Foreshadowing In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men
Foreshadowing is a literary device used by authors to hint what is to come and also to arouse the readers. In the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, two migrant workers, George and Lennie, dream to own a piece of land but Lennie’s actions take away that chance. In the book, during their stay at a farm south of Weed, Steinbeck creates many events that foreshadow the murder of Curley’s wife.
Some hints Steinbeck portrays during the book are when he emphasizes Lennie’s love for petting soft objects and when everything he pet died. For example, when Lennie received a pup from Slim an incident occurred at the barn,”Lennie sat in the hay and looked at a little dead puppy” (Steinbeck 85). In the piece of evidence Lennie has a pet pup that was given to him by Slim. Lennie always loves playing with the dog and stroking its fur but Lennie was to rough with him and accidently kills it.

Her loneliness had her end up talking to Lennie at the end of the book. When she was talking to Candy,Lennie, and Crooks she said,”Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?” (Steinbeck 77). The author is already pointing out that Curley’s wife feels isolated from everyone else and wants to socialize. Finally the last piece of evidence is when Curley’s wife is trying to talk to Lennie in the barn after he kills the pup,”None of them guys is goin’ to leave that (horseshoe) tenement… I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” (Steinbeck 86). As they continue to talk Lennie brings up how he likes petting soft things, so Curley’s wife let him stroke her hair and he ends up killing her. None of this would’ve been less likely to happen had not Curley’s wife felt lonely and tried to interact with