How Steinbeck Uses Foreshadowing and Settings Effectively
How does Steinbeck use Foreshadowing and Settings effectively in Of Mice and Men?
John Ernst Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men uses a lot of foreshadowing and clever settings effectively, which makes his novel a great book. The use of foreshadowing entices the reader and makes you want to read on. The well-described settings make a vivid image of what is actually going on and help us think what it really was like during the 1930’s.
Steinbeck uses masses of foreshadowing throughout his book. For instance, Steinbeck refers to Lennie as an animal. “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water…” George, later in the book, says “Ever’ Sunday we’d kill a chicken or rabbit. Maybe we’d have a cow or goat.” At the end of the book George kills Lennie. This is foreshadowing because Steinbeck is hinting that George would eventually kill Lennie as he said they’d kill an animal every weekend. In this case Lennie was constantly compared to an animal. This is effective as it reminds us that Lennie is like an animal and that George kills all sorts of animals which portrays the image that Lennie is going to be killed by George.
Another example of foreshadowing, is when George and Lennie are making their way to the ranch, George says to 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.” Towards the end of the book Lennie goes back to the bush and George kills him there. This piece of foreshadowing is vital because it almost definitely tells us that Lennie is going to get in trouble. When everyone starts to neglect Lennie, George kills him in a way that can be seen as euthanasia. Killing Lennie painlessly as there was no other way out. This can be linked to another point of foreshadowing, where Carlson says “The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn’t feel nothing. I’d put the gun right there. Right back of the head. He wouldn’t even quiver.” This shows that George was loyal to Lennie and cared for him as he didn’t want him
John Ernst Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men uses a lot of foreshadowing and clever settings effectively, which makes his novel a great book. The use of foreshadowing entices the reader and makes you want to read on. The well-described settings make a vivid image of what is actually going on and help us think what it really was like during the 1930’s.
Steinbeck uses masses of foreshadowing throughout his book. For instance, Steinbeck refers to Lennie as an animal. “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water…” George, later in the book, says “Ever’ Sunday we’d kill a chicken or rabbit. Maybe we’d have a cow or goat.” At the end of the book George kills Lennie. This is foreshadowing because Steinbeck is hinting that George would eventually kill Lennie as he said they’d kill an animal every weekend. In this case Lennie was constantly compared to an animal. This is effective as it reminds us that Lennie is like an animal and that George kills all sorts of animals which portrays the image that Lennie is going to be killed by George.
Another example of foreshadowing, is when George and Lennie are making their way to the ranch, George says to 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.” Towards the end of the book Lennie goes back to the bush and George kills him there. This piece of foreshadowing is vital because it almost definitely tells us that Lennie is going to get in trouble. When everyone starts to neglect Lennie, George kills him in a way that can be seen as euthanasia. Killing Lennie painlessly as there was no other way out. This can be linked to another point of foreshadowing, where Carlson says “The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn’t feel nothing. I’d put the gun right there. Right back of the head. He wouldn’t even quiver.” This shows that George was loyal to Lennie and cared for him as he didn’t want him