What are some examples of fate in Of Mice and Men?

Answer 1

It's not a question of fate, but foreshadowing. Steinbeck hints to the reader that the bad things that happened would always occur. For example, George's warning to Lennie that if anything happened at the ranch, he should return to the clearing. The fact that George mentions it suggests something bad will happen. Also, Curley's wife wearing a red dress, the girl Lennie grabbed in Weed wore a red dress...

I think the overriding message of the novel is that the men were fated never to succeed. The economic situation in America at the time meant that George and Lennie would never have been able to survive on the farm they dreamed of. The land had been overworked, hence it being nicknamed a 'dust bowl'. The reason the old lady George speaks of was so desperate to get rid of her farm was that it was probaly no longer yielding a decent crop, so even if they had procured the farm it would have been useless. The character were never going to succeed. The title of the novel comes from a Robert Burn's poem and loosely translated means "that the best laid plans of of mice and men often go wrong." The title tells the reader from the start that the plans of the farm workers will never reach fruition.

Answer 2

In "Of Mice and Men," fate is reflected in the characters' inability to escape their circumstances, such as Lennie's fatal attraction to soft things, which ultimately leads to his tragedy. George also faces fate when he is forced to make a difficult decision about Lennie's fate, highlighting the deterministic nature of their lives. Additionally, the novel's setting during the Great Depression serves as a backdrop to the characters' struggles and emphasizes the idea of fate shaping their lives.