Of Mice and Men
Revision Pack
Contents
1. John Steinbeck
2. Dreams
3. Lonliness and Companionship
4. The American Dream
5. Women and Femininity
5.1. Curley’s Wife
6. Disability
7. Race and Prejudice
7.1. Crooks
8. Analysing Structure and Plot
8.1. Foreshadowing
8.2. Foreshadowing & Symbolism
9. The Ending
1
John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California
in 1902 where he grew up in a fertile agricultural
valley (known as ‘America’s Salad Bowl’) about
twenty-five miles from the Pacific Coast. Many
of his powerful novels such as, Of Mice and
Men, The Grapes of Wrath and East of
Eden’have all been inspired by the Californian
landscape and the history of the land.
Steinbeck's novels can all be classified as
social novels dealing with the economic
problems of rural labour. They tend to focus
on trials and tribulations people experience and
often make the reader root for the underdog.
Since Steinbeck grew up in California, he would have witnessed the aspirations of
migrant workers, along with the mistreatment they suffered.
In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his “realistic and imaginative
writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” Both
The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men won Pulitzer Prizes. They both focused
on the plights of poor migrant workers searching for hope and the American Dream.
) What do you think John Steinbeck means by this quote:
“The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for
greatness of heart and spirit - for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and
love. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no
dedication nor any membership in literature.”
2
) The novel grows out of the Great Depression and The Dust Bowl. What themes
then arise, across the course of the story. Use the theme tree to capture your ideas:
1930s America
The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression
3
Dreams
The ‘American Dream’ was a dream that in the land of America, everyone could
achieve success through hard work and commitment, no matter what their
background was like. The belief was founded on the lack of a clearly defined class
system in America, when compared to a nation such as Great Britain, and also the
sheer size of America. A person seeking fortune would be advised to ‘Go West’ and,
due to the vast scale of the country, they would be able to find land there that they
could work.
Of Mice and Men explores the problems with the ‘American Dream’. The Great
Depression and the advent of the Dust Bowl made the lives of millions of ordinary
people tough, and opportunities hard to come by.
! It seems that all of the characters in Of Mice and Men are holding onto dreams,
hopes, and plans. Whose dreams are whose? Write down the dream of each
character below:
TICK
LENNIE:
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GEORGE:
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CURLEY:
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C’s WIFE:
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CROOKS:
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CANDY:
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! Put a tick on the list above if the dream or hope of the character comes true, and
an ‘L’ if the dream is likely to come true.
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! Now, answer the following questions
Do you think that the dream farm means the same thing to Lennie as it does to
George? What does it mean to each of them?
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Re-read the following line that comes just after Candy reveals he has the money to
buy the ranch: "This thing they had never really believed in was coming true." Do you
really think George and Candy believe they will get the ranch?
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Why might dreaming and planning be a positive thing, even if those plans ‘gang aft
alay’ / often go wrong?
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For these characters, dreams and hope what makes life worth living, but they are
also dangerous. Why?
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Loneliness and companionship
! Answer the following questions:
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What is an itinerant worker?
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How might the lifestyle of an itinerant worker make them feel lonely and
isolated?
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Are George or Lennie ever isolated?
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The constant migration, change and movement in the lives of itinerant workers (and
the fact they mostly go through them alone) make them feel isolated, even when
they’re surrounded by people on the ranch.
! For each of the characters below, explain what has isolated them:
LENNIE
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CURLEY’S WIFE
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CANDY
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CROOKS
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Now, explain what the quotations below reveal about the following characters’
feelings about loneliness, isolation and / or friendship.
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EVIDENCE
EXPLANATION
GEORGE: “God a’mighty, if I was alone I
could live so easy. I could go get a job
an’ work, an’ no trouble”
LENNIE: "If you don’ want me I can g off
... in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go
away any time." GEORGE "No—look! I
was jus’ foolin’, Lennie. ’Cause I want
you to stay with me."
BOSS Well, I never seen one guy take so
much trouble for another guy. I just like to
know what your interest is."
“Slim looked through George and beyond
him. "Ain’t many guys travel around
together," he mused. "I don’t know why.
Maybe ever’body in the whole damn
world is scared of each other."
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EVIDENCE
EXPLANATION
GEORGE: "I seen the guys that go
around on the ranches alone. That ain’t
no good…. They get mean. They get
wantin’ to fight all the time."
CANDY: “They’ll can me pretty soon… I
won’t have no place to go to.”
‘Lennie smiled helplessly in an attempt to
make friends.
Crooks said sharply, "You got no right to
come in my room. This here’s my room.
Nobody got any right in here but me."
CURLEY’S WIFE: “Think I don’t like to
talk to somebody ever’ once in a while?
Think I like to stick in that house alla
time?”
CURLEY’S WIFE: “I never get to talk to
nobody. I get awful lonely.”
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What is the American Dream?
& Read the following definition of the American Dream, from James Truslow
Adams’ book, The Epic of America, which was written in 1931. He was the one to
first use the term.
“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer
and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It
is not a dream of motor cars and high wages, but a dream of social order in which each
man and each woman shall be able to achieve the fullest stature of which they are capable
of, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the circumstances of birth
or position."
! Now, define, in your own words, what you think the term, ‘American Dream’
means.
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& America has always been seen as a ‘land of opportunity’ where, with hard work,
any dream can be accomplished. Immigrants from all over the world came to
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America in the 1800s and 1900s to start a new life and gain new freedoms and
opportunities; freedom and opportunity were once foreign and unattainable to many
of America’s newcomers. However, although many people did achieve their dreams,
there were even more people who struggled to survive.
! Considering the historical context of the novel, do you think the American Dream
is achievable? Why or why not? Write your ideas below.
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è Some people still oppose the idea of the American Dream in today’s society.
Look at political cartoon A. What do you think the message is about the
American Dream?
è Others think that the American Dream is still attainable. Barack Obama has
been considered to achieve the American Dream. Why would people say
this? How is the message alluded to in political cartoon B.
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Political Cartoon A
Political Cartoon B
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Women and femininity
Learning Objective:
To understand the portrayal of women in Of Mice and Men in terms of the social and
historical context
Look at the words and references used to describe Curley’s wife below:
Curley’s wife
‘bitch’
‘a tramp’
‘GOOD-LOOKIN’’
‘tart’
‘jail bait’
‘got the eye’
‘purty’
‘rattrap’
! Having considered these words, how might you describe the role of women and
the nature of femininity in Steinbeck’s novella?
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! Answer the following questions
1. What women appear or are referred to in the novella?
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2. According to the male view on the ranch, what limited roles / functions does this
show a woman can provide?
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3. Why do you think Curley’s wife is never given a name?
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4. Do you think the attitudes of the men on the ranch still exist today?
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6. What is the male equivalent of the word slut?
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7. Does your choice of word convey the same insult in general society that the word
slut conveys?
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8. What do you think might be the result of this double standard in both our and
Curley’s wife’s society?
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Steinbeck’s characterisation
Learning Objective:
To find out how Steinbeck lets us know which characters are the good, the bad, the
good looking and the ugly…
Curley’s wife
& Read from “Seems to me like he’s worse lately…” to “You see if she ain’t a tart”
(pages 49-50). In this section, we hear about Curley’s wife for the first time, before
we actually meet her.
1. Whose opinion of Curley’s wife does Steinbeck give us first?
2. What impression does he give us? Draw these impressions around this
character’s eye view on the image below:
3. Now match each impression with a quotation from the text. The first one has
been done for you.
Flirtatious and
unfaithful.
‘Well - she got the eye’
p. 49.
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Steinbeck never uses his narrative voice to tell us what to think. Just like in real life
we are given the other characters’ opinions, and images of how Curely’s wife looks
physically. We are shown how she treats others, what she actually says and how
she says it. We are then left to form our own opinions.
) Might taking the first character’s ideas about Curley’s wife be unfair? Why?
In pairs, think of any reasons there might be that this character might be prejudiced
against Curley’s wife.
! What might influence his opinions?
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Curley’s wife
As we read on, it is possible to feel sorry for Curley’s wife. After all, as the only woman on
the ranch she is lonely and sad. She is the only female character who appears in the
novella. As a woman, and because she is a woman, she cannot live the life she dreams of.
Indeed, she has precious little control over her own life.
Arrange the points below in the Venn diagram in order to decide whether you think that her
actions are a reaction to how she is treated, or if her character is just petty, cruel and selfobsessed.
1. Her marriage to Curley is rotten. He seems to care little for her, and is really more
interested in talking about himself than taking an interest in her.
2. She laments her lost potential; she details twice that she could have been a
Hollywood movie star and tells us that her mother took the chance from her.
3. Her only chance to escape her mother was marriage to Curley. She is presented
almost as a desperate captive of the ranch.
4. She flirts deliberately with the ranch hands and causes them to suffer Curley’s anger.
5. She does little to hide these flirtations from her husband, as if she is doing it to make
him feel small/er
6. She barges in on Lennie, Crooks, and Candy, calling them the weaklings of the pack.
She makes herself feel bigger by cruelly cutting down Candy for his old age and
meekness, Lennie for being "a dum dum," and most harshly, she threatens Crooks
with a lynching.
7. While she scorns and mocks Lennie, Crooks and Candy, they are the only ones she
has to talk to.
8. She has convinced herself that her mother stole the letter from the actor inviting her
to Hollywood when this could have been a pretty standard pick-up line.
9. She thrives on attention and is desperate enough to want Lennie’s praise for her soft
hair.
10. She frightens Lennie by screaming when he is stroking her hair. She loses her life
just because she didn’t want him to ‘mess up’ her hair.
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Reasons to feel sympathetic towards Curley’s wife
Reasons to feel unsympathetic towards her
Disability in Of Mice and Men
! In your own words, what is the definition of a ‘disability’?
A disability is…
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How can people be disabled?
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Who has a disability in Of Mice and Men?
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How are people with disabilities treated in today’s society?
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: Task 1: How were disabilities looked at in the past?
& Read the following article from 1937 about a mother who killed her son because
he was an ‘imbecile’ or mentally disabled. Think about the following questions while
you read the article:
s How is the term ‘imbecile’ seen in today’s society? Would the term be used to
describe mentally disabled people in today’s newspapers?
! Thinking about the time period and how having a disability was a huge stigma,
was the mother right or wrong to kill her son? Explain.
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: Task 2: Go to the website and analyse what the campaign posters are saying
about disabled people. http://www.disabilityhistory.org/dd_camp2.html
! Write your analysis in the space provided.
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Race and prejudice
"…You go on get outta my room. I ain’t wanted ... “
"Why
ain’t
you
wanted?"
Lennie
asked.
"’Cause I’m black…"
Some facts about the history of African Americans during the 1930s:
·
Slavery was practiced in the Deep South of America until the end of the
American Civil War in 1865.
·
The Yankee North beat the Confederate South; they destroyed the southern
economy and forced them to free the slaves.
·
This did not mean an improvement for black people living in this area.
·
Although they were free, the Black Community were not allowed to live in
the same areas, attend the same schools, eat in the same restaurants or
travel on the same trains or buses as white people. Black and white
people were segregated or separated. Black people, of course, had a lower
quality of resources, education, etc.
·
Local laws made sure they remained second-class citizens.
·
Many black people were forced to take poorly paid jobs which left them as
badly off as when they were slaves.
·
The police ignored the majority of crimes against black people, whilst it only
took an accusation of a crime for a black person to be presumed guilty.
Therefore, it was a white woman’s or man’s word over a back man’s; the
white person was always believed and the black person suffered
tremendously.
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Crooks in Of Mice and Men
s
What does the quality of
the water fountains say
about the treatment of
black people?
& Crooks is named for his ‘crooked back’. He is ostracised or alienated at the
ranch because of his race and is treated as a second-class citizen. Crooks
expresses his feelings about racism and loneliness on several occasions. In some
ways, he provides insight to the reality of the American Dream and the loneliness of
the ranchers. Look at the following quotes from Crooks and analyse what his words
say about his feelings towards his status in society:
"If I say something, why it's just a nigger sayin' it" (p. 74)
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"You got no right to come in my room... You go on get outa my room. I ain't wanted in the
bunkhouse and you ain't wanted in my room." (p. 72)
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"Sure, you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no
good. A guy needs someone - to be near him. A guys goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't
make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely, an' he
gets sick." (p. 77)
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"I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches with their bindles on their
backs an' that same damn thing in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an' they quit an'
go on... An' never a god-damn one of 'em gets it." (p. 78)
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"I remember when I was a little kid... had a strawberry patch. Had an alfalfa patch…
Used to turn the chickens out on the alfalfa on a sunny morning" (p. 77)
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! Some people may describe Crooks as being cynical, resentful and even coldhearted. Write a paragraph below, responding to the questions. Include quotes to
support your answers.
1 - Why do you think people may think this way?
2 - How do you respond to Crooks?
3 - Where can we see that Crooks is actually vulnerable?
4 - Does he have reasons to be cynical? If so, what are the reasons?
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^ Who has it worse in society: Lennie or Crooks? Take a side and develop points
on why your chosen person has it worse. Remember to include information about the
time period to help you support your points.
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Analysing plot and structure
What goes around, comes around ...
! George and Lennie are stuck; they can’t get ahead no matter how much they try.
This, of course, leads back to the title Of Mice and Men. Answer the questions
below to see how events come full circle.
How does the story begin and end? Think about the setting and the actions of the
characters.
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In chapter 2, what does Lennie receive? In which chapter does the ‘inevitable’
happen?
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In chapter 2, what does George warn Lennie about? In which chapter does the
‘inevitable happen?
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Chapter 3 begins with the hope of a bright future. Who ruins the mood?
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Chapter 4 begins with the hope of a bright future. Who ruins the mood?
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Foreshadowing
& Foreshadowing is a technique used by the author to give hints to the reader
about what will happen later in the text. The author may use symbolism, dialogue,
metaphors, actions or other technques to ‘tip the reader off’.
Some critics have claimed that Steinbeck has used too many hints to give away the
ending.
! Can you think of hints that Steinbeck gives about what will happen in the end?
Try to think of nine.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
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Foreshadowing and symbolism
& Certain aspects of the novella represent and foreshadow what happens in
chapter six.
What do the following represent and foreshadow?
Candy’s dog à "Got no teeth, he's all stiff with rheumatism. He ain't no good to you,
Candy. An' he ain't no good to himself. Why'n't you shoot him, Candy?" (49).
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Solitaire à George plays it all of the time
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The dead mouse and puppy
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The death of Curley’s wife
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The heron killing the water snake
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The ending
Learning Objective:
To be able to comment on the ending of the novella in terms of Steinbeck’s use of
form, structure and setting.
& Read from: 'George came quietly out of the brush …’ to the end of the novel.
The pool by the river is the place where Lennie and George’s story begins and ends.
It is a safe sanctuary and a place free from the prejudices of the rest of the world,
where Lennie and George can be themselves. This is where the story was born, and
also where the dream farm and Lennie meet their end.
Although the first chapter and the last chapter share the same setting, there are
some obvious differences between the two chapters.
! Fill out the Venn Diagram below to illustrate these differences and similarities.
Chapter 6
Chapter 1
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Why does Steinbeck begin and end the novella in the same place?
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In Chapter 1, Steinbeck mentions a heron, rabbits and other animals. What might
these images symbolise?
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“Ain’t you gonna give me hell?” Why do you think Lennie wants George to do this at
this point in the novel? How does Steinbeck present George here?
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Why do you think George talks about the farm as he shoots Lennie? How does this
conclude the theme of ‘dreams’?
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Was George’s decision an act of love or selfishness? If George didn’t kill Lennie,
what would have happened to him? Consider the context of the novella.
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Comment on Slim’s reaction to what George has done. How is this consistent with
his character throughout? Link this to the shooting of Candy’s dog.
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The last lines of the novel are famous. Think of as many reasons as you can for why
Steinbeck chooses to end the novel in this way, and why the ending might fit in so
well.
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Revision Notes
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