Foreshadowing In Of Mice And Men

Lennie Small; A simple man with a simple mind in a not-so-simple world. Lennie is mentally handicapped, living in the 1930’s during the Great Depression with his friend and caretaker, George. Because Lennie has the mind of a child, but the strength and appearance of a 30-year-old man, he often gets into trouble. He poorly tries to hide the evidence of his wrongdoings and cannot fully understand the consequences of his own actions which ultimately results in his death. In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Lennie’s death is foreshadowed in conversations, Lennie’s tendency of petting animals too roughly, and the events that happen in Weed and on the ranch.

In the beginning of Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are on a bank of the Salinas River

talking about what Lennie did in Weed, a town where they were run out of. While there, Lennie is accused of rape after touching a girl’s dress because of its softness. “‘Jus’ wanted to feel that girl’s dress―jus’ wanted to pet it like it was a mouse...’” (11). They also speak of their dream farm, where they both get to relax and Lennie gets to tend rabbits. “‘Well,’ said George, ‘we'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. And when it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof…’” (14-15). Then, George tells Lennie to remember a few things: to stay out of trouble on the ranch or he will not get to tend the rabbits, “But you ain’t gonna get in no trouble, because if you do, I won’t let you tend the rabbits”(16), to hide in the brush nearby if he gets in trouble like he did in Weed, “‘Look, Lennie. I want you to look around here. You can remember this place, can’t you? … Lennie― if you jus’ happen to get into trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush…’”(15), and lastly to keep quiet once they get to the ranch so they can see how strong he is and how hard he works before he opens his mouth, “‘What are you gonna say tomorrow when the boss asks you questions?’ … ‘I… I ain’t gonna … say a word.’ ‘Good boy! That’s fine, Lennie! Maybe you’re getting better. When we get a coupla acres I can let you tend the rabbits all right. ’Specially if you remember as good as that’” (15). In this conversation, Steinbeck is cleverly implying that Lennie’s actions will get him into trouble at some point and he will have to retreat to the brush by the river, while simultaneously discouraging the reader of this assumption by planting a seed of hope for Lennie’s improvement in memory. He also suggests that Lennie is unlikely to stay quiet when the boss questions him.
While they are on the farm, one of the ranch hands, Carlson, is trying to convince Candy, an older ranch hand, to put down his dog.

Thier discussions reflect how George later feels when he kills Lennie. “‘God awmighty, that dog stinks… You gotta get him out… Why’n’t you shoot him, Candy? The old man squirmed uncomfortably. “Well―hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup’”(44). Candy objects to shooting his dog. He overlooks his odor and old age because he considers his dog his best friend and if his dog is dead, he does not have anyone left. Because of this, Candy is willing to pay for such a large portion of George and Lennie’s dream farm; because he will have company in his old age and the ability to do some gentle farm work. George has a similar relationship with Lennie. He insists that Lennie stay with him even though Lennie gets him into so much trouble because he feels obligated to care for him.“‘Look, Candy. This ol’ dog jus’ suffers hisself all the time. If you was to take him out and shoot him right in the back of the head―’ he leaned over and pointed, ‘―right there, why he’d never know what hit him.’ … ‘Tell you what. I’ll shoot him for you. Then it won't be you that does it’… ‘Maybe it’d hurt him’ … Carlson said, ‘The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn't feel nothing. I’d put the gun right there’”(45). Carlson reassures Candy that his dog won’t feel any pain when he dies. Candy agrees to let Carlson shoot his dog but he later regrets this and expresses that

to George. “Candy said, ‘George.’ ‘Huh?’ ‘I oughtta of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t oughtta of let no stranger shoot my dog.’”(45 & 61). Steinbeck puts a lot of emphasis on Candy’s regret because he wants to make it clear that no stranger should kill your loved one. He also repeats the steps Carlson says he will take when shooting the dog in a painless fashion. These events also tie in the way Steinbeck describes Lennie as a dog. At the end of the novel, George remembers Candy’s regret and shoots Lennie in the back of the head, the same place Candy’s dog was shot, himself instead of letting someone else do it to avoid the pain.
Lennie is always getting himself and George out of jobs and into trouble.

Most of the problems that Lennie creates are because of his fascination with soft things, especially the rabbits on their dream farm. This causes many problems for Lennie throughout the novella, including his death. In the beginning of the novella, George finds a dead mouse that Lennie has in his pocket and they talk about his habit of killing the soft things. “‘What you got in your hand―hidin’ it?’ ‘I ain’t got nothin’, George. Honest.’ ‘Come on, give it here.’ Lennie held his closed hand away from George’s direction. ‘It’s on’y a mouse, George … Jus’ a dead mouse. I didn’ kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead.’ ‘Give it here’ … George took the mouse and threw it across the pool to other side, among the brush… There were sounds of splashing down by the river in the direction… ‘Awright,’ he said brusquely. ‘Gi’me that mouse!’ … George stood up and threw the mouse as he could into the darkening brush … Lennie’s lip quivered and tears started in his eyes...”(5-9). Lennie acts like a child. He kills the mouse petting it, lamely lies about having the mouse and how it died, jumps back into the river to fetch it thinking that George wouldn’t notice, refuses to hand it over to George, and cries when it gets taken away. This isn’t the first time Lennie has killed a mouse or animal. When he lived with his Aunt Clara she would give him mice she found. “‘I remember a lady used to give ’em to me…’ She

stopped givin’ ’em to ya. You always killed ’em.’ Lennie looked sadly up at him. ‘They was so little,’ he said apologetically. ‘I’d pet ’em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead―because they was so little’(10). When they get to the ranch Lennie is still fixated on maintaining his dream of tending the rabbits, but when he is introduced to the little puppies that Slim’s dog recently gave birth to, he and one of the pups become inseparable. He often goes down to the barn and takes the puppy to pet it against the strict orders George gives him not to take it away from its mother because he’ll kill it. Lennie does not heed George’s warning and he inevitably ends up killing the puppy. “‘Lennie, … I tol’ you not to bring that pup in here.’ … I didn’t mean no harm, George’ … George handed the pup to him. ‘Awright. You get him back there quick, and don’ you take him out no more. You’ll kill him, the first thing you know.” Lennie fairly scuttled out of the room … Only Lennie was in the barn, and Lennie sat in the hay … and looked at the little dead puppy that lay in front of him… Lennie spoke softly to the puppy, ‘Why do you got to get killed?’ You ain’t so little as mice’” (42,43,84,85). He sits in the barn with the dead puppy for a while until Curley’s wife comes in and finds him there. This is when Lennie gets into the biggest trouble of his life, so big that he can no longer run away from or forget it. His childlike obsession with soft things, poor reactions in tense situations, and inability to fathom the full consequences of his actions. “‘I like to pet nice things … ‘Well who don't?’ she said. ‘Ever’body likes that. I like to feel silk an’ velvet … When I’m doin’ my hair sometimes I jus’ set an’ stroke it ’cause it’s so soft.’ … ‘Here― feel right here.’… Lennie’s fingers closed on her hair and hung on … She screamed then, and Lennie’s other hand closed over her mouth and nose … Lennie began to cry with fright ‘Oh! Please don’t do none of that,’ he begged. ‘George gonna say I done a bad thing. He ain’t gonna let me tend no rabbits.’ … And she continued to struggle, and her eyes were wild with terror … her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck” (90-91). He only knows that if he does a bad thing, George will be mad at him. He doesn’t recognize that murder is a crime that he will go to jail for. This is the first time Lennie commits a crime with anger and intentional violence which he has to pay for with his life. He has reached a point of no return. “‘Look acrost the river, Lennie, you can almost see it… we gonna get a little place,’ George began”(104). George reminds Lennie of the happy little farm they planned on having for so long so that he could have happy thoughts on his mind in death. “He reached in his side pocket and brought our Carlson’s Luger; he snapped off the safety… and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head… [and] he pulled the trigger” (106).
The root of Lennie’s problem is his displacement from society because of his child-like behavior and attraction to soft things which touches on the book’s theme of prejudice. Steinbeck highlights 1930’s prejudice in a few ways; Crooks’ discrimination from the group, Candy and his dog’s uselessness with age, and finally Lennie who is mentally handicapped. John Steinbeck foreshadows Lennie’s death in Of Mice and Men through events on the farm, conversations between the men, and Lennie’s repetitive urge to pet soft things.