Curley's Wife Foreshadowing Analysis

In the final chapter in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, there is a pressing scene in which Lennie kills Curley’s wife. When Lennie accidentally kills his puppy, he's upset and the entrance of Curley’s wife only heightens his anger because he is not supposed to be speaking with her. This meeting leads to her demise. This scene is significant because it showcases Lennie’s strength as well as shows us the humanity and loneliness in Curley’s wife, and the foreshadowing that's repeated throughout the novel.
Steinbeck uses compelling diction to show, the theme loneliness is a destructive force through this killing. Curley’s wife was undoubtedly one of the loneliest beings on the farm, if not the loneliest. She was the only woman on the farm because of her marriage to a man to whom she said she “Don’ like” because “He ain’t a nice fella” (Steinbeck 122.) She is so desperate for someone to listen to her she starts confiding in Lennie, who she …show more content…
Lennie previously tried to touch a woman in a red dress and she said he tried to rape her, so he and George had to flee their hometown. Upon the introduction of Curley’s wife, Lennie is awestruck by her beauty and George warns him not to become involved with her. When Curley’s wife enters she’s wearing “her bright cotton dress and the mules with the red ostrich feathers” (Steinbeck 118) which connects with the woman in Weed because of her red attire. Lennie’s dead puppy also foreshadows Curley’s wife’s death. Before she arrived, Lennie became angry at the puppy for biting him and accidentally killed him. When Lennie holds on to Curley’s wife’s hair, she is so frightened she resists and screams, but Lennie becomes angry with her for shouting, saying “Don’t you go yelling” (Steinbeck 125” as he shakes her and breaks her neck. The death of Curley’s wife is oddly the only way her humanity's shown throughout this