Essay Example on Foreshadowing in Steinbeck's 'Of Mice and Men'

The Novel 'Of Mice and Men,' narrated by John Steinbeck, has many examples of foreshadowing throughout the book. The beginning and the end of the book hints the readers what will take place, thus making the book more exciting. The reason why the author used foreshadowing was to show how Lennie gets into trouble was because of Curley's wife, his death, and how he dies (Heimbecker n.p). Foreshadowing also plays a significant role at the beginning of the chapters when Steinbeck puts a specific amount of dark and light either coming from the sun or electric source. The entire sections have foreshadowing set to show the audience the turn out negatively or positively. The essay will, therefore, give a small brief of Lennie's behavior around women, the death of Candy's dog and the resemblance of Candy's dog.

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Foreshadowing not only appears in different points of the book but also throughout the actions of the characters. For instance, form the beginning and the end of each chapter, the novel shows the behavior of Lennie until the time he dies. In the end, Lennie is shot by his caretaker and best friend, George (Heimbecker n.p). Upon examination, it was seen that the bullet went through Lennie's back of the head to allow him to painlessly and quickly die; similar to how Candy's dog was shot. Besides having many foreshadowing in the book, this main one was used from the beginning of the chapters to the end, mainly when George and Lennie discuss how they ran out of weed while working in the town.

The beginning of the book introduces the world in a way that raises the emotions of the reader with happy tones of peaceful scends that plummets into a dark unhappy environment (Heimbecker n.p). The author also embraced strong characters to show how they attack the weak and how the weak attack the weaker. An excellent example is when Carlson tells Candy that, "I'll make the old devil face his misery to make him shoot his dog" (Stephen 47). Another excellent example when the weak attacks the weaker is seen when Crook teases Lennie that, "Jus s'pose that he does not return" (Stephen 72).

In this example, Lennie is the weakest due to his mental disability that makes him not think about himself. Sometimes he either ran away or would be killed. Candy, on the other hand, mirrors the image of Lennie and George (Heimbecker n.p). When the dog died, it foreshadowed it represented the death of Lennie because it was a representation of him. In contrast to this, the first chapter also shows the end of Lennie to show how the scene came from a peaceful environment to violent death. The profound change, in other words, shows the future tragedy that is supposed to face Lennie.

The novel also shows that immediately Curley's wife was introduced, an ill feeling was seen in the atmosphere to show that Lennie planned to mess with her. This makes George state that he always gets into mishaps by stating that, "when you do bad things, then I will get you out" (Stephen 11). When the situation of the weed involving the girl and Curley's wife is mentioned, it then connects with the insecurity between them. There was also an intimation that Curley's wife was supposed to be killed by Lennie because he is the same person responsible for the death of the puppy and the mouth. That is why George was predicting the demise of Curley's wife.

Even though the death of Lennie and Candy's dog is identical, it clearly shows how death took place. In other words, both were shot in the back of their heads. This was seen when Candy explained to George that " I wanted to shoot that dog myself but instead chose to kill Lennie to save him from being killed by a stranger" (Stephen 48). Candy also added that "used this style so that he does not feel pain." (Stephen 48).

The style of foreshadowing, as used by Steinbeck, was not to make the novel a little book but to make the reader predict what takes place before it happens. The death of Curley's wife, for example, was to show how Lennie was a trouble maker. However, his death also foreshadowed the bond between the use of contrast, the character s, and the style she was killed similar to Candy's dog's death (Heimbecker n.p). Even though the author could not create the same character as that of Shakespeare, he managed to develop the 'Stenbeck style' so that no one could copy.

The end of the book shocks the readers because of the surprise they came across that were given as examples of foreshadowing. Immediately they find this they discover that the end is not surprising but making sense to them. An excellent example is when George met with Lennie and told him that," if you get into a problem that has ever found you, I want you to come here and hide in the bush," (Stephen 65). The sentences would not have made sense if foreshadowing was not included. However, since the event for foreshadowing was vital, some more they were not significant at the end of the book.

A few examples of foreshadowing were also used in the middle of the book when Candy told George something that it was vital while the reader is finalizing the book. For instance, Candy stated that "I want to shoot the dog myself, George, instead of allowing a stranger to kill my dog" (Stephen 69). Candy, in short, was trying to state that since he owned the dog since it was a puppy, she was the one who was to kill it. However, at the back of his mind, he knew that he and George were not supposed to kill the dog.

In most cases, books usually have recurring incidents that represent the same example of foreshadowing. This is one thing most authors find it essential while writing novels. For instance, in this novel, the author showed how Lennie had a habit of touching soft things. However, as the reader reads deeper, they realize that anything Lennie touches ends up being hurt. Another example shown by the author is in the first chapters where George stated that "Lennie, the mouse is not fresh and to make matters worse you broke it while you were touching it," (Stephen 23).

This shows that Lennie never realized that he hurt the mouse while touching it. Another way the author showed was when Lennie hurt the puppy while he was petting it. But to cover his mistake, Lennie stated that the dog was not big enough (Heimbecker n.p). Even though he realized that he hurt the dog, it was too late and could not do anything. All the examples of foreshadowing used in the book are meant to show essential events.

Another example used was when Curley's wife went to speak to Lennie while he was in the barn. When she requested Lennie to touch her hair, the reader's believed that she will be hurt since Lennie destroys anything he touches. The prediction was correct because Lennie snapped her neck after she had started yelling at him to make him stop touching her hair. In most cases, Steinbeck makes the reader unsure but then connects them with other incidents. Various events were also shown in the book to show how Lennie killed Curley's wife.

In the end, George killed Lennie because he believed that it was the only way to comfort Lennie. He did this by making a quick and painless death. George also knew that if he failed to kill Lennie, he would have regretted it. Since the end of the book would have frustrated the reader, the author foreshadowed the story to make it end with understanding rather than pain (Heimbecker n.p). Readers ended up knowing that it was vital for George to kill Lennie himself instead of another person.

All the examples given by Steinbeck make the reader understand the book. For instance, the time George told Lennie to meet him in the bush was foreshadowed at the end of the book when he agreed to meet him (Heimbecker n.p). Also, Candy confessed that he wanted to kill the dog and this is why George ended up killing him because he never wanted to regret it as Candy. The last thing noticed is that all the time that Lennie killed animals while touching the animals. The same way he was petting animals and they died was the same method that he did when he killed Curley's wife. The end of the book shows that the novel could not make sense if Steinbeck would not put foreshadowing examples in the book.

Conclusion

The Novel 'Of Mice and Men,' narrated by John Steinbeck, has many examples of foreshadowing throughout the book. The beginning of the book introduces the world in a way that raises the emotions of the reader with happy tones of peaceful scenes that plummets into a dark unhappy environment. The novel also shows that immediately Curley's wife was introduced, an ill feeling was seen in the atmosphere to show that Lennie planned to mess with her. In the end, George killed Lennie because he believed that it was the only way to comfort Lennie. All the examples given by Steinbeck make the reader understand the book.

Works Cited

Heimbecker, Breanna. Foreshadowing in Of Mice and Men. 2014, https://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/academic/article/677387/Foreshadowing-in-Of-Mice-and-Men/.Stephen, Martin. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck. Longman, 2010.