Fate Of Lennie example essay topic

Life during the Great Depression was a time of hardship and suffering for Americans nationwide. Many left their homes to search for work, hoping that one day they would be able to settle down on a piece of land of their own. George and Lennie, the two main characters in Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, had to endure these same conditions. The two men wander from ranch to ranch, always winding up on the run because of Lennie's tendency to touch soft things. The two men had to run from Weed, their last job location, because Lennie touched a woman's dress and she complained of harassment. Incidents such as these have always happened before, and it seems to be a reoccurring pattern among the two men.

Wherever they go, no matter what they do, something bad always happens to them. Their situation is the same with their new job in Salinas, where George ends up shooting Lennie. The end was inevitable, George could do nothing to avoid it. Fate cannot be altered, the result will be the same no matter what actions are taken. Steinbeck uses symbolism to show fate and how it plays a part in the lives of George and Lennie. The card game the ranch men play illustrates this.

"Lennie reached for a face card and studied it, then he turned it upside down and studied it. "Both ends the same he said", he said. "George, why is it both ends the same?" (page 55). We know the cards symbolize fate and the lives of the two men. This statement shows that no matter which way you turn the card, (the lives of the men) the result will always be the same.

The lack of control can be seen here. Steinbeck has Lennie realize this to show the reader that what has happened before will happen again. Another example in the card game the men play is when 2-6 sent commentary goes here Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to show how unavoidable fate is. One event that is foreshadowed is the death of Curley's wife. "Lennie sat in the hay and looked at the little dead puppy in front of him" (page 85). The killing of the puppy (and the mice in the beginning of the book) show how Lennie is not in control of his actions.

Even though he does not mean it, he ends up killing Curley's wife. Another example of how Steinbeck uses foreshadowing to show the fate of Lennie is when Candy's dog is shot. Carlson offers to do the job. "If you was to shoot him right in the back of the head-" he leaned over and pointed, "-right there, why he'd never know what hit him". (page 45). Candy is devoted to the animal, just as George is devoted to Lennie, yet he must see the creature killed just as Lennie is at the end of the book.

Lennie, like the dog, is fated to die by being shot in the back of the head. Also, foreshadowing shows the works of fate when Lennie gets in a fight with Curley". " The pan Fate determines what happens in life, and nothing can be done to alter it. Foreshadowing and symbolism are two ways in which Steinbeck shows how fate plays a part in the lives of George and Lennie. Steinbeck's view of fate applies to the world around us..