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How does the death of Lennie's puppy foreshadow Lennie's own death?

While the death of Candy's dog is clearly meant to foreshadow Lennie's death, it could also be argued that the death of Lennie's puppy is used as foreshadowing as well. Like Candy's dog, Lennie's puppy is powerless to control his fate. The puppy is simply the victim of things which he cannot avoid. That he ended up in Lennie's hands was bad luck for him. Likewise, Candy's dog could not control his increasing age, falling victim to decline and the power of Carlson, who cared little that the dog was Candy's only friend.


Indeed, like the puppy, all the characters in Of Mice and Men are powerless to control their fates, and Lennie is no exception. Lennie cannot control his obsession with touching soft things and he cannot recognize or control his overpowering strength. That he is in the barn with Curley's wife during the fateful events of chapter five proves that, as with the puppy, fate is not kind to Lennie. Curley's wife provides an irresistible temptation which Lennie cannot avoid. Like the puppy, Lennie ends up accidentally killing Curley's wife, sealing his ultimate fate of being killed by George. In chapter six, George has no recourse but to kill Lennie and Lennie lacks the power to prevent his fate.

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