How Does Steinbeck Use Foreshadowing to Enhance Our Understanding of the End of the Novella?
How does Steinbeck use foreshadowing to enhance our understanding of the end of the novella?
During the first scene, which takes place by the river on a very peaceful evening, the characters of Lennie and George are introduced. During their conversation, the reader learns a bit about their past and that Lennie has been in trouble before, because he is a crazy bastard. As a result, George has to rescue him, “You do bad things and I got to get you out”. The situation in Weed involved Lennies behaviour with a girl and Curleys wife, when she appears, is the only girl on the ranch. When the reader learns this, it immediately foreshadows that there might be trouble and that it is George who will have to sort out the problem. Foreshadowing gives the reader the clues that Lennie is someone who struggles to survive in the cruelty of the world. In the opening scene, the contrast of the peaceful river scene and the beauty of the natural surroundings create an image of how good everything can be. However, when this scene is revisited and changes to a scene of death, when the water snake is killed in the final chapter, it is another way in which the author uses foreshadowing.
Throughout the novella, it is the strong characters who attack the weak ones and then the weak attack the weaker. Each of the scenes where this happens are a way of foreshadowing the final ending to the story, when Lennie is killed by George, because there is no other thing to do in the situation. A good example of this is when Carlson forces Candy to let him shoot his dog,”Ill put the old devil out of his misery right now”. This is because he is old and useless, which is a hint of what might happen to Lennie when eventually he does something which means he is no longer any use around the farm. An example of the weak attacking the weaker is when Crooks teases Lennie, “jus spose he dont come back, whatll you do then?” Crooks preys on Lennie because he is weaker as a result of his slowness. In the end George realises that Lennie will have to be punished for killing Curleys wife and he knows that Lennie would not survive on his own, so it is better to kill him than have him suffer. He would either run away and be hunted down or killed by Curley. The situation of Candy and his dog mirror the relationship between George and Lennie, since there is dependence between them. The fact that the death of Candys dog and the death of Lennie are identical reflects the way his murder was carried out. He was shot in the same way the dog was. Candy told George, “I ought to of shot that dog myself”. This is because Candy feels it would be kinder for him to do it himself. This foreshadows what eventually happens, when George decides to kill Lennie himself to save him from dying by the hands of a stranger. Doing it