Which are the literary devices used by John Steinbeck in Of Mice and Men?

The first would be oxymoron. The two character Lennie
Smalls is considered an oxymoron becuase the character himself is a big, oaf like man,
and yet his name would imply otherwise.

Next, you find
numerous examples of foreshadowing in this novella. For example, at the beginning of the
story you see George tell Lennie that if something should go wrong then they should meet
right back at the bank. Low and behold after the death of Curly's wife that is where the
two men are forced to meet. This is why the novella has a cyclical structure, it starts
and ends in the same location. Another example of foreshadowing would be the killing of
Candy's dog. Candy tells George that he should of killed his own dog instead of letting
someone else do it. This then leads into George being the one to kill Lennie before
someone else can.

The farm itself is considered a
microcosim in the fact that every sect of society is reprepresented in that one ranch.
You have the mentally challenged, the napolian complex, the black guy, the old guy, the
crippled guy, the woman... all in this one location.

There
is also symbolism in that the dream farm of George and Lennie could represent the
American Dream and at the time this dream was disillusioned with the idea of the Great
Depression and how many could not in fact achieve said dream. The reader knew that
something would prevent the two men from obtaining their dream.