Year 11 English – ‘Of Mice and Men’



Task Description

Identify and analyse ideas, values, and beliefs in Of Mice and Men and recognise how these are shaped by the author, John Steinbeck. Clearly and accurately communicate your opinion through written responses to the questions listed.

(Learning Requirement 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 / Communication, Citizenship, Personal Development, Work, Learning)

Assessment conditions (form, context, length, audience)

Type or handwrite your answers to the following questions. Ensure that accurate sentences and clear paragraphs are used. Clearly label all answers.

|Design Criteria |A |B |C |D |E |

|Knowledge and Understanding of: | | | | | |

|ideas, values, and beliefs explored in texts | | | | | |

|ways in which the creators and readers of texts use language techniques and | | | | | |

|conventions to make meaning | | | | | |

|ways in which texts are composed for a range of purposes and audiences. | | | | | |

|Analysis of: | | | | | |

|connections between personal experiences, ideas, values, and beliefs, and those | | | | | |

|explored in the texts | | | | | |

|ways in which language techniques are used to influence opinions and decisions in a | | | | | |

|range of social contexts. | | | | | |

|Application: | | | | | |

|use of a range of language skills to analyse and solve problems, and to demonstrate | | | | | |

|creativity | | | | | |

|appropriate use of evidence from texts to support conclusions | | | | | |

|ability to locate, record, analyse, use, and synthesise knowledge. | | | | | |

|Communication: | | | | | |

|accuracy, clarity, and fluency of expression | | | | | |

|the use of an appropriate style and structure for the audience and purpose when | | | | | |

|composing texts. | | | | | |

|Comment: |Grade |

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Key Facts

full title  · Of Mice and Men

author  · John Steinbeck

type of work  · Novel

genre  · Fiction; tragedy

language · English

time and place written  · Mid-1930s; Pacific Grove and Los Gatos ranch, California

date of first publication  · 1937

publisher  · Covici, Friede, Inc.

narrator  · Third-person omniscient

protagonists  · George and Lennie

antagonists  · Curley; society; the cruel, predatory nature of human life

setting (time)  · 1930s

setting (place)  · South of Soledad, California

point of view  · The novel is told from the point of view of a third-person omniscient narrator, who can access the point of view of any character as required by the narrative.

tense  · Past

tone · Sentimental, tragic, doomed, fatalistic, rustic, moralistic, comic

themes  · The predatory nature of human existence; the importance of fraternity and idealized relationships between men; the impossibility of the American Dream; the destructive imbalance of social power structures in American society

motifs  · The corrupting power of female sexuality; strength and weakness; loneliness and companionship

symbols  · The clearing in the woods; Lennie and George’s farm; mice; Candy’s dog; the heron that plucks water snakes from the stream; Curley’s boots; Lennie’s puppy

Vocabulary

Read through the definitions of the 25 vocabulary word from Of Mice and Men. Choose a combination of the tasks below to help you learn the definitions of the words.

1. Write the word(s) in sentences.

2. Organise the words and their definitions from shortest to longest.

3. Write the words and their definitions in alphabetical order.

4. Write your words and definitions on flash cards.

5. Create a crossword using the words and their definitions.

6. Write a short story using the words highlight the words you’ve used.

Reading Journal

Section 1 (a)

Re-read page 4-6: We are introduced to the main characters of George and Lennie. ‘Evening of a hot day … Jesus Christ you’re a crazy bastard.’

1. Read the second paragraph in the extract. How does Steinbeck strike an immediate contrast between the two characters? In particular, find words within each description that are direct ‘opposites’ to each other. (page 4)

2. George and Lennie take very different approaches to drinking the water. What does each man’s approach say about his character? (page 4)

3. What do George’s first words to Lennie tell us about the relationship between the two men? (page 5)

4. There are three places in the extract where Lennie is compared to an animal. Find them, explaining how this gives us a stronger idea of Lennie’s physical presence in the novel. (page 4 and 5)

5. What other examples of imagery (metaphors and similes) can you find in the extract? How do they give us a clearer picture of the two men and their environment? (page 4 – first paragraph)

Section 1 (B)

Re-read page 15-16: Lennie asks George to tell him about the Dream Farm. ‘Lennie spoke … one of them to Lennie.’

1. Steinbeck indicates that this conversation has happened many times before. Find three quotations from the extract that show this. What is the significance of this?

2. What do Lennie’s contributions and interruptions tell us about his character?

3. How does the extract tie in with what you know about ‘The American Dream’?

4. Do you think George and Lennie’s plans are realistic or romantic? How does Steinbeck give us a clue about this?

Section 2 (A)

Re-read page 19: The description of the bunk-house. ‘The bunk-house … rushing stars.’

1. The bunk-house is a strange mixture of the homely and the bare. List 3 good and 3 bad things about the location that emerge through the description.

Sectional 2 (B)

Page 19-22 Overview: Introduction to Candy. ‘The wooden latch raised … out the door.’

1. Candy refers to Crooks, the black ‘stable buck’ a number of times in the extract. Although he also calls him a ‘pretty nice fellow’, how do his later comments reveal the treatment of blacks at that time?

2. How does Candy come across throughout this extract? What are the general characteristics of his speech and mannerisms throughout, and how do they give away his personality?

Section 2 (C)

Page 26-28 Overview: The introduction of the character of Curley. ‘At that moment … “There’s plenty done that.”’

1. Curley is described in very physical terms. Which techniques and word types does Steinbeck use to convey his character to the reader? Find three examples, and comment on each.

2. What is George’s attitude towards Curley while he is in the bunkhouse? Find three examples to illustrate your points.

Section 2 (D)

Page 32-34 Overview: Curley’s Wife. ‘Both men glanced up … “patent medicine houses.”’

1. Look carefully at the passage describing Curley’s wife. Pick three separate aspects of the description, and try to explain the impression Steinbeck is trying to create. What might be there despite the obvious ‘tartiness’ that he is trying to convey?

2. Many critics have picked up on the fact that we never learn her name, even though she is a very important character and the only female one in the novel. Why do you think she is never named by Steinbeck?

Section 2 (E)

Page 32-34 Overview: Slim. ‘Both men glanced up … “patent medicine houses.”’

1. In many ways, Slim is the antithesis (opposite) to Curley. Looking back to the extract featuring Curley, find three contrasting sets of quotations.

Section 3 (A)

Re-read page 42-44: WEED. ‘“What’d he do in Weed?” … “He’s jes’ like a kid ain’t he?”

1. Re-read George’s description of what happened between Lennie and the girl in the red dress. Comment on the significance of this moment.

2. What link can you make between the ‘red’ dress and something else in the previous chapter? Explain this link.

Section 3 (B)

Re-read page 57-61: The Dream Farm: A Reality? From ‘Lennie said, “Tell me about that place, George…”’ to “… when this lovely thing should come about.”’

1. How does Steinbeck create a feeling of genuine excitement among the three men about their plans becoming a reality?

Section 3 (C)

Re-read page 62-64: Curley confronts Lennie. From ‘Curley stopped over …’ to ‘… Curley’s lips.’

1. George responds ambiguously to Lennie’s reactions towards Curley. Consider these two statements as an example:

‘Get ’im Lennie!’

‘Leggo his hand, Lennie.’

Looking at the extract, as well as taking material from earlier in the novel, find reasons George might have for both supporting and opposing Lennie’s behaviour here.

Section 4 (A)

Re-read page 66-74: Crooks. From ‘Crooks, the negro stable buck …’ to ‘…that you, Slim?”’

1. Crooks’s taunting of Lennie seems cruel in this section. Why does he behave in this way? What is significant about the way in which Lennie responds?

2. Through the character of Crooks, Steinbeck finds plenty to say about the nature of dreams and the Dream Farm. Find three quotations that you feel are significant, and explain each. What is significant about the way in which Crooks also buys into the idea by the end of the conversation?

Section 4 (B)

Re-read page 74-82: The Dream Farm. From ‘Candy stood in the doorway’ to the end of the chapter.

1. What does Curley’s wife mean when she says, ‘They left all the weak ones here’?

2. How does Curley’s wife come across to you in this extract? Compare how she has been portrayed before to how she is now.

Section 5 (a)

Re-read page 84-92: The Barn. From the beginning of the chapter to the entrance of Curley’s wife.

1. Looking back, how have previous events built up to Lennie killing the pup? List the previous events that you would connect to this one.

2. What two emotional states does Lennie go through as he reacts to killing the pup? Explain why he feels the way he does for each, and how Steinbeck’s use of language reflects this.

Section 5 (B)

Re-read page 92-97: The death of Curley’s Wife. From the entrance of Curley’s wife to “the mens’ voices became louder and louder.”

1. What do we find out about Curley’s wife in this extract? What does Steinbeck want us to feel about her, and why choose this point in the novel to do this?

2. After reading this episode, what is your over-riding emotion? How do you feel towards Curley’s wife and Lennie? Has Steinbeck’s presentation of the characters influenced this in any way?

Section 5 (C)

Overview: Curley’s Wife: The Aftermath. From ‘then gradually, time awakened again’ to the end of the chapter.

1. When George first sees the body of Curley’s wife he says: ‘I should of knew … I guess maybe way back in my head I did.’ What does he mean by this, and can you find any evidence earlier in the novel of him seeing that something like this might happen? Here are some clues: Weed, Mouse, George’s warnings, Puppy and Curley’s hand.

Section 6 (a)

Overview: Lennie hides in the Brush. From the start of the chapter to ‘George cam quietly out of the brush…’

1. What do you think is the significance of the book closing as it opens: with Lennie at the pool, having run from an incident? Are there any key images which tie in with this?

2. What do Lennie’s ‘conversations’ with Aunt Clara and the rabbit reveal about his state of mind at this point in the novel?

Section 6 (B)

Overview: The Ending. From ‘George came quietly out of the brush …’ to the end of the novel.

1. Why do you think George talks about the farm as he shoots Lennie? How does this conclude the theme of ‘dreams’?

2. Comment on the link between George has done and the shooting of Candy’s dog.

Reflections at the end of the book

Choose 3 of the questions below and 300 words (in total):

1. What is your reaction to the end of the novel? Do you think George’s action was the best one under the circumstances?

2. George feels very guilty after killing Lennie. Write down George’s thoughts, perhaps as a diary, during the first few days after the death. (George might be arguing with himself about whether it was the right thing to do, trying to feel at peace.)

3. Should George have put Lennie into an institution? Would that have been the most responsible thing to do? Would he have been happier, out of harm’s way? Write a paragraph outlining the pro’s and con’s of this proposition. (100 words)

4. Why is the title, Of Mice and Men, appropriate for the story?

5. What is Steinbeck’s overall message?

6. What did you enjoy about reading Of Mice and Men?

EVENTS GRID

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|CHAPTER NUMBER |DAY AND TIME |LOCATION |MAIN EVENTS |

|1 |Thursday evening | | |

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|6 |Sunday afternoon | | |

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