Of Mice and Men CA

1. Of Mice and Men CA Some tips for a good answer Right first time!

2. Answer the question (1) • “presents” = How does Steinbeck use writing to create the illusion that there are characters called Lennie and George? • This is not asking “What is the character like?”. The character is made up, remember. He doesn’t exist. • Avoid saying “Lennie is_____”; say “Steinbeck presents Lennie as ______ because _______” • This way, you are obviously discussing the writer’s ideas = gets more marks!

3. Answer the question (2) • “develops” = How does Steinbeck use writing to create the illusion that there are characters called Lennie and George, who have different sides to them or who change over time? • This is not asking “How do the characters change?”. The characters are made up, remember. They don’t exist. • Avoid saying “Lennie changes_____”; say “Steinbeck develops Lennie by ______ because _______” • This way, you are obviously discussing the writer’s ideas = gets more marks!

4. Steinbeck presents… • Steinbeck presents the characters from the outside: he gives visual description first, like stage directions in a play. Then he gives the characters dialogue. Everything the reader learns is because we imagine seeing or hearing it. Steinbeck never tells us what the characters think or feel; he leaves us to deduce this from what they do and what they say. Even when Lennie hallucinates in chapter 6, Steinbeck presents this through dialogue.

5. Steinbeck has a purpose • Crazy as it may sound, writers write novels and novellas so that people will read them for pleasure. This is the main purpose of the text. • This pleasure is the same as in watching films. We enjoy having our tension levels raised and lowered. • For Steinbeck to write an entertaining novella, he has to move tension levels up and down effectively. • His characters were chosen because of the potential they have for affecting the tension levels of the readers.

6. Characters have functions • Steinbeck made Lennie the way he is so that he could raise tension levels: • Steinbeck made Lennie powerful • Steinbeck made Lennie unpredictable • Steinbeck made George that way he is so he could lower tension levels: • Steinbeck made George streetwise • Steinbeck made George caring • Steinbeck made these two characters together so that he could raise and lower tension by using the two characters together. • Think of controlling the temperature of a bath by using a hot and a cold tap. • George alone = calm • Lennie alone = crisis • George and Lennie together = many different possible levels of tension

7. Link small things to big things • Each thing that happens is an event: • Lennie kills a mouse • Lennie kills a puppy • Lennie kills a woman • When you see a pattern in the events, this is a motif: • Lennie kills the things he loves • Motifs can be generalised into themes: • “Each man kills the thing he loves” (Oscar Wilde)

8. Structure • You are discussing structure when: • You compare the start with the end • You say events in chapter 3 affect events in chapter 4 • You notice that some small events foreshadow large events later • You point out where Steinbeck has placed the climaxes of tension (chapter 3 and chapter 6, like the pre-curtain climaxes in a two-act play)

9. B grade or above • “confident and developed interpretations of texts” • You link events to themes and give your personal ideas about what themes are in the novella • “engagement with writers’ ideas and attitudes and provide perceptive interpretations using precisely selected supporting textual detail” • You discuss Steinbeck’s purpose(s). • You say “Steinbeck presents Lennie as ____ because ____” • You quote and then zoom in on one word, quoting that word again separately and discussing its meaning. • “analysis of aspects of language and structure in convincing detail.” • Language = word, description, metaphor, verb • Structure = chapter, climax, foreshadowing

10. An example that covers these points • “Throughout the novella, Steinbeck presents the character of Lennie as animalistic through his descriptions. When Lennie settles down from being angry with Crooks, Steinbeck writes, “Lennie growled back to his seat on the nail-keg”. Using the verb “growled” makes Lennie seem like an angry bear and this zoomorphic description helps the reader to imagine the character as dangerous and uncontrolled. Steinbeck wants to create tension for the reader, and having a character as dangerous and unpredictable as Lennie is a way of creating tension. It helps to make the killing of Curley’s wife believable when it happens in the next chapter. Steinbeck often places events and descriptions that become important later on in the narrative.”