Of Mice and Men Thematic Idea Paragraph
Print your paragraph and bring it to class on Thursday 10/31.
Assignment: Write a paragraph about one of the thematic ideas in Of Mice and Men.
Thematic ideas: hope, hopelessness, dreams, isolation, love, friendship, honesty,
loyalty. (Have another idea? Ask me!)
Your paragraph must include:
A title
A topic sentence***
A lead in and/or set up for your evidence
Direct evidence with proper citation
Commentary: at least 2 sentences (What is under the surface? So what?
Why? What does it mean? Why is it important? Give insight, analysis,
reasons, interpretation, opinion, etc. DO NOT write, “This shows that...”)
A concluding sentence (What is the result? What did you prove?)
*** In your topic sentence, DO NOT write:
Friendship is a theme in Of Mice and Men.
Instead, write something general or universal about that thematic idea. Example:
Everyone should have a dream to work toward in life.
Follow Academic Writing and MLA Formatting Guidelines (see your handout)
Example on back!
20 points (10 points for following Academic Writing and MLA Formatting
Guidelines and 10 points for a complete, strong paragraph.)
Use the space below to brainstorm.
Example:
Student Name
Kitamorn #
10/31/2013
OMAM Thematic Idea Paragraph
The Importance of Dreams
Everyone should have a dream to work toward in life. In John Steinbeck’s
novel, Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie share a dream of owning a ranch. George
retells their dream several times to Lennie and Lennie adds that they are going to,
“’live off the fatta the lan’” (14). This dream of owning a ranch and living on their
own motivates George and Lennie to keep working as migrant farmers. Their goal is
to save enough money to buy some land and make this dream a reality, so they keep
moving from farm and farm, working as ranch hands. Dreams are important because
they inspire people to work hard, just like George and Lennie do.