‘I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog’.
…and Lennie has been warned several times that the puppy may die if it is mistreated. As we have seen, nothing good has happened to any dogs in this book and thus should prepare the reader to suspect the worst to happen to Lennie.
The killing of Candy’s dog foreshadows two things: the ending of a hard life and at the same time, the end of a relationship that made life worth living. These two factors foreshadows the death of Lennie.
Another reason why the reader may believe that Lennie’s death is inevitable is because his animal nature has proved dangerous before. Now, we are stuck with the idea that Lennie cannot fit into human society (he doesn’t take part in any activities with the other ranch workers); he is a more primitive form of life due to his tremendous strength. This separates him from the ‘group’ of ranch hands and therefore will be killed.
Lennie’s two visions give us an interesting insight into his feelings of guilt and also provide us with another reason why his death will occur. His two visions include ‘Aunt Clara’ and ‘The Giant Rabbit’. Neither Aunt Clara nor the rabbit mention the killing of the girl or the puppy-perhaps saving the deaths for later on in the novel?
When the ‘huge man’ (Lennie) crushes Curley’s hand, his strength is actually seen for the first time and foreshadows that there will be trouble on the ranch. As soon as Lennie let Curley’s hand go, Curley said that he wouldn’t tell anyone about what happened but we all know that he would want to get his revenge.
Another factor is that of which Lennie loves to pet soft, smooth things, for example: mice. We all know that when Lennie pets the mice, he underestimates his own strength and crushes the mice and kills them without knowing it himself. Curley’s wife learns that Lennie is simple-minded and attempts to take advantage of him. In a flirtatious manner, she asks Lennie to stroke her soft hair. When she feels his powerful hands that do not know how to be gentle, she panics, screams for help, and brings about the climax of the novel. When Lennie covers her mouth and shakes her to be quiet, he breaks her neck. The reader then knows that Lennie’s death is inevitable.
