Of Mice and Men: Persuasive Essay



Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to persuade your audience to agree with your position on a controversial subject.

Audience: Your audience is any adolescent or adult who has read the book. You may assume your audience knows the book’s plot and characters, though a brief, focused review of any specific events you will be discussing is required to give your essay context. Always keep in mind that although your audience is anybody who can read Of Mice and Men, the evaluator is your English teacher, so your level of diction, depth, and sentence style should meet academic standards. Except where you attempt to use ethos or pathos, do not use second person pronouns; avoid overuse of first person pronouns.

Focus: Choose One

• Should George have killed Lennie?

• Should a mentally handicapped person be held responsible for his/her actions?

• According to your own definition, did George and Lennie have a true friendship?

• Can you blame Curley’s Wife for her own death?

• Do a movie review evaluating the quality of the 1992 film version of the story.

• I am open to other possibilities so just ask!

Organization: Your essay will be organized in traditional, five paragraph persuasive form. You will have an introduction that gives the essay context and ends with a two-part thesis, three support paragraphs (major supports) that have at least two minor supports each, are connected by effective transitions, and are ordered from weakest to strongest, and a conclusion that restates your thesis and gives the essay relevance.

Support: Support for your position comes from you and from quotations you take from the book. No outside research is required, but if you find it useful, feel free to use some. Whenever possible, use a relevant quotation from the book to serve as evidence that that paragraph’s topic is justified or as an illustrative example to make your point.

Format: As always, your paper should be formatted in proper MLA style. Proper in-text citations for your quotations and a Works Cited page for the book and any outside research you use are required.

Grading: Your essay will be graded using the Hilliard City Schools Academic Writing Rubric. Refer to it often and make sure your essay meets all the criteria listed there. If you are reading this handout, the rubric is on the other side; if you are viewing this on the net, click HERE to see the rubric.

Notes & Questions:

Essay Planning: Use the graphic organizer below to plan your essay.

What is my opinion?

Why do I believe this? (It’s important to have at least three reasons here!)

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What examples from the book could I use with my reasons to help support my opinion? (No need to quote here – just list them; you can find them later.)

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Essay Organization: Fill out the graphic organizer below to outline your essay.

My thesis:

Support #1 – the weakest of your three points:

Quotation support:

Support #2 – the 2nd best of your three points:

Quotation support:

Support #3 – the best of your three points:

Quotation support:

Essay Configuration: Use the graphic organizer below to create the RD of your essay.

Paragraph 1: Introduction

➢ Start with an attention-getter like a rhetorical question, dialogue, flashback, description of how readers respond to the book, a shocking generalization, etc. that is relevant to the topic.

➢ Then, mention the author’s full name (John Steinbeck), the underlined title of the story (Of Mice and Men), and a brief plot summary that serves to focus your paper on George’s killing of Lennie.

➢ Finally, end with your two-part thesis: your position and the three reasons you are right. Make sure it doesn’t sound “tacked on.” Make it flow.

Example: When exactly is the right time to decide to end the suffering of a loved one? What does it take to make such a decision, and how would one ever truly know if he or she justified in doing so? These are the questions faced by George Milton at the end of John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men. After a seemingly endless string of mishaps and misadventures, George’s best friend, a mentally challenged giant by named Lennie Small, finally makes the innocent but fatal mistake of killing a woman at the ranch where they work. As the men of the ranch frantically try to bring Lennie to justice, probably by killing him in cold blood, George must decide whether to try to escape with Lennie, turn him over to the men or the law, or end Lennie’s life quickly and peacefully himself. In the end, George makes the right decision in killing Lennie because __________________, ____________________, and ____________________.

|My attention-getter: |

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|My plot summary with mention of book and author: |

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|My two-part thesis: |

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*Remember, this is all one paragraph!

Paragraph 2: First support paragraph – the weakest of your three points

➢ Start with your topic sentence (Major Support), which focuses your paragraph on one supporting idea. Notice that the topic sentence begins with a transition that indicates that your argument has started. (One reason, to begin, first of all, first…)

➢ Develop your paragraph with minor supports, giving reasons why this point is correct and using a quotation from the book to support it, if possible. Notice that before the quotation, there is an introduction for the quot. so the reader understands its context, and that after the quotation, there is an explanation of why the quot. is relevant to the paragraph’s topic.

➢ End by connecting your paragraph back to your thesis.

Example: One reason George was justified in his decision lies in the fact that Lennie simply cannot learn from his mistakes, dooming the two of them to a life of constant running while getting no closer to their dream of independence. From the beginning of the book, it is clear that Lennie repeatedly gets himself and often George into trouble because of his lack of self-control. The obvious example of this is his habit of killing of his pet mice, which he literally loves to death by squeezing their fragile bodies to the breaking point. Despite George’s best efforts and to his own dismay, Lennie simply never learns to handle them with more care. More serious, however, is Lennie’s inadvertent molestation of the girl in Weed, which is apparently what the two men are running from in the first place. As they discuss the incident in chapter one, George’s concern over Lennie’s forgetfulness and lack of control is apparent when he says to Lennie, “Oh, so ya forgot that too, did ya? Well, I ain’t gonna remind ya, fear ya do it again” (7). George’s comment shows his concern that even bringing up the incident could make Lennie repeat the behavior since he can never remember what he does wrong in the first place. Given that by the end of the book, Lennie has killed more mice, a puppy, and ultimately a woman, George knows better than anyone that Lennie is never going to get past his handicap, and probably will kill again, even if he doesn’t mean to. Therefore, he had to kill Lennie to protect both himself and others from his unfortunate friend’s destructive behavior.

|My Topic Sentence: |

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|My reasoning supported with a quotation that I explain and connect to my thesis: |

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|My paragraph conclusion that connects everything in this ¶ back to my thesis: |

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|*Remember, this is all one paragraph! |

Paragraph 3: Second support paragraph – the 2nd best of your three points

➢ Now, just do it again with your second reason. Make sure that the topic sentence begins with a transition that creates coherence with your previous paragraph (next, in addition, similarly, another reason, along with that…).

|My Topic Sentence: |

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|My reasoning supported with a quotation that I explain and connect to my thesis: |

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|My paragraph conclusion that connects everything in this ¶ back to my thesis: |

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*Remember, this is all one paragraph.

Paragraph 4: Third support paragraph – the strongest of your three points

➢ And again with your third and best reason. Make sure that the topic sentence begins with a transition that creates coherence with your previous paragraph.

|My Topic Sentence: |

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|My reasoning supported with a quotation that I explain and connect to my thesis: |

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|My paragraph conclusion that connects everything in this ¶ back to my thesis: |

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|*Remember, this is all one paragraph. |

Paragraph 5: Conclusion

➢ Begin your conclusion by restating your thesis, usually without the second part of the two part thesis. You’ll add that after this first sentence. Two things to always remember in your conclusion: 1) Be absolutely sure you don’t just repeat the thesis you used in your introduction, and 2) Do not introduce any new information in your conclusion.

➢ Briefly remind the reader of why you are right by summarizing your arguments. Be sure to state these briefly and differently than in your original thesis or support paragraphs or you will sound redundant.

➢ End with the usual flair of the “So what?” conclusion. Tell the reader why they should care: give them something to think about, challenge them to do something in response to your paper, make a prediction, connect them to your side of the argument.

Example: While the moral dilemma faced by George at the end of Of Mice and Men is problematic at best, a close examination of his actions and motivations reveals that he was justified in his decision to kill his best friend. Although Lennie probably was not responsible for his actions, his inability to learn and remember coupled with his great physical strength made him and ever-present threat to others. Further, (you’ll have to find your own argument here!). Finally, (nope, not this one either; find your own reasons, kid!). In the final analysis, the moral quagmire that Steinbeck presents us with serves as a poignant reminder that each of us may someday hold another’s life in our hands. And when that day comes, the question will be the same as the one answered so decisively by George: Can I do the right thing?

|My restated thesis: |

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|My argument summary to remind the reader why I am right: |

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|My “So What” Statement: |

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*Remember, this is all one paragraph!

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