Of Mice and Men Reading Guide

 

  1. Read and mark your book through page 65.  I will check your marking for a double quiz grade.  I expect you to have notes in the margins in addition to your underlining.  Earning an “A” on your marking will not be as easy as it was for other books, so mark thoroughly and take LOTS of notes.  You will also have a reading check quiz (worth two grades), so be prepared for it.  Be prepared on your reading check to give examples of the devices you are marking (see list below).  In other words, I will likely ask a question such as “Explain one example of foreshadowing you saw in the reading.” 
  2. Specifically mark also one quote that best represents each of the following characters (i.e. be able to reference these quotes on your reading check test): George Milton, Lennie Small, Candy, Curley, Slim, and Curley’s Wife.
  3. Go to the following website: http://history1900s.about.com/ligrary/photos/blyindexdepression.htm

Choose one of the pictures.  Print it out.  Bring it to class on Monday and be ready to discuss it – how it parallels the feeling in the book, what images stand out, what “point” the photographer is trying to make.

  1. Other Depression Era Websites you need to visit to get a sense of the time period.

Be prepared to discuss the information on these websites when we return.

 

Marking Guide:

A.  Devices:

  1. Foreshadowing (there is A LOT of this in the novel). 
  2. Irony (again, one of Steinbeck’s favorite devices)
  3. Symbolism, particularly the setting and Candy’s dog.  Do you see others? (PS – this novel has been called an “allegory” – “a literary work in which each literal character, object, and event represents a symbol illustrating an idea or moral or religious principle”)
  4. Motifs: animal imagery, “hands” – Do you see others?

B.  Other Things to Consider:

  1. Title significance (it was almost Something That Happened)
  2. The structure of the novel: 1) framework (begins and ends in the same place - a cycle) and 2) written a lot like a play (lighting, character entrances, setting descriptions)

C.  Themes:

  1. Friendship
  2. Family
  3. The “American Dream”
  4. Control / Powerlessness
  5. Discrimination
  6. Loneliness
  7. Doing what’s “right”

 

Do NOT visit Sparknotes, Monkeynotes, Cliff’s Notes or any other publication designed to interpret the story for you.  I want YOUR thoughts and insights.