Of Mice and Men
This novel is used for English
Language coursework and the English
Literature exam
Contents of Revision guide
1.
2.
3.
4.
English Literature exam outline
Context
Character studies and useful quotes
Comparing the characters
English Literature Exam
English Literature exam
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Unit 1 exam
1 hour 30 minutes
60 marks (40% of the GCSE)
There are two sections; OMAM turns up in Section B:
Exploring Cultures (Section B is worth 50% of exam or
20% of GCSE)
English Literature exam
Section B: Exploring Cultures
Question 1 – you will be given an extract and will answer a question about it.
Question 2 – you will have a question to answer based on the whole text
Candidates will be expected to consider:
• ideas, themes and issues
• characterisation
• settings.
These must be underpinned by understanding the writers’ language and techniques.
their candidates. Section B offers a choice of four texts which explore different
cultures. Candidates should explore aspects of the text that are specific to that
culture as well as universal ideas.
Context of story (and a little on how
it’s similar to out current climate)
The Great Depression
The Great Depression began with the Wall
Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread
worldwide. The market crash marked the
beginning of a decade of high unemployment,
poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm
incomes, and lost opportunities for economic
growth and personal advancement. Although its
causes are still uncertain and controversial, the
net effect was a sudden and general loss of
confidence in the economic future.
What are the similarities with our own
recession?
• Clips from
• causes and effects
Based on what you know of our present economic
condition and what you have learnt from the American
Great Depression, what similarities are there?
Steinbeck’s context
He was the son of a 1920s migrant
worker, and we see the effects that the
Great Depression had on his family. They
moved over 2,000 miles and lived in a
'tent city' for two years, trying to establish
a life for themselves in California. There is
further exploration into how Steinbeck
was politically aware and sensitive to the
situation of migrant workers. His empathy
for marginalised people helps our
understanding of how the political climate
of 1920s America influenced 'Of Mice and
Men'.
American Dream
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
The right to live your own life as
chosen by yourself
The right to be free from
servitude – no-one should be
enslaved
The right to doing the things
that make you happy (on the
condition that they do not
infringe upon other people’s
life, liberty or pursuit of
happiness
Everyone has this American dream, to be happy, be their own men, following the orders
of none other and being independent to do as they please. However, many American’s
are not able to achieve these things – they are not laws, this is just the ‘dream’ life.
Studying the Novel - characters
Novel summary
There are very good and succinct summaries on
both Wikipedia and Sparknotes.com
Definitions
• Tone – the emotional quality of the story; sad,
angry, optimistic, regret, sorrow, passion etc
• Message – some words are important because
they tell us so much more about the characters,
the setting or the morals.
• Structure – the way the author positions key
information or descriptions to tell us something
else. The same information in different locations
will mean the message is lost.
Character studies
Click the character to jump to their section
1. Candy and his dog
2. Curley
3. Crooks
4. Curley’s wife
5. George and Lennie
Candy and his dog
The incident of the dog’s death is
important in a number of ways.
Suggest what it reveals about each of
the characters involved — Slim,
Carlson and Candy.
HOW IS IT AN EXAMPLE OF
FORESHADOWING?
Treatment:
The farm is poor, the people are poor, what do
you think will happen to Candy if an old dog
who has worked hard all his life is put down for
being useless?
Using these quotes, explain what
Candy has to be worried about:
“I wish’t somebody’d shoot me if I got old an a cripple” – Slim
“I don’t mind takin’ care of him” – Candy on his dog
“Got no teeth, stiff with rheumatism” – Carlson on the dog
‘ “I herded sheep with him” he said proudly, “Best damn sheep dog I ever
saw” ‘ – Candy
“He ain’t no good to you Candy and he ain’t no good to hisself” - Carlson
Studying Candy
Poor old Candy is, like his dog, nearing the end
of his usefulness to the farm. He makes himself
more valuable by trying to be the local gossip
and filling in George all about Curley’s Wife
when he arrives. George even proclaims that
Candy is sticking is nose into other people’s
business when he over hears them talking after
their induction from the boss. It happens again
when Candy hears about the dream – he’s in the
right place at the right time listening.
Studying Candy
When Candy’s dog is put down by Carlson, the
reasoning is because he ‘ain’t no good to [Candy],
and he ain’t no good to his self’. He’s old, has
rheumatism, and can’t work. Of course, Candy is
upset to loose his best friend who he would be
willing to look after in his old age. But we have to
wonder if he sees his own future in this old dog. He
later tells George that they’ll kick him of the farm
soon for being more a burden than a good worker,
and as he has no relatives and only a little money,
his redundancy will be his death.
Studying Candy
When he hears about the dream, he is very keen
to become involved, willing to cook, clean, and
tend the chickens. This possible retirement plan
is the only way Candy could enjoy his remaining
years, as during the Great Depression, there was
very little welfare and support for the elderly.
Chap 3 notes
Candy mirrors his dog in that they are old and
decrepit. The dog can offer nothing to the farm
and is only costing it’s owner. When Candy can
no longer offer anything, will they shoot him?
Candy lets his dog down by not sticking with him
until the end.
What happens in the relationship of Candy and
dog foreshadows the Lennie and George
relationship
Curley
These quotes from various
places are important
when thinking about Curley
• ‘George looked around at Lennie “Jesus what a tramp”
‘George on CW – p33
• ‘His arms bent at the elbows and his hands closed into
fists. He stiffened and went into a slight crouch’ –
When Curley first sees Lennie – p26
• ‘And like the boss he wore high heeled boots’ – Curley
P26
• “Well – she got the eye.” – Candy on Curley’s wife P29
• ‘The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a
line’ – p63, Lennie attacks Curley
• ‘Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrier… then
Curley’s rage exploded’ p62
Studying Curley
The son of the boss, Curley, is a character who
seems to have an authority complex. Not only
does he seem to boss about the others on the
ranch; demanding to know George and Lennie’s
names, instructing Lennie to answer when he’s
spoken to and confronting Slim in the barn, but
he has a complex about people who are bigger
than him – It’s Candy who tells us that he’s like
a lot of little guys, angry he ain’t a big guy.
Studying Curley
Steinbeck describes Curley in a number of ways to
suggest these complexes. Firstly, he wears high heeled
boots like the boss. He might dress as the boss does to
help portray a sense of authority, but it could also be to
increase his height compared to the big guys.
We also see that he adopts a fighters stance, clenching
his fists and crouching over slightly when he sees Lennie,
like he is succumbing to a natural instinct to fight. This is
further demonstrated by Steinbeck by suggesting he is
like a terrier – small dogs which often get into fights with
larger dogs. Steinbeck seems to be comparing the
mindset of a small dog to Curley.
Studying Curley
But it isn’t this authority complex which makes Curley a bad
person – it’s his relationship with his wife. Throughout the
novel, we frequently see either Curley, or his wife, looking for
the other, but they are never seen together. This itself
suggests that there is something wrong. His wife later admits
to Lennie that Curley ain’t a nice guy, who only talks about
how he is going to fight other guys.
At the end of the novel, Curley seems to make no emotional
connection to his dead wide, instead focussing on killing
Lennie who he seems to have made his nemesis. Once Lennie
is dead, he simply can’t fathom why George is so upset. He
just doesn’t know what it means to have a companion. His
dream is about power and nothing more.
Studying Crooks
Crooks
Represents the treatment of black people at the
time in which the novel is set.
Quotes and ideas
around crooks
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• So lonely, he thinks he sees
things in the dark (p72)
• “I ain’t got no right to be in
the bunkhouse, you ain’t got
Going mad
no right to be in my room.”
Unsocial
• “It’s cos I’m black.”
Can’t be with the white
• Saddles, leathers, repairing
men
tools, medicine, books on law.
Smart
• “Supposin’ George don’t come
Powerless
back, what’ll you do then?”
Asserts power over Lennie • “Crooks had reduced himself
by bullying him
to nothing. There was no
personality, no ego, nothing to
arouse either like or dislike”
p80
Crooks tortures Lennie
• “He can be sure you won’t go blabbin’ “
What does this suggest about Lennie?
• “Suppose George don’t come back no more”
Why does he start suggesting this theory?
• “If I say somethin, why it’s just a nigger sayin’ it”
What does he mean by this?
• “Crooks face lighted with pleasure in his torture”
Why does Crooks enjoy suggesting to Lennie that George might not come back?
• “If a guy gets too lonely he gets sick”
Explain what he means by sick
• “I was talking about myself”
It’s true, everything he’s suggest is a reflection of Crooks, not George. What do we
learn about Crooks?
What does the description of Crooks’
room reveal about its occupant?
Crooks has a bed of straw. He is all alone. He has
to live and sleep near the animals & horses and
can't be in the same room as the other men (“Cos
I'm black”).
However Crooks has more possessions because he
is permanent and his books show intelligence.
What does the description of Crooks’
room p66 reveal about its occupant?
• Has all the things he needs
• He is a working man who probably has more specific skills
than the rest who ‘buck barely’
• His skills make him important and valuable
• Having his own quarters does not make him special
• Books and ‘civil code’ = is literate, another valuable feature
• Gun = wealth
• Working equipment in room = form of imprisonment?
"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."
At the time the novel was written, blacks were
referred to as "niggers. Being a nigger, Crooks is
separated from the whites at the ranch and he
resents this. He is angry at being pushed to the
side. Being oppressed has made him cruel and
has turned him to self-pity.
A Study of Crooks
Crooks is the saddest character of them all because he
has so much potential to be a well respected and
powerful character. We see from the possessions in his
room (books on law, tools of his trade and medicines for
the horses) that he is literate, intelligent (though
probably not educated as at the time, blacks were not
privileged enough to have an education) and a skilled
worker. The other ranchers only ‘buck barley’ which
means to huck bags of grain back and forth. George even
says of himself and Lennie that they aren’t smart, or he
wouldn’t be “buckin’ no barley for 50 a month”.
Yet despite Crooks’ skills and intelligence, he
cannot socialise with the others (he isn’t allowed in
the bunk house) and is threatened easily. He has
no power to assert any authority. The one thing
that stops him from having any authority is his
colour. But this isn’t the saddest thing.
Crooks explains to Lennie that he is so lonely that he is
‘sick’ – probably emotionally sick. He has been alone for
so long that he seems to be going mad and tells that he
thinks he sees things in the dark. When Lennie first
enters, Crooks takes an opportunity to assert his obvious
intelligence over poor Lennie and shows him his
destitute world by convincing him that George is going
to leave him all alone – making Lennie see the world
which he is forced to endure and he seems to take great
pleasure in torturing Lennie.
The saddest thing about the crooked man is that, whilst he
might be physically broken, and socially broken, he is also
emotionally broken. When he hears about the dream from
Candy and Lennie, he offers to work for free, he seems to opt
in to slave-master heircahy. But as he is reminded of his
position, a man to be lynched , he ‘reduces himself to
nothing, no personality, no ego, nothing to like or dislike’.
Even his personality has been eroded away leaving nothing
but the working flesh of the slave. It’s hard consider how any
of the other characters can have it worse than this poor
nigger, whose word is worth nothing.
What does this all mean?
The American Dream is colour specific?
He has all the features of a powerful man, but is
one of the weakest.
Hidden racism, it is not always overt
Who could run the ranch but never could
Crooks
1. illustrates the segregated, racist society
2. provides an insight into the reality of the
American Dream
3. emphasises the theme of loneliness
4. need for company and human interaction
The reader has to decide whether
Crooks deserves sympathy, or if he is
just a cruel, bitter stable-buck.
WHAT DO YOU THINK & WHY?
Curley’s Wife
Quotes
• “Listen Nigger, you know what I could do to you if
you open your trap?” p80
Her ‘look’
• Rouged lips, red finger nails, cotton dress, curled
hair – she is the picture of beauty on this ranch.
Even the colours suggest lust. – p32
• Her face was heavily made up, her lips were
parted, she breathed heavily. Her very nature
seems lusty and provokes desire from the men
around her. P76
Is she lonely?
• I don’t like Curley. He ain’t a nice fella’. P87
Whilst CW appears quite a bit throughout the text, we
learn very little about her relationship with Curley. In the
film adaptation, we have an extra scene where she turns
up in the field and explains that she ain’t doing no harm
talking to anyone, and that she’s lonely – she only wants
someone to talk to. This is an interesting interpretation of
her and though we don’t read this in the novel, we do get
this feeling because she seems to spend all of her time
with the other guys. She doesn’t want to be with Curley
as she says, yet she is always told to leave by the
ranchers. She opens up to Lennie in the barn and says she
wishes for a different life.
Studying Curley’s Wife
The sad thing about her life is that she has a dream, just like
Lennie and George. However she can never attain her dream
because she is a married woman now, her place is at home;
something else not alluded to in the novel, but put into
context by the film adaptation when Curley sends her home
from the barn (a major difference between the adaptation is
that we do see Curley and his wife together). A final reminder
that she is subordinate to men, is that we never find out her
name. The denomination ‘Curley’s Wife’ hints that she is
property, owned by Curley. Ironically, her dream of being in
the ‘pitchers’ (pictures) would mean that everyone would
know her name, and not as Curley’s Wife. Maybe her dream is
simply to be recognised and loved, even on a superficial level
by a film audience.
Studying Curley’s Wife
One question that we are left lingering with, is why
she takes such a shine to the ‘big baby’ (as she calls)
Lennie. Is it because she hears about their dream of
a farm in Crooks’ room and, like Candy and Crooks,
thinks that this is her way out of her predicament?
After she hears of this, she finds Lennie in the barn
and befriends him. Is she using her womanly ways
and soft features to win Lennie over in the hope
that they will take her with them? Is this why she
spends so much time with all the other ranchers –
in the hope that one of them gives her a way out?
Why did Curley’s wife die?
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Were the preceding events significant?
What did she get out of being with Lennie?
Is the ‘dream’ / context to blame?
How did the various relationships in the story
lead to her death?
George and Lennie
George and lennie
• “I said what stake you got in this guy? You takin’ his pay
away from him?” – The Boss when G&L arrive p24
• “He ain’t no cuckoo. He’s dumb as hell but he ain’t crazy” –
George defending Lennie to Slim P40
• “You travel around with George don’t ya?” – Crooks
commenting on the relationship between them.
• “Both dressed in denim trousers and denim coats” – shows
they are labourers, p4
• “[A huge man dragging his feet like a bear drags his paws]”
– Lennie drags his feet like a child, but is powerful like an
animal -p4
• ‘Lennie bleated with terror’ – p63 Shows he is meek like a
lamb, but has the strength of a bear.
How much does Lennie understand?
Lennie is described as drinking from a ‘big paw’ creating
ripples across the pond. The use of paw suggest things
about his character, that he is of simple mind and maybe
that he cannot be educated. He is a beast and not
civilised. This idea is furthered when he ‘dabbles’ in the
water creating ripples that spread across the pond. This
surprises him and he exclaims ‘look what I done!’
Right from the beginning of the story we see that Lennie
doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions,
much like an animal. We see it when he holds on the
woman’s dress in Weed, when he kills the mice, when he
holds Curley like a flopping fish, and when he holds on to
Curley’s Wife.
Lennie’s power
‘Lennie spoke craftily’ p15
Surprisingly, Lennie is able to control George through
careful manipulation of the conversation. He has learnt
that George won’t abandon him and so he can use this as
emotional blackmail – he frequently says to George that
he can go off into the hills, which forces George to cool
down and apologise. He also knows that the dream
cheers him up and brings them closer together. Lennie’s
control of their arguments shows how much power he
has over George but ultimately, it’s not the dream that
brings them together, it’s the companionship.
George’s changing tone
As we go through the novel, we see that the way George responds to the dream changes. This is
structurally important – we watch as George comes to believe the dream might happen, only for it to be
snatched away from him in the cruellest way. Steinbeck is showing us that, like Robert Burns’ poem; The
best laid plans of mice and men, aft gang aglay, there is no happy ending for ranchers in the Great
Depression and to chase your dream is foolish.
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5.
At first he doesn’t believe in the dream.
As he relaxes at the ranch and begins to think they could work
there, he begins to enjoy retelling the dream, but only when
Lennie makes him.
Eventually, there is reason to think the dream might happen and
he is clearly excited by the dream.
After Candy has come in on the plan, he starts to talk about the
dream of his own accord.
The realisation the dream is lost.
George’s changing tone
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5.
“To hell with them rabbits! That’s all you can ever remember is
them rabbits!” p6 – anger and resentment
“we’ll set up a big fire and listen to the rain comin’ down on the
roof – nuts, I ain’t got time for no more” p16 – frustration, cares
little for the dream.
‘“And the cream is so God damn thick you gotta cut it with a knife
and take it out with a spoon” Lennie watched him with wide
eyes…’ p57 – George enjoying retelling the dream.
George said wonderingly, “S’pose they was a carnival or a circus…”
p61 – the first time George talks about the dream unprompted by
others.
‘George was quite for a moment. “But not us” he said’ – p103 he
realises the dream will never happen and he can barely even say
the words any longer.
George handling Lennie
George keeps telling Lennie about this fantastic dream but,
but each time we read about it, it tends to be preceded by
Lennie doing something bad. George seems to be telling
Lennie the story to encourage him to do good things as Lennie
already knows off by heart that George won’t let him tend the
rabbits if he’s bad. At the beginning of the story then, it isn’t a
dream but a persuasive technique. We know then that George
isn’t with Lennie for his money as Slim suggested, but out of a
sense of duty or maybe for companionship. Realistically,
George knows that his life would be worse off if he didn’t have
Lennie to look after. The change in tone during the final
chapter shows how George regrets that spending his
monthlies at a cat house will probably become his future, he
has now joined the other ranchers in their hopes and dreams.
A study
The story starts and ends in the same location. Because it recurs we can assume it has some significance – all
things that recur do so because the author is trying to tell us something. In this case, both first and last
chapters start with a calming description of the Salinas river. The description of animals is continued
throughout the story so we assume that nature has a governing role. The heron picking the snake out of the
water shows the circle of life, that it is predatory in some way and this is reflected in the story. Lennie turns
out to be the surprise predator.
The chapters are similar, not only because of the opening, but because of the conversation George and
Lennie has. They first discuss how George is or should be angry, then how Lennie could run away and live in a
cave, and finally the dream. However, the tone has changed. Initially, George is angry, fed-up and
demonstrative. At the end he seems exhausted, serene and more tender. His language demonstrates that he
has come to realise the futility of trying to tame the ‘bear’, just as man hasn’t tamed the natural world as
shown by Steinbeck at the Salinas. He has realised that his relationship with Lennie is cyclic and this will only
occur again, with potentially worse consequences, if George doesn’t take action now. Ultimately, we see that
the reasoning and intelligence of man cannot change the path of nature. We wonder if Steinbeck is pointing
towards the drought which created the dustbowl, no matter what farming technique was employed, nothing
could be grown from the land. Man is powerless to change the course of nature.
The change in tone of the final chapter from the frustrated optimism of the first, as revealed in George’s
language, is not just at the hopelessness of achieving the dream but of loosing a companion. No other
character in the story has a dream with the exception of Curley’s Wife. Maybe she is given a dream when the
other characters have not to indicate the desperate nature of her life as wife of Curley. Lennie for the first
time seems to have learnt consequences to actions as he knew killing the dog was wrong, recognised how
much trouble he was in after he killed Curley’s Wife and has remembered where to run to. Lennie might soon
have become more independent and with the addition of Candy, the dream seems plausible for the first
time. But it is Carlson’s final comment,; ‘what do you suppose is eatin’ them two guys?’ which reveals the
importance of friendship. Carlson is not given a dream, but is keen to recount a friend he had in an old
rancher even though no-one else is interested. It seems that people had a reason not just to survive, but to
want and do better if they had a companion, which was also Candy’s greatest loss.
Comparing characters
What makes each powerful, or
powerless?
Characters
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George
Lennie
Curley
Curley’s wife
Candy
Crooks
Slim
Carlson
Key ideas
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Do they have a dream?
Are they respected?
Are they valuable to the farm?
Are they feared?
Do they have friends / family?
Are they physically powerful?
Are they emotionally
powerful?
The characters
Surround each with words
which describe their character