Of Mice And Men Foreshadowing

“Of Mice and Men” Literary Analysis

The American Dream, is the wish to prosper. In John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men told during the time of hard labor in the 1930’s about two close friends, who are all each other have, but are chasing this American dream, George and Lennie deal with several obstacles and road blocks with each other. Whether it be, hiding Lennie’s mental illness, or trying to keep a job to fulfill their version of the American dream, George will always have a soft spot in his heart for Lennie, and Lennie tries his hardest to please George. Through characterization and foreshadowing readers learn about the deeper meaning and theme to the novella of the American Dream. Although some may say that George and Lennie are

George did not want Lennie to die a brutal death from Curly. After repeating their American Dream one last time, George shoots Lennie in an act of kindness. Steinbeck shows George feeling lost and alone without Lennie, this is when George begins to realize that all of their dreams together, died with Lennie. There are several examples in Of Mice and Men that Steinbeck used foreshadowing this catastrophe. At the beginning of the novel, George exclaims, "Lady, huh? Don’t even remember who that lady was. That was your own Aunt Clara. An' she stopped giving' 'em to ya. You always killed 'em" (Steinbeck 9). The obsession with mice that always end up dead from the strength of Lennie’s hand, give readers an idea that death may occur later in the novel from this. Steinbeck used this to help figure out the characters better as well. After the events that occurred in the middle of the book with Candy and His dog, Candy told George, “I ought to have shot that dog myself, George. I ought not to have let no stranger shoot my dog.” (Steinbeck 61) This was his way of telling George that he should have put the dog out of his misery, because he had owned him since he was little. At the end of the book George shot Lennie himself, he knew that it was the right thing to do, and it had to be done before he hurt someone else. George also knew, that

George and Lennie are not only externally flawed, but both deal with psychological barriers throughout the story, Lennie being mentally challenged, and George having to swallow his anger, Steinbeck shows how both of the characters deal with these problems through support of each other, while chasing the same dream and using each other for support. It is a natural instinct for all people to dream, whether it be long term or a lifelong dream, the American people during this time were all hopeful and waiting for greatness to occur. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck created a novel of several characters who were striving to achieve this, but to Steinbeck this dream was a lost