Of Mice and Men – Knowledge Organiser
Plot summary:
1. Two migrant workers, George and Lennie, have been let off a bus miles away from the California farm where they are due to start work. George is a small, dark man with “sharp, strong features.” Lennie, his companion, is his opposite, a
giant of a man with a “shapeless” face. Overcome with thirst, the two stop in a clearing by a pool and decide to camp for the night. As the two converse, it becomes clear that Lennie has a mild mental disability, and is deeply devoted to
George and dependent upon him for protection and guidance. George finds that Lennie, who loves petting soft things but often accidentally kills them, has been carrying and stroking a dead mouse. George angrily throws it away, fearing
that Lennie might catch a disease from the dead animal. George complains loudly that his life would be easier without having to care for Lennie, but the reader senses that their friendship and devotion is mutual. He and Lennie share a
dream of buying their own piece of land, farming it, and, much to Lennie’s delight, keeping rabbits. George ends the night by treating Lennie to the story he often tells him about what life will be like in such an idyllic place.
2. The next day, the men report to the nearby ranch. George, fearing how the boss will react to Lennie, insists that he’ll do all the talking. He lies, explaining that they travel together because they are cousins and that a horse kicked Lennie in
the head when he was a child. They are hired. They meet Candy, an old “swamper,” or handyman, with a missing hand and an ancient dog, and Curley, the boss’s mean-spirited son. Curley is newly married, possessive of his flirtatious wife,
and full of jealous suspicion. Once George and Lennie are alone in the bunkhouse, Curley’s wife appears and flirts with them. Lennie thinks she is “purty,” but George, sensing the trouble that could come from tangling with this woman and
her husband, warns Lennie to stay away from her. Soon, the ranch-hands return from the fields for lunch, and George and Lennie meet Slim, the skilled mule driver who wields great authority on the ranch. Slim comments on the rarity of
friendship like that between George and Lennie. Carlson, another ranch-hand, suggests that since Slim’s dog has just given birth, they should offer a puppy to Candy and shoot Candy’s old, good-for-nothing dog.
3. The next day, George confides in Slim that he and Lennie are not cousins, but have been friends since childhood. He tells how Lennie has often gotten them into trouble. For instance, they were forced to flee their last job because Lennie
tried to touch a woman’s dress and was accused of rape. Slim agrees to give Lennie one of his puppies, and Carlson continues to badger Candy to kill his old dog. When Slim agrees with Carlson, saying that death would be a welcome relief
to the suffering animal, Candy gives in. Carlson, before leading the dog outside, promises to do the job painlessly.
4. Slim goes to the barn to do some work, and Curley, who is maniacally searching for his wife, heads to the barn to accost Slim. Candy overhears George and Lennie discussing their plans to buy land, and offers his life’s savings if they will let
him live there too. The three make a pact to let no one else know of their plan. Slim returns to the bunkhouse, berating Curley for his suspicions. Curley, searching for an easy target for his anger, finds Lennie and picks a fight with him.
Lennie crushes Curley’s hand in the altercation. Slim warns Curley that if he tries to get George and Lennie fired, he will be the laughingstock of the farm.
5. The next night, most of the men go to the local brothel. Lennie is left with Crooks, the lonely, black stable-hand, and Candy. Curley’s wife flirts with them, refusing to leave until the other men come home. She notices the cuts on Lennie’s
face and suspects that he, and not a piece of machinery as Curley claimed, is responsible for hurting her husband. This thought amuses her. The next day, Lennie accidentally kills his puppy in the barn. Curley’s wife enters and consoles him.
She admits that life with Curley is a disappointment, and wishes that she had followed her dream of becoming a movie star. Lennie tells her that he loves petting soft things, and she offers to let him feel her hair. When he grabs too tightly,
she cries out. In his attempt to silence her, he accidentally breaks her neck.
6. Lennie flees back to a pool of the Salinas River that George had designated as a meeting place should either of them get into trouble. As the men back at the ranch discover what has happened and gather together a lynch party, George
joins Lennie. Much to Lennie’s surprise, George is not mad at him for doing “a bad thing.” George begins to tell Lennie the story of the farm they will have together. As he describes the rabbits that Lennie will tend, the sound of the
approaching lynch party grows louder. George shoots his friend in the back of the head.
7. When the other men arrive, George lets them believe that Lennie had the gun, and George wrestled it away from him and shot him. Only Slim understands what has really happened, that George has killed his friend out of mercy. Slim
consolingly leads him away, and the other men, completely puzzled, watch them leave.
Key characters
Key themes & Context
1. Steinbeck encourages us to empathise with the plight of migrant workers during the Great Depression.
2. The American Dream is shown to be impossible: reality defeats idealism.
3. The novella explores the human need for companionship and the tragedy of loneliness.
4. Steinbeck reveals the predatory nature of mankind: the powerless are targeted by the powerful.
5. Steinbeck explores the tension between the inevitability of fate and the fragility of human dreams.
6. Steinbeck explores the contrasts of Nature Vs Man.
7. The novella is an indictment of the way society treats the dispossessed.
Stylistic features &
relevant terms
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Semantic fields
Crooks
insecure, unmerciful, jealous
a seductive temptress, objectified,
lonely, nameless
cynical, proud, isolated
Slim
compassionate, wise, respected
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Carlson
heartless, insensitive
George
frustrated, devoted, a dreamer
Lennie
childlike, unassuming, physically
powerful
unloved, an outcast, aging
Candy
Curley
Curley’s wife
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John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902. Although his family was wealthy, he was interested in the
lives of the farm labourers and spent time working with them. He used his experiences as material for his writing.
On October 29 1929, millions of dollars were wiped out in an event that became known as the Wall Street Crash.
It led to the People losing their life savings and one third of America's population became unemployed.
A series of droughts in southern mid-western states like Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas led to failed harvests and
dried-up land. Farmers were forced to move off their land: they couldn't repay the bank-loans which had helped
buy the farms and had to sell what they owned to pay their debts.
Racism and sexism were common, especially in the Southern states due to the harsh economic climate, and
history of slavery.
Cyclical nature
Sentence structure
Symbolism
Characterisation
Contextual impact
Foreshadowing
Thematic reflection
Key quotations
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George – C1: “Guys like us…that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys
in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place…”
Lennie – C1: “Slowly, like a terrier who doesn’t want to bring a ball to its
master, Lennie approached, drew back, approached again.”
Slim – C2: “Aint 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.”
Candy – C3: “I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t of
ought to let no stranger shoot my dog.”
George – C3: “We wouldn’t ask nobody if we could. Jus’ say, ‘We’ll go to
her,’ an’ we would”.
Crooks – C4: “Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of
books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no
land.”
Crooks – C4: “A guy needs somebody to be near him. He whined, a guy
goes nuts if he aint got nobody”.
Curley’s wife – C5: And the meanness and the plannings and the
discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She
was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young.”
Chapter 6 – 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.
George – C6 – “No, Lennie. I aint mad. I never been mad, an’ I aint now.
That’s a thing I want ya to know.”
SPaG Focus
Useful vocabulary
Isolation
Racism
Sexism
Loneliness
Hierarchy
Differences
Itinerant
Symbolism
Microcosm
Segregation
Dreams
Harsh reality
Strong
Dog
Animal imagery
Foreshadow
Cyclic nature
Metaphor
Colour
Role of women
Ranch-hand
Itinerant worker
Dust bowl
Poverty
Status
Isolation
Friendship
Terrier
Usefulness
Hopelessness
Useful Vocabulary
Chosen by You
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Capital letters, full stops, question mark, exclamation mark, ellipsis, speech marks
Listing comma, parenthetic comma, subordinating comma, parenthesis - (), semi
colon, colon
Apostrophe – omission, apostrophe – possession
Brackets for stage directions
Adjective & adjectival phrase, adverb & adverbial phrase
Antonym and synonym
Auxiliary verb, dynamic verbs, finite verb, intransitive verb, transitive verb , modal
verb, verb phrase, continuous verb
complement, compound words, conjunction, modifier, suffix, prefix, noun, noun
phrase, singular and plural, preposition, pronoun, subjunctive, synonym,
Active and passive voice, past, present and future tense, 1st, 2nd & 3rd person
Colloquial language, formal & informal tone / register, cohesive devices
Simple, compound, complex and minor sentences
Main clause, relative clause, subordinate clause
Co-ordinating conjunction, object, subject, consonant, vowel, syllable and stress,
homophone, homonym, article
Responding to the (extract, question, etc)
Relevant points are clearly identified, including summary and synthesis of
information from different sources and commentary incorporates apt textual
reference and quotation to support ideas.
Precision in the selection and application of textual reference to the point being
made.
Different layers of meaning are identified with detailed exploration of them some
beginning to develop an interpretation
An analytic and evaluative comment on how viewpoint is established and an
appreciation of how devices achieve the effects that they do.
Evaluation of the extent to which structural choices support the writer’s theme or
purpose.
Perceptive analysis of how language is used and some appreciation of how
language choices contribute to the effect on the reader.
Comments develop an interpretation and begin to prove the text.
The ability to set texts in context and see how texts are influential.
Successfully comparing cross reference aspects of text.