“The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew…” from To a Mouse by Robert Burns. Of Mice and Men s about two friends, Lennie and George, who stay together, even though it is sometimes difficult. George and Lennie have a plan to get a small farm and have some animals in the hopes of being able to live off of the land. When Lennie then accidentally kills Curley’s wife, George must kill him to prevent the possibility of him suffering in jail. Throughout the entire book, Steinbeck foreshadows the important factors of the story, such as the death of George and Lennie’s farm dream, the murder of Curley’s wife, and even Lennie’s own death. From the beginning of the story, Steinbeck uses hints that George and Lennie’s dream of getting a farm …show more content…
In multiple parts of the story George would say that Curley’s wife will get Lennie in trouble and cause problems. When Lennie and Curley’s wife are talking in the barn he tells her that “George’s scared I’ll get in trouble”, most likely because Curley had already fought with him. It is mentioned early in the book that Lennie is amazingly strong, but proven when he accidentally kills the puppy, “You ain’t so little as mice. I didn’t bounce you hard…” This means that when Lennie went to hit the pup, he didn’t know it would kill it. This is also proven when Lennie and Curley’s wife are in the barn talking. When Lennie says “I like to pet nice things…” in Document B, it may be foreshadowing for Curley’s wife’s death, since her hair was nice and he wanted to pet it. She also responds with “When I’m doin’ my hair sometimes I jus’ set an’ stroke it ‘cause it’s so soft...Feel right aroun’ there an’ see how soft it is.” Lennie, unfortunately, had killed the other soft things that he had pet, due to his large amounts of strength, which is how Steinbeck forshadowed her …show more content…
About midway through the book, Candy’s dog is shot because it is old and not of much use anymore. They shoot the dog to keep it from suffering in the future. When the dog is shot, Carlson says that “he ain’t no good to you… this ol’ dog jus’ suffers himself all the time”, which is similar how Lennie acts, since he may not be good for much more than a friendship or carrying heavy objects. Another example that Steinbeck uses foreshadowing may be the way the dog is shot. The dog is shot “right in the back of the head” since Carlson says “he wouldn’t even quiver” in Document D. Lennie is later shot in the same way, as George had shot him in the back of the head. Since both Lennie and the dog cause inconveniences and get the people they are with in trouble, it may be an example of how Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to hint at Lennie’s
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 over a cliff into a dark unhappy environment. The strong characters in this environment attack the weak and the weak attack the weaker. An example of the strong against the weak is when Carlson compels Candy, "I'll put the old devil out of his misery right now," (p.47) to let him shoot his dog. An example of the weak attacking the weaker is when Crooks teases Lennie, "jus' s'pose he don't come back," (p.72) Lennie is the weakest because of his mental disability and his lack of thinking for himself. He would either run away or be eliminated through death. Candy and his dog mirror the image of George and Lennie. Candy being George and his dog being Lennie. When the dog dies, it foreshadows his death because the dog represented him.
To begin, the death of Lennie allowed him to be freed from the cruel world in which he lived and to live in the make believe world that he and you had dreamed of. Lennie could sense danger when he arrived at the ranch; he said "Le’s go, George. Le’s get outta here. It’s mean here." (Steinbeck 33). Many characters throughout the novel antagonized Lennie; Curley tried starting trouble when he thought Lennie was laughing at him. When you were at the Cat House, Lennie met with Crooks and Curley’s wife. Crooks told Lennie that you weren’t going to come back. In the novel it states “Crook’s face lig...
Has loneliness ever creeped up your spine? Has the palm of lonesome ever managed slapped you across the cheek, leaving a mark that is unable to be faded; physical pain from such a mentally-fitted emotion? Of Mice and Men is a book about two men - George and Lennie - who travel together, both having a dream of grabbing a plot of land to begin their own farm. Furthermore, foreshadowing is an important aspect of this book; but, what is foreshadowing? To answer this in Layman's terms, foreshadowing is the process of hinting at future events. In Of Mice and Men, there are various traces of the writer’s use of foreshadowing. This includes the title itself, Lennie accidentally harming various creatures, Crook’s skeptic-attitude towards George and Lennie, and the general inhumanity of people at that time.
Curley’s wife represents her broken dreams of becoming an actress. Lennie and George represent a dream in progress, it is uncertain if their plans will work out as intended or plummet before takeoff, even Crooks and Candy see the appeal in Lennie and George’s fantasy and join them. The dream in progress gives hope to Lennie and George and continued to even after losing previous jobs. Curley’s wife is constantly restricted, she married Curley so that she would no longer be alone but now is in the same state as before, just on a ranch of men. She tries to talk to the other men but she is then seen as "jail bait" and avoided, making her even lonelier. Her dream of being an actress has failed because she chose a quick way out and married Curley. She is now living in her failure and has no longer a dream to aim for. Perhaps the most important part of the story is the the part in which Lennie has accidentally killed the puppy given to him by Slim, and is grieving over him in the barn, “This ain’t no bad thing like I got to go hide in the brush. Oh! no. This ain’t. I’ll tell George I foun’ it dead.” He unburied the puppy and inspected it, and he stroked it from ears to tail. He went on sorrowfully, “But he’ll know. George always knows. He’ll say, ‘You done it. Don’t try to put nothing over on me.’ An’ he’ll say, ‘Now jus’ for that you don’t get to tend no rabbits!” (Steinbeck, 85) He feels powerless to his own strength, he believes that he will never achieve his dream because of his mistake. George and the other men are out once again and the only person who comes to his emotional aid is none other than Curley’s wife. “Don’t you worry about talkin’ to me. Listen to the guys yell out there. They got four dollars bet in that tenement. None of them ain’t gonna leave till it’s over.” “If George sees me talkin’ to you he’ll give me hell,” Lennie said cautiously.” (Steinbeck, 85) He
Candy’s old dog, which has no name (that is known) is without a doubt the subject of the most important bit of foreshadowing, in which his murder directly represents the book’s end, and Lennie’s unfortunate demise. The old dog, in Carlson and Slim’s words is “a burden and no good to himself or anybody” and Carlson kindly offers to put him out of his misery so Candy wouldn't have to, to which candy painstakingly agrees. Carlson made a point to ensure candy “ill shoot him right there (points to back of dogs head) he won’t even know what hit him.)”
Curley’s wife, is the only one in the story that is given no actual name, she is just known as “Curley’s wife.” She is the only female on the ranch. The book speaks of how she is fare and beautiful, but is a bit of a tease. Throughout the whole novel she is always looking for Curley, all the men on the ranch view her as Curley’s property. Candy describes her to George and Lennie as a tart (Miller).This term “a tart” is just a way of saying that she is unfaithful to her marriage, and has a sexual way about her. She is always seeking for attention from all the other men. Towards the end of the story she sees Lennie in the barn sitting on the ground leaning over what was his puppy, so she goes in and sits next to him; she leans over and begins telling him about how her life would have been if she wasn’t on the ranch. She spoke highly of herself, telling how she would have been in movies and wore nice clothes (Steinbeck 89). Lennie had been mesmerized by her from the start; she began teasing him by describing how soft her hair was, only because she knew that he loved soft things, she takes Lennie’s hand and says “Here, feel right here.”(Steinbeck 90) At this point Lennie got carried away and wouldn’t let go of her hair, she began to scream telling him to let go. Lennie panics, He tries to tell her not to scream but all she does is gets louder; he had no clue what to do at this point, he ends up holding her down and killing her by snapping her neck. George told Lennie at the very beginning of the story that if anything happens and he gets in trouble to go and hide near the bushes at the pond until he arrives. Lennie in fear runs away from the scene to that exact
Although she has a husband, she did not like him. She flirts with every worker at the barn, she told them that she was lonely because she wanted some company and Curley was not at home most of the time. In this novel Curley’s wife seems to make trouble for the other guys at the barn because she’s always flirting with them and that make Curley very jealous. When he gets all jealous he gets mad at the other farmers. One day when Curley’s wife stopped by in Crooks’ bunk she found Lennie and she started to flirting with him and Crooks wanted her to leave them alone. Curley’s wife was not afraid of Crooks because he was black and she told him all she had to do was yell rap and he would be dead. Later on in the book Lennie was all alone with his died pup when Curley’s wife thought it was a perfect time to come talk to him since all the other man were playing house shoe. She persuaded Lennie into talk to her, Lennie didn’t want to because George told him not to take her.“George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you—talk to you or nothing” (Steinbeck 43). This shows the power of having someone who supports
Lennie is stuck in a childhood state, and is the main reason the farm exists. “Now Candy spoke his greatest fear, ‘You a’me can go there an’ live nice, can’t we, george?’...George said softly, ‘-I think I know from the very first, I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.’” They realize that without Lennie, there is no farm. As Lennie dies, so does the dream of a farm.
The farm is a very important symbol in the novella it is important because it is repeated throughout the novella it is reminding the reader of the comforting dream that Lennie and George have created. It is a symbol of brotherly love. The dream in some ways is like the whole “Depression era” it reminds the reader of freedom and homely pleasure.
Lennie accidentally killing all of his pets establishes that the theme of this novel is death and loss. These pets consist of mice, dogs, kittens, etc. Lennie loves to feel and pet animals, but he does not know his own strength. He kills them without really noticing what he has done, until George tells him that he did something wrong. After being scolded, Lennie is very remorseful about what he did. Once, after being yelled at Lennie says, “I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead- because they were so little (13).” Lennie’s remorse is probably more for upsetting George than it is for actually killing the animal.
Next, Steinbeck uses foreshadowing when Lennie and George had a big dream to get a house on the fat of the land. George is looking out for Lennie by traveling together. They are both really good workers. Lennie loves to pet soft animals or anything that is soft, Lennie says “I like to pet nice things”. Lennie is so strong that when he pets the animals he always kills them, so now Whenever
Steinbeck was known for having documented on the Great Depression that was supported by the influence of travels and life experiences he's had himself during that era. His focus in writing was emphasizing the efforts of George keeping Lennie safe and stay beside him forever. This brings forth the importance of this novel which was acknowledging the difficulty in pursuing dreams. People must come to realize that there will be restrictions that might delay their journey in achieving their
The readers initial portrayal of Curley's wife shows her to be a mean and seductive temptress. She is paralleled to eve from the bible. The same way eve tempted Adam, Curley's wife destroyed the dream of george and Lennie owning land. As we go through the book, she show she is actually just misunderstood and wants to be noticed. This is the same as most women in Death of a Salesman, like The Woman, who is first shown to be a temptation to willy, but she actually does like him. This relates to the scene in which Lennie is talking to Curley's wife in the barn, she admits she is just lonely, as none of the men will talk to her. She tells him about her dream, and how she did not want to marry Curley. Steinbeck really make...
Due to the mental circumstances in which Lennie lives and the events which happened before his death, the killing of Lennie Small by his friend George was justified under “mercy killing”.Throughout this ongoing friendship, George constantly drags Lennie along with him. Lennie is known to have some mental issues which make keeping him around even more inexplicable. These issues cause himself not to know how hard to grasp or pet things. This is a big factor in this book because Lennie does some very bad things all caused by his petting issue.When Lennie kills Curley's wife, he knows George is going to be mad,”I shouldn’t have did that. George’ll be mad. An… he said… an’ hide in the brush till he come” (Steinbeck 92) This shows that Lennie has some brain capacity to remember what George said days earlier. This little capacity doesn’t make up for the killing of Curley’s wife. George mercifully kills Lennie when “he pulled the trigger. The crash of the
Although there are many important passages in Of Mice and Men, this passage is particularly important to the novella as a whole for a number of reasons. Steinbeck uses this passage to describe, and build up hope for, the dream that George and Lennie have, displaying the hope and naivete hidden beneath George's rough-and-tumble countenance. One major point of information we can glean from this passage is a connection between the title and the events of the novella. This passage displays George acting as a protective guardian or parent figure, a recurring theme throughout the story. The simple, almost childlike, optimistic excitement about the “future” reveals a side of George he doesn't normally allow himself to show. The farm that George describes acts as a sort of catalyst for the rest of the action in the book.