive to accomplish the American dream. Due to an unexpected accident, George and Lennie must leave their former workplace and travel to a new ranch. There they meet several new characters and face various challenges. How does Steinbeck use foreshadowing? Steinbeck uses foreshadowing in “Of Mice and Men” by alluding to the poem “To a Mouse”, expressing Lennie’s obsession with soft things in “Pet it like it was a mouse”, illustrating the American dream in “A little piece of land”, and drawing a parallel between Candy’s dog and Lennie’s death in “Right in the back of the head”.
It is not as hard to figure out as in Walk Two Moons. The story of Walk Two Moons is about a girl going to her mother's grave and telling her grandparents about her life on the way there. Here the foreshadowing is not evident until the end of the book, she mentions her mother as if she is still alive and the author mentions her mother going to Idaho by bus, but not the crash, and that the main character's father like Mrs. Cadaver, but she does not mention how main character's mother sat in the seat next to Mrs. Cadaver, and that the father uses her as a connection to the past. Of Mice and Men, on the other hand, uses foreshadowing in many instances. The many remarks about what happened in Weed, how Lennie kills mice and dogs earlier in the book, Curly constantly picking fights with Lennie, and George telling him to “hide in the brush” many times, and Lennie saying the ranch is a bad place shows how he could possibly kill something more intelligent, a human, and that how he will most likely have to “hide in the brush” eventually, if you follow Georges thinking. These instances should make it clear that Lennie will eventually mess up again and have to hide in the brush. The reactions of Curly to Lennie killing his wife is also foreseeable, Curly dislikes Lennie and most probably uses this as an excuse to get rid of him, even though is probably angry too. Using these scenarios, if the reader pays attention to
In this novel John Steinbeck used a lot of allusions to help develop characters. The allusion being used to develop Lennie’s character is when Curley and he are fighting. Lennie and Curley are being described as David and Goliath. Lennie is strong and big like Goliath. Curley is small like David. In the end Curley defeats Lennie, just like David defeats Goliath. This allusion showed the character trait of strong and big. Another literary device used in this novel is a simile. “ Slowly, like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again”(Steinbeck 9). This shows that Lennie is very unsure and nervous.
Many scenes seemed to foreshadow the tragic ending of the book. In the first chapter we find that Lennie has mind that is of a young child, and many of his actions are done without much thought. Without George Lennie might not have made it to where the story starts off. Lennie is very much dependent on him. Which foreshadows the ending murder because it most likely wouldn’t have happened if George was there at the time. Another example is George's story of how Lennie grabbed a woman's dress in the past, hinting Lennie would fall into the same type of trouble later at the ranch. The sad events that surround Candy’s senior dog also parallel to George and Lennie's situation. The dog was to Candy as Lennie was to George, a lifetime companion. Both are forced to suffer through the difficult decisions and consequences of their companions
An event that can seem small can also help you know what is going to happen in the end. This is called foreshadowing, foreshadowing is a device used by an author to provide clues of what is to come.(background essay) One of the best users of this is Nobel prize winning author John Steinbeck. As in his book “of mice and men” you can know major events like that the farm dream would die,Curley’s wife would be killed, and even that Lennie would die. But how does Steinbeck use foreshadowing.
In John Steinbeck’s famous novel Of Mice and Men, foreshadowing plays a large part in the reader’s experience. Almost every event that is important was foreshowed at some people, such as the multiple deaths that occur throughout. If Steinbeck wasn't so prolific in his use of foreshadowing the readers experience would be very different.
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
In the novella Of Mice and Men both Lennie and Candy’s dog dies. The dog was killed by Carlson with a bullet in the back of his head with Carlson’s Luger pistol. Carlson convinced Candy to kill him because the dog was useless to itself and he wouldn’t hurt it while killing it as he said on page 72, “The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn’t feel nothing.” Lennie was killed by George by the Salinas River. George killed Lennie because Curly was going to kill Lennie for killing his wife and I guess thought he should do it. Both Candy’s dog and Lennie was killed by a shot
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.
Steinbeck uses word choice to express the thoughts and emotions of the characters. George is easily angered, for example Lennie had a very bad memory. He could never remember what George told him ande it would make George mad in a heartbeat. For example when Lennie said “Where we goin’, George?” George replied with “so you forgot that awready, did you? I gotta tell you again, do I? Jesus Christ, you're a crazy bastard!”(9) Yes lennie can be aggregation but he doesn’t know any better. Lennie has his mind set on one thing, tending the rabbits. If steinbeck would’ve taken out the authentic words he used I dont think it would be as good as it is.