Of Mice and Men notes

Of Mice and Men notes By John Steinbeck

Characters/characterization • George • Lennie • Candy • Crooks • Curley’s Wife • Curley • Slim

List characters from most to least perceived power on the ranch:

Foils—characters who are oppositeto emphasize their differences • George/Lennie • George/Curley • Others?

Direct/Indirect Characterization • Direct description • John Steinbeck’s • Indirect description • Dialogue • Actions

Ism’s—characterization and discrimination in the novella • Racism • Sexism • Ableism • Ageism

The Title • Robert Burns poem “To a Mouse”

Literary Terms • Setting 1930s Central California • Weed, Salinas, Salinas River • Great Depression era • Migrant workers and their plight • POINT OF VIEW? Affect?

Language terms • Dialect • Idioms • Colloquialisms • Realism • Diction, imagery, detail creates Steinbeck’s realism • Tone/Mood

SYMBOLS—objects with connotative meaning/ representing abstract ideas • George and Lennie’s farm-- • Lennie’s puppy • Candy’s dog • Rabbits • Final scene: Water snake, heron • Death itself—in the microcosm(text as a min-world) of the text: • Lennie’s death--death of innocence in a cruel world • Curley’s Wife—symbolic of “Eve”, “Pandora” brings sin and death to the world. • Increasing nature of violence/death

Themes in the text: major topics • Friendship /Idealized male fraternity • Loyalty • Compassion • Loneliness • Dependence • Violence/Intimidation • Euthanasia (mercy killing) • Cruelty • Discrimination/Social Injustice • Moral Responsibility

Motifs: recurring themes/ideas • The American Dream—the impossibility of it • Dreaming of an idyllic place • Caregiving to the intellectually disabled • Powerlessness of the dispossessed/migrant drifter • Predatory nature of Human Existence • Corrupting power of women • Loneliness and Companionship • Strength and weakness

Of Mice and Men notes

Of Mice and Men notes

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Of Mice and Men Background Notes

Of Mice and men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men:

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

“Of Mice and Men”

Of mice and men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

OF MICE AND MEN.

Of Mice and Men Notes

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

“Of Mice and Men”

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men