Foreshadowing was Used Effectively in the Novel.
Was it really a surprise that Lennie Killed Curley's wife, and later George shot Lennie? To an alert reader, the answer should be no. There was nothing surprising about Lennie Small's actions in John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men. The author foreshadows Lennie's fate by subtle and obvious ways. When Lennie has the dead mouse in his pocket and George says, "That mouse ain't fresh, Lennie; and besides, you've broke it pettin" it" (9), it shows Lennie's history of destructive behavior. Lennie isn't careful with the puppy that Slim let him have, and the puppy is killed by Lennie as well. Subtle events like the shooting of Candy's dog and George and Lennie's hiding place, gave hints at what was yet to come. Foreshadowing was used effectively in the story by clearly showing Lennie's destructive behavior, George and Lennie agreeing on a hiding place early on in the story, and the killing of Candy's dog being parallel to Lennie's death.
The climax of the novel, when Lennie broke the neck of Curley's wife, was foreshadowed throughout the whole story. In the exposition of the story, the reader learns that Lennie has had a love for soft things. George says to Lennie, "Jus" wanted to feel that girl's dress jus" wanted to pet it like it was a mouse " (11). In Weed, Lennie wanted to feel her dress, but he frightened the girl. She screamed and then that frightened Lennie. With Lennie's childlike brain, the only thing he can think of to do is hold on tighter. Finally George is forced to hit Lennie "over the head with a picket fence to make him let go" (41). However Lennie was not able to control his great physical strength with the mind he had. Another example of this is the mice that he received from his Aunt Clara. Lennie said, "I"d pet "em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead because they was so little" (10).
