- 'Rattling of halter chains' associated with Curley's Wife and the trouble she brings.
- The idea of a 'mountain slope' links to the opening of the novella and the place where Lennie was told to go if he ever got into trouble. Is the reader being reminded of this just before he kills Curley's Wife so needs to go there?
- 'Between the slats' has connotations of prison. Suggestive of Lennie's future actions?
- 'Bright lines in the hay' continues the recurring motif of light and dark.
- Animals on the novel always die.
- Juxtaposition - 'little dead puppy' and 'huge hand' exaggerates how powerful Lennie is.
- Lennie doesn't understand the consequences of his actions - he simply thinks he's done 'another bad thing'