Of Prophesies and Dreams

“God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame” (Hannah Arendt). In his most celebrated novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck describes two ranch workers, George and Lennie, as dreamers who work hard to get what they desire the most: their own tract of land. However, unlike other “and they lived happily after” stories, these protagonists never achieve that dream because of Lennie’s mental disability. Throughout the book, Steinbeck uses one of the many literary devices, foreshadowing, to foretell the inevitable failure of achieving their dreams and the death of Lennie Small.
In Of Mice and Men, by revealing Lennie’s peculiar habit of touching soft and furry things, Steinbeck foreshadows the trouble that lies ahead from the very beginning of the book. As Steinbeck describes, Lennie’s fascination with soft things got both Lennie and George in trouble when they once worked in Weed. More specifically, Lennie “wanted to feel [a] girl’s dress – jus’ wanted to pet it like it w...