Foreshadowing Steinbeck uses foreshadowing throughout the novel to predict what is going to happen to Curley's wife at the end of the novel. First, Lennie liked touching soft things. For example, he liked petting mice, getting angry at them, and then killing them. Second, Curley's wife and the color red. For example, she always had red clothes on which was a sign of danger. Third, Lennie never wanted to do anymore bad things. For example, once he killed the puppy, people could see how everything would have escalated after Lennie killed his puppy. Last, Lennie always liked how Curley's wife looked. For example, the first thing he said after she left was something about how pretty Curley's wife was. People can see how these foreshadowing events
Writing devices are used perfectly throughout the whole book, including foreshadow of Curley’s wife’s and Lennie’s final death, symbolization that stands for social issues back to 1930’s, and comparison of the weak and the strong. First, foreshadow in this book is mainly used as clues of both Lennie’s and Curley’s wife’s death. According to the whole book, Lennie, a poor big man with mental problems, was fond of petting small animals such as mice and rabbits that were finally killed by Lennie accidentally. He has also displeased young ladies on the former farm by touching them rudely, which drove Lennie and George to work on the other farm. These foreshadows indicate that Lennie would definitely do harm to Curley’s wife when she invited him touching her.
Lennie is Autistic which makes it difficult for him to understand social communication and interaction. He also has poor self-awareness making him not know his own strength, because of that at the start he kills a mouse by petting it too hard, when the puppy bit him he smacked the dog too hard, and Curley's wife, Lennie went to touch hair because it was soft, but it frightened her causing Lennie to become scared when she started screaming. Even though Lennie didn’t know what he was doing and didn’t mean to do it, it would probably happen again putting Lennie and others in danger.
In the novel, John Steinbeck’s use of foreshadowing created a much more suspenseful atmosphere until the last flip of the page. To start, Steinbeck used many different lines to foreshadow the murder of the nameless woman, Curley’s wife. Lennie shows his strength at the beginning of the novel when he had gotten in trouble for grabbing a girl’s dress. His strength is also shown when George found out he had kept a dead mouse in
However, in the conflict towards the end of the book, Curley’s wife had told Lennie to feel her hair. She asked him to stop soon after, but he would not. Curley’s wife started to scream and Lennie held on in fear of getting into trouble. Steinbeck wrote, “Lennie began to cry with fright. ‘Oh, please don’t’ Lennie said, ‘You gonna get me in trouble jus’ like George says you will.
When Curley is first introduced to Lennie and George, “He glanced coldly at George and then at Lennie. His arms gradually bent at the elbows and his hands closed into fists. He stiffened and went into a slight crouch. His glance was at once calculating and pugnacious” (Steinbeck 25). Steinbeck develops this image because it portrays how Curley is intimidated by George and Lennie and, therefore, has menacing and bitter actions toward them without knowing them yet.
¨Ain I got a right to talk to nobody…?¨ This is a line directly said from Curly’s wife in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck introduced Curly’s wife as a tart, eyeing men up and down, while married, and always finding herself in the men’s cabin area. He also introduces her as a lonely average wife during the 1900s, having nothing to look forward too. Steinbeck gives information about what women felt like during these tough times, especially how lonely they were, and how they couldn’t follow their own dreams.
Curley’s wife has many unrealized dreams. Before her death, Curley’s wife confesses her desire to become a movie star, “Coulda been in the movies, an’ had nice clothes-all them nice clothes like they wear... An’ all them nice clothes like they wear. Because this guy says I was a natural.” p.89
The characters in “Of Mice and Men” have memorable personalities that we all can relate to due to their set archetypes. John Steinbeck uses these common and generalized in order to have the readers relate more to his characters. This allows the reader to experience the story and feelings of the characters much better and lets the reader to connect to the character’s feelings, or force the reader to form opinions that aligns with those of the main protagonist(s). In “Of Mice of Men”, readers are initially introduced to Curley’s Wife with words such as “tart”, and having “the eye”. Which, even if readers do not know what that means, it may be inferred through diction that she is overly flirty, or a “tramp”.
when he’s spoke to”(steinbeck 28). That is indicating that curley is trying to fight lennie. Curley doesn’t like people who are bigger than him, so he tries to take them down and act like a bigger guy than he really is. In conclusion, these topics use foreshadowing because when curley tries to fight lennie, because they end up fighting later in the
The death of Curley’s wife is a very shocking event which is what triggers George’s decision to shoot Lennie. She does nothing wrong and without noticing Lennie kills her; just how he killed the mouse and the puppy killed the puppy. Curley’s wife’s death is a tragedy and symbolizes Lennie’s untroubled life coming to an end. Even though Lennie is not a bad person after the death of Curley’s wife, we can no longer think of him as an innocent child-like person. George and Lennie’s life was about survival, but centred on the innocent dream of the rabbits.
When George tells Lennie to meet him in the bushes if anything bad happens this is foreshadowing to the ending of the book when Lennie has to meet him there. Also, Candy telling George that he regretted not killing his dog himself leads to the end where George kills Lennie because he didn't want to live with the same regret as Candy. Lastly, all of the times that Lennie kills animals by petting them foreshadows to when Lennie kills Curley’s wife. The ending of John Steinbeck’s book would not make sense without him putting examples of foreshadowing in the
When Curley’s wife is talking to Lennie, she initially judges him and claims, “I think you’re nuts” based off of the way he sounds and the things he talks about (Steinbeck 98). Curley’s wife misjudges Lennie because he talks and sounds different than her, so her initial judgment is that he is nuts. She uses a stereotypical reference to implicate the idea that he is a crazy person. However, after talking to him for a while now she realizes that he is “kinda a nice fella” and came to accept him (Steinbeck 99). Once she really got to talk to Lennie and really understand who he is, she could make the right judgment about him.
Curley’s wife is portrayed to be a “tart”, someone who is always flirting with other people. When she is first introduced, Steinbeck writes “ The rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off”, which gives the impression that Curley’s wife is ominous and perilous for Lennie and George. The imagery implies that Curley’s wife is the darkness in their lives and that she is the obstacle in the journey of accomplishing the American Dream. During the climax of Steinbeck’s novella, he writes “ The light was growing soft now” represents the slow release of her soul and that darkness slowly filling the barn and their lives. It also indicates the gradual discharge of hope and belief from the minds of Lennie, George and Candy.
The Death of The Unborn Female American Dream Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, takes place during the time of The Great Depression; an era extremely difficult for women. The novella contains many iconic characters that serve as a metaphor to our societal standards. Curley’s wife is introduced just like any other; however, the emphasis on her feminine features are metaphoric to where women stand in society. In order to prove that society makes it impossible for certain people to attain The American Dream, Steinbeck objectifies, sexualizes, and kills Curley’s wife to show that women cannot reach The American Dream. Steinbeck uses specific vocabulary to objectify Curley’s wife; alienating her from The American Dream.
The characters in Of Mice and Men all have original and unique characteristics inside of them, but no matter how different, they all have the same reactions of giving up when thinking about dreams. The main characters George and Lennie, recently unemployed migrant workers, move to a new ranch for work. Thrown into a cruel, misshapen life that doesn’t end well for the majority of characters, George and Lennie find themselves in a dilemma that seems all too familiar. John Steinbeck uses the characters in Of Mice and Men to show that dreams are fragile and they need friends to support them.