Of Mice And Men Foreshadowing Analysis

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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck tells the story of the struggles between migrant workers and only worrying about yourself. Steinbeck’s use of characterization, symbolism, and foreshadowing shows the dark side of the people working together and the downfalls that selfishness causes. To start, characterization is a key element that develops the tension between the workers. When Curley is looking for Crooks, the stable-buck, he asks George, “Where the hell is that God damn n****r?” (Steinbeck 29). By this use of profanity, he is already viewed as a temperamental person. Then, he disrespectfully calls Crooks a demeaning name due to him being an African American. This shows that Curley is extremely rude and does not care about the feelings of …show more content…

Again, Curley cannot help himself from starting tension when he picks on Lennie for not speaking up. Candy warns George that “He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys” (Steinbeck 26). This foreshadows that Curley and Lennie will get into a brawl later on due to Curley’s automatic jealousness of men who are bigger than him, such as Lennie. By prejudging someone, Curley proves the point that humans easily get jealous and will start an unnecessary fight for their own sake of societal security and acceptance. Hence, people are selfish and will usually do anything so that they may be viewed with more respect. Even Lennie, who is innocent and seemingly harmless, brings out his own dark side. First, he kills a mouse while he is in the woods just for the sake of having something to pet. Then, Lennie accidentally kills a puppy and realizes, “Now maybe George ain’t gonna let me tend no rabbits, if he fin’s out you got killed” (Steinbeck 83). By killing the mouse and then a larger puppy, Lennie is gradually becoming more skilled at execution. This foreshadows that he may tragically do the same to a more important living being by continuing the trend. Also, he shows his selfishness after he murders the puppy by only worrying if it will ruin his chance of tending to the rabbits at his future farm. He obviously does not care about the well being of the puppy that he has just murdered. He only worries about what will happen to him. The greediness and inability of Curley and Lennie to properly interact with other beings show that they only care about themselves and have pugnacious

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