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How Does Steinbeck Use Foreshadowing In Of Mice And Men

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In this essay will be discussing how Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to convey the death of Lennie and therefore the death of Lennie and George's American dream of owning a farm in the novel Of Mice and Men. The American Dream is portrayed as a fragile and easily destroyed ideology in the context of this novel. George and Lennie's dream of freedom and independence is soon show in the novel that it was over before they even acquired it which was the fate of many workers during the harsh depression of the 1930's. Through this novel we see the hardships and suffering of the working class of this time period which is projected through George and Lennie. The quote "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry" applies very well to this novel …show more content…

"He led the dog out into the darkness. George followed to the door and shut the door and set the latch gently in its place." A door is both an entrance and an exit and it has connotations with heaven or leaving a place and moving forward. The dog walking out the door can signify Lennie walking through the doors of heaven and when George closes the door it is a symbol of the finality of death. The manner in which George closes the door can be compared to how he he closes off the idea of the dream when he kills Lennie at the end of the book. Lennie can figuratively be seen as the dog waiting for its only fate which is death and George closing the door can be seen as him letting go or killing Lennie and starting a new part of his life without him. After the dog is killed Candy tells George that he regrets letting someone else shoot his dog. Candy believes his dog was his responsibility, and Candy feels he let the dog down by not taking its life himself, "you shoot your own dog." This can be compared how to how George sees Lennie as his responsibility and how he can be the only one that kills Lennie in the end therefore Candy and his dog mirror the image of George and Lennie. Both the dog and Lennie are loyal to their leader. The dog is loyal to Candy, and Lennie is loyal to George. George can not allow Lennie to die the same way Candy's dog did which is at the hands of a stranger. This chapter purely shows us that the weak don't survive in the harsh environments the workers live in which applies to Lennie due to his mental capabilities and therefore applies to their dream which is so fragile and delicate in a pitiless and unrelenting environment and it can only stay a dream and never be obtained only

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