2. Context
• When the novel is set
• Historical/social factors that are relevant to
the time it is set
• Where the novel is set and why
• How the context affects the plot,
characters and themes
• Could you answer the question How are
the ranch workers affected by the context
of the story?
4. The title
• Alliterative connection between mice and men –
both subject to fate
• Context of title gives biggest clue as to
tragedy/pessimism for the dream
The best laid schemes o’ mice and men
Gang aft a-gley (often go wrong)
• Struggle for survival in Burns’ poem hints at
vulnerability and helplessness of characters
• Could you answer the question What is the
significance of the title?
5. Plot
• Know the story inside out ie. READ and
RE-READ
• Write detailed summaries of each of the
six chapters so you know exactly when all
the main events take place
• Consider what we learn about the past
and the future in each section
6. When did it happen?
• Lennie breaks Curley’s wife’s neck
• Candy shows them around the bunkhouse
• Lennie goes to the brush, as instructed by
George
• Lennie has a dead mouse in his pocket
• Candy’s dog is shot
• All the men go into town except Crooks,
Candy and Lennie
7. Characters
• Physical description
• Personality and behaviour
• What events/themes they are involved in
• What role they play/their importance
• Relationships with other characters
• What they say/what others say about them
• Use of language
• Could you answer the question It is possible to
feel sympathy for all the characters in the novel.
Which of the characters do you feel most
sympathy for?
9. Who…
• Used to be a boxer?
• Is the swamper?
• Is the jerkline skinner?
• Likes to gossip about people?
• Acts like a parent?
• Taunts Lennie?
• Shoots Candy’s dog?
10. Themes
• Themes are the main ideas which run
through the novel
• They help us to identify Steinbeck’s
intentions when writing the novel ie. the
issues he wanted to highlight
• Link them to characters and events
• Could you answer the question Discuss
the importance of dreams in the novel.
12. Setting
• Ensure you know where the novel is set and why
• Setting is made clear at the start of every
chapter – like stage directions in a play – and all
the chapter events take place in that location
• Steinbeck uses real geographical locations
• Remember that Soledad means ‘loneliness’
• Could you answer the question Choose one of
the settings and show how it is important to the
novel as a whole.
13. The Bunkhouse The Bunkhouse
Crook’s room (the
harness room)
Clearing by the
Salinas river
Clearing by the
Salinas river
Barn
Which chapter?
Why important?
15. Key Quotations
• Learn some short quotations so that you
can use them in your longer essay
response
• Organise these under the headings:
characters, themes, plot, setting, language
• Keep the quotations short
• If you can’t remember them exactly, you
can paraphrase
16. Who says?
• “I seen the guys that go around on the ranches
alone. That ain’t no good.”
• “You hadda, George. I swear you hadda.”
• “Coulda been in the movies an’ had nice
clothes.”
• “Why do you got to get killed. You ain’t so little
as mice.”
• “Come on ya big bastard. Get up on your feet.
No big son-of-a-bitch is gonna laugh at me.”
George
Curley
Slim
Curley’s wife
Lennie
17. Structure
• Novella
• Similar style to a play - importance of
entrances and exits, use of visual description
• Significance of opening and ending
• Chronological order
• Cyclical structure eg. opens and closes in
same place and the characters’ lives are
routine so become monotonous
• Use of foreshadowing eg. which events give
hints as to what will happen later on?
18. Foreshadowing
What do the following foreshadow?
• The shooting of Candy’s dog
• The events in Weed
• The dead mouse in chapter one
• Lennie crushing Curley’s hand
19. Language and style
• Use of omniscient narrator (3rd
person)
• Use of unusual metaphors and similes
• Vivid description of landscapes, setting and
colour
• Californian accent and dialect to emphasise
characters and setting
• Colloquial word choices, specific to ranch life
• Swearing/racist comments – to shock? For
realism?
