http://sites.google.com/site/jencoty/ofmiceandmen
Mrs. Jones/Mrs. Delmage
Name___________________________________
Period _______
Anticipation/Reaction Guide
Before Reading: In the space to the left of each statement, place a check mark (√)
if you agree or think the statement is true.
___1. Believing that an unhappy situation is only temporary makes it more bearable.
___2. Feeling responsible for someone can be a burden.
___3. Men will not allow their friends to become burdens.
___4. Women need friends more than men do.
___5. It is more acceptable for women to love their female friends than it is for men
to love their male friends.
___6. Of the many feelings that hurt – grief, anger, resentment, jealousy, loneliness
– loneliness hurts the most.
___7. If a person has a dream to cling to, s/he can survive against the odds.
___8. To feel need is basic to human nature.
___9. Society cannot defeat us; a flaw within our own personality can.
___10. Dreaming is for dreamers, and dreamers go nowhere. Be real.
___11. There are times when euthanasia (mercy killing) can be justified.
Explain Why…
Pick any statement that you checked above and explain WHY you support that
idea, belief or statement. Your explanation should be 3 to 5 sentences.
Excerpt from Robert Burns’ “To A Mouse”
But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Background Terminology
Term Identification - Give a brief explanation of the term.
Great Depression
Dust Bowl
Migrant Workers
Unemployment Rate
Wage Labor
American Dream
Whose Line Is It, Anyway?
Quotation Identification – Use your knowledge of social studies, as well as the clues within
each quotation, to match each speaker to his quotation.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
George, a tough, clever man and character in OMM
Lennie, naive migrant worker and character in OMM
John Steinbeck, author of OMM
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, American President (1933 – 1945)
A Los Angeles police chief
A Kansas preacher
A desperate farmer affected by the Dust Bowl
A weary man migrating to California with his family
A California resident, disgruntled by the mass exodus
__________1. “A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to
side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in
the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak
swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically.”
___________2."I felt I was becoming a slave to the land. But I held on to the thought that this land
had to be stopped from blowing. Often I was so full of dust that I drove blind, unable to see even
the radiator cap on my tractor or hear the roar of the engines. But I kept driving on and on, by
guess and instinct. I was making my last stand in the Dust Bowl."
__________3. “No reason at all for you. I like it here. Tomorra we’re gonna go to work. I seen
thrashin’ machines on the way down. That means we’ll be bucking grain bags, bustin’ a gut.
Tonight I’m gonna lay right here and look up. I like it.”
__________4. “Sure, I can remember this. Di’n’t I remember about not gonna say a word?”
__________5. "I see one-third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished … the test of our
progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether
we provide enough for those who have too little."
__________6. I sent 125 of my best men to act as bouncers at the state border, turning away
“undesirables” because California had become so overcrowded. The press referred to these
migrants as “the bum brigade.”
__________7. "The land just blew away; we had to go somewhere."
__________8. “California's relief rolls are overcrowded now. No use to come farther. There really is
nothing for you here. Nothing, really nothing.”
__________9. “So? Well, you ought to see what they got where I come from.”
Characters
Use this as a place to track the characterization as you read. Recording physical and personality
traits will help you to differentiate the characters. This page may be used as a springboard for
class discussions.
George Milton
Lennie Small
Candy
The Boss
Curley
Curley’s wife
Slim
Carlson
Crooks
Whit
Reading Guide & Questions
Read the questions before you read each chapter of Of Mice and Men. Answer the questions in a
few words or a factual sentence. Some questions require you to answer by expressing a thought
or opinion.
Chapter 1
1. In what part of the country does the novel take place?
2. List words that describe Lennie.
3. List words that describe George.
4. To what animal is Lennie compared?
5. To what animal would you compare George?
6. Why were George and Lennie run out of Weed?
7. What things does Lennie do and say that make him like a child?
8. Does George real1y want Lennie to go away? Explain your answer.
9. What is the meaning of the following phrase: “An’ live off the fatta the lan’”?
10. Where does George tell Lennie to hide?
Chapter 2
1. Who greeted George and Lennie at the Bunkhouse?
2. What unusual habits did Whitey have?
3. Whom did the boss punish because George and Lennie were late? Why?
4. Why does George answer all the questions directed to Lennie?
5. How does the boss react to George's friendship with Lennie?
6. What excuse does George give for Lennie's slowness?
7. How does Curley react to Lennie's silence?
8. What does he think about George and Lennie's travelling together?
9. What does the swamper mean by the statement: "Curley's pretty handy"?
10. What uneasy feeling does George have about Curley's wife?
Chapter 3
1. Who is Slim?
2. What kind act does Slim do for Lennie?
3. How does Slim react to Lennie and George's travelling together?
4. Why do you think George told Slim about what happened in Weed?
5. List words that describe Candy's dog from Carlson's point of view.
6. What is Carlson's solution to the problem of the dog?
7. Describe how Carlson shoots Candy's dog.
8. What role does Candy play in helping George and Lennie to buy land?
9. Why does Curley attack Lennie? What happens to Curley?
Chapter 4
1. Why is Crooks jealous of Lennie's friendship with George?
2. How does Crooks fill his loneliness?
3. How does Crooks feel about Lennie’s dream of “livin’ off the fatta the lan’”?
4. Why does Curley's wife interrupt Crooks, Candy, and Lennie?
5. Does Curley’s wife know what happened to Lennie’s hand? What is her reaction to the
incident?
Chapter 5
1. What did Lennie do to the puppy?
2. Why is he angry at the dead puppy?
3. When Lennie does not want to talk to Curley's wife, how does she react?
4. What does she ask Lennie to do?
5. How does Lennie kill her?
6. Who does Candy blame for the murder? Why is he so angry at what has happened?
7. Why does George leave and then return to the scene of the crime with the others?
8. Who does Carlson think has stolen his gun?
Chapter 6
1. Where does Lennie hide?
2. Lennie has an unusual hallucination. Describe it.
3. How do the characters in Lennie's dream treat him?
4. What is George going to do to Lennie? How does he do it?
5. Earlier in the novel, who or what was killed in the same way?
6. Why did George lie to the others about what had happened?