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Of Mice and Men Study Help Main Thread

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How do you analyse quotes when you use them to get the higher grades??

What I usually do is I quickly analyse every word in the quote. E.g. "Curley stepped over to Lennie like a terrier" I look for all language techniques, so in that quote I can see the use of similie "Like a terrier". You gotta think WHY Steinbeck wrote it in the way he did: why did he decide to use a similie instead of making it a normal sentence. Maybe for humorous effect? So we ridicule Curley? Create imagery? From the quote we visually see the image of a little terrier and we could see that maybe Steinbeck is mocking Curleys character- he thinks he is bigger than he is, but to his audience he's nothing but a titchy little dog. Relate it to the book, Curleys need to achieve maximum masculinity is shut down by the ranch society AND by Steinbeck. So To analyze, I suggest just look through the wording of a quote, look at the tone in which the author is saying it in and why he might have chosen to and how it ultimately presents the character :smile:

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(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 41

danosaur_maisy

Wow thats amazing! thanks so much! What are some quotes for the different characters? That i can examine for practice?
Thank you so much

Reply 42

LenniesRabbit

I haven't got any specific quotes but for OMAM I suggest you pick extracts and explore them. For example read over the Curley fight scene and analyses the language there. Or the ending nature scene and do the same :smile:

hope this helps

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Reply 43

CrystalMath101

Original post by Pinkpearl14

Hi there,

Can you please help me? So in mice and men why did George kill lennie? Just so he can die in peace? What exactly was the reason since I didn't really understand the ending if it all?

And this may sound stupid but curleys wife was apparently raped by lennie? Or did she just make it look that way?

and I'm struggling on what exactly this means right in the end:

curley and and carlon looked after the and Carlson said now what the hell ya. Suppose is eatin them two guys?

What guys? Does it imply that history repeated or what?

Who did they look after? Plzzz help I'm damn confused! Ugh!

I don't know if this has been answered already btw, so sorry if it has been answered.
But it looks like you haven't read the book...
George kill Lennie because he didn't want Lennie to be killed by the other guys, because Lennie had killed Curley's wife without realising. Also he killed Lennie himself because he knew that if Lennie lived either he would do the same thing again later or the others on the ranch would kill him, so like what happened to Candy's dog earlier and how candy regretted not killing his dog himself, George didn't want to have the same regrets and kille him himself.
No, Lennie didn't rape Curley's wife. She is a lonely character on the ranch, just like the other guys, but isn't clearly understood because of her gender. Also this relates to the context of the time the book was written - woman were meant to be house wifes and were meant to be seen but not heard. But Curley's wife wanted company and because Lennie was the weakest character she took the authority she had over him to try and talk to him but then things got a bit out of hand when she let Lennie touch her hair. Lennie like to touch soft things and he wouldn't let it go and his grip on her head was too strong and she died of suffocation. She didn't make it look anyway. I don't think the guys assumed she had been raped, but only knew that Lennie was the cause of her death.
Right in the end it means that guys in those days were never meant to have a companion and therefore will always be the 'loneliest guys in the world' Also the American dream was never going to come true and was only an illusion, because it was only a motivation for them. With Lennie's death George's American dream had also died, because Lennie was the one that was keeping it alive by constantly asking about it and making Geroge talk about it. In a way you could also say that Geroge probably knew it was never going to happen but maybe he held that hope because of Lennie.
Curley and Carlson are the guys who don't seem to understand the meaning of companionship. Because Carlson was able to kill Candy's dog without hesitation because he thought it was nuisance and also Curley treated his wife like a possession to show off his masculinity and power on the ranch. So by them saying that it shows the lack of understanding of companionship in those days and also how unusual it was to have a companion, as they don't seem to have any remorse for their or others' lost companion.
Well you could say Lennie's death was foreshadowed by the death of Candy's dog.

If there are stuff you don't agree with please tell me coz these were only the stuff we discussed in class and other people may have different interpretation which I would also like to hear.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 44

danosaur_maisy

Original post by LenniesRabbit

hope this helps

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Okay! I ll do that then - good revision :smile:

thanks!

Reply 45

swilliams99

Has anyone got any really good quotes for the characters, so that I can analyse them, as I've got my GCSE's next week?

Reply 46

Lucykx

Hellooo..could someone please explain to me the importance of Candy in the novella and what Steinbeck is showing him to be?

Reply 47

iPatr0nus

Original post by Lucykx

Hellooo..could someone please explain to me the importance of Candy in the novella and what Steinbeck is showing him to be?

The friendship between candy and his dog is extremely important because it foreshadows lennie's death, candy says something along the lines of "shouldn't have let a stranger shoot my dog" which can be compared to when George shoots Lennie instead of letting Curley do it, the relationship between and candy and his dog shows how in the 1930's people were very lonely, this is shown where candy doesn't want his dog to be shot, because he has become emotionally attached to his pet due to being together a long time and for his dog being there when no one else was; his best friend, this can be seen like George and Lennie too because when Lennie frequently does bad things George helps him run away because he doesn't want to be lonely and because Lennie is his best friend "I got you to look after me" hopefully that makes sense :tongue:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 48

Noomi_J

Any predictions on what the question might be ?

Reply 49

jjude

Original post by danosaur_maisy

How do you analyse quotes when you use them to get the higher grades??

You should try to look for different layers of meanings and focus on individual words, even in less obvious quotes, for example, Curley's wife was described as 'heavily made up'
you could make different interpretation on why she has so much make-up on, as,
-She could be desperate to look her best for attention.
-Maybe she's covering up scars, suggesting an abusive relationship
-'made up' could even suggest she's being fake around the other men as she doesn't fit in.

Reply 50

jjude

Original post by Lucykx

Hellooo..could someone please explain to me the importance of Candy in the novella and what Steinbeck is showing him to be?

Candy could be used to show how isolation was very common on the ranch and he also shows discrimination, as he is treated badly due to his old age.
This is shown as he is bullied into allowing his dog to being shot because his dog was old and useless, which could foreshadow what is going to happen to him as he is becoming old and useless.
You could even say Candy is desperate to fit in with the other ranch workers, as he gossips about Curley's wife saying, 'I seen her give Slim the eye'
He repeats this which could show he's used to repeating himself as he's easily ignored by the other workers so he repeats himself to make sure they heard him.
It could even suggest that he's trying to turn the other ranch workers against Curley's wife by gossiping about her to turn their attention away from him getting old and useless to prevent him from being sacked.
Or, he could simply be trying to fit in with the other ranch workers by gossiping.

Reply 51

Fatima.R

I suppose that the best way to revise for this exam is to learn 10 key quotes for each character and the themes from the book
other than that we cant really do much about the exam because we never know exactly what gonna come up

Reply 52

Fatima.R

what themes does slim show?
and how is he important in the novel as a whole???

Reply 53

NomadPrincess

slim is the "prince of the ranch", he's lonely and nothing is mentioned in the book of him having dreams. Probably because he knows the dream is unattainable and has lost hope and fate.

Im soo gonna fail! ! someone give me tips and websites to revise from. Unseen poetry and of mice and men will be the death of me

Reply 54

NomadPrincess

ohh, and I forgot to mention that maybe Slim once had a dream but something happened that ruined the dream, so he has nothing to hold onto other than staying on the ranch

Reply 55

FatimaHere

Original post by asifa129

Studied thia text two years ago so apologies if i miss vital themes or confuse them.

-Lonliness- thematic web, its a cyclic theme, it was evident at the start and the end.

-Dreams- everyone ranchhand had a dream

-Discrimination- evident through the behaviour towards the only woman (nameless, ridiculed) and towards crooks who isnt of the same background.

I think these are the most obvious themes but there are greater underlying themes. Sorry for the lack of detail. I have an exam tomorrow and should be catching on sleep but thought id just give a quick reply in case.

Message me if you want details on themes. Ive got all my notes which coves the text in vast deatail and would be more than willing to help.

GOOD LUCK

Hey! Thanks for this :biggrin:

I was perhaps wondering, could you go over your in depth notes of the themes? :/ I'm really struggling and need help badly D: I haen't got a clue where each theme is shown or examples of each :c

please help :/

Reply 56

Neymar27

I pray its on the relationship of George and Lennie

Reply 57

Palette

How do you actually revise for Of Mice and Men?

Reply 58

Fallen99

Original post by Palette

How do you actually revise for Of Mice and Men?

I actually revise but going through all the post where people write answer and reading them helps me stick them in my mind :smile:

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Reply 59

BasicMistake

I have a question, are the names Curley, Slim and Candy just nicknames which they refer to each other by? I can't imagine that they are real names but I might be wrong. If they are nicknames then I guess you can write about the significance of each.