Foreshadowing In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck leads the readers to the end of the novel, Of Mice and Men, by going deep into the characterization of the character Lennie Smalls, showing a progression of Lennie’s destruction, and using foreshadowing to indicate the conclusion of the story. Foreshadowing is the hinting in a story that shows something that will happen later in the story. Characterization is a technique used by writers to develop a character and make them believable. The author teases the ending of the story by making connections between different aspects of the story and hinting the audience to the abominable ending of the novel. Also, John Steinbeck links the reader to the end of the story by revealing aspects of Lennie’s character during

Throughout the story, the author gives the reader hints to piece together what will happen at the end of the plot. A way that Steinbeck foreshadows the ending is by piecing together aspects of the story. In the beginning of the story, George tell Lennie to hide in the brush by the river if he ever gets into trouble. Also, Lennie’s actions throughout the story, reveal to the audience that he will get into some issues in the future. “‘Lennie-if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush’”(Steinbeck 15). John Steinbeck included this in the story because where Lennie goes after he had killed Curley’s wife is an important part because George knows where to go after Lennie had gotten into trouble and is able to get there before the other men on the ranch find him. The inconvenience that Lennie causes prior to Lennie and George getting their new jobs foreshadows the ending because the readers and piece together that if Lennie causes trouble everywhere that he goes, he is bound to cause trouble at the ranch. A point in the story where the author uses foreshadowing to lead us to the ending is when Candy has to kill his dog. The men on the ranch tell Candy that he should get rid of his dog because it isn't any good to itself or anyone on the ranch. Candy ends up agreeing and his dog is taken outside to get shot in the head. After Carlson has killed Candy’s dog, Candy states that he should have been the one to do the job himself. This anticipates the ending because when Lennie gets into trouble by killing Curley’s wife, the men on the ranch head out to kill him. George heads out to find Lennie before the other men do because he feels as if he is responsible for Lennie and should be the one to end his life similar to how Candy wanted to be the one to shoot his dog. George realizes that killing