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Of mice and Men Help, please exam soon.

how do you answer 27 mark questions such as these?

1) how does steinbeck present damaged lives in Of Mice and Men?

do you use PEEL (point, evidence, explanations and link back to question)

so you say: the animals that lennie killed, Curly's wife and lennie dying at end?

2) can't write the passage of text it gives me but it says that you have to write about:

how steinbeck uses details to present Crooks here
how importance of what the reader learns here to the novel as a whole.

How do I get 27 marks for each of the questions?
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by non

How do I get 27 marks for each of the questions?



For all questions, use PEEL.

You want to be doing this 3-4 times, in separate paragraphs. When you get to the exam you want to have a plan looking something like this:

Introduction: Steinbeck uses death and blah blah to present damaged lives in Of mice and men.

Para 1:

- Point: Lenny dying shows how damaged and fragile lives are
- Example: 'Lenny dies at the end'
- Explanation: By doing this Steinbeck creates George as the tragic hero and having him kill Lenny, who is portrayed as a metaphorical dream.
- Link: By doing this steinbeck presents George's life as damaged beyond repair.

Para 2:

- Point: Curly's wife
- Example: [Insert your own example here :smile:]
- Explanation: [Insert your explanation here :smile:]
- Link: By doing this steinbeck presents the life of Curly and his wife as damaged.

Para 3:

P:
E:
E:
L:


Conclusion

Point/Explanation Only: Steinbeck portrays the lives of the characters in the novel as damaged through a variety of techniques.



At the start of the exam always plan something similar to the above. You'd literally jot down Para 1: PEEL then fill in each blank. If you find that you can do this you're looking at full marks, and if you find you can't yet do it then you need to revise more :h:
(edited 11 years ago)
^ yeah thats really important.

Make sure you include social/historical context and make it relevant to your points, don't just force it in.

Also, make sure your essay has 3 main and distinct points of A-grade quality.
If your points relying on narrative they will only be C-grade points and no matter how well you write your essay your grade will be limited to like a B.

Make 3 evaluative points: such as for the damaged lives one:

1) The inevitability of lives being damaged - then you can link to historical context (crooks/curley's wife/migrant worker life), and take each character in turn

2) Damaged lives are a result of society's treatment: crooks damaged by CW, CW damaged by men on the ranch, Candy's dog brutally taken away from him

3) Lives are damaged when they are lonely - George separated from Lennie at the end, men visiting brothels shows damaged and dysfunctional relationships with women, Candy, CW gets frustrated, etc

The plan above isnt the best one by all means, and it is up to you as a writer to include relevant details without repeating yourself. But the point is, if the question is about 'damaged lives', don't have a whole paragraph on 'Lennie damages animal lives', because you will slip into narrative (characteristic of C-grade responses). However, if you are able to start with a broader point like above, then include that example and relate it back to the question, you are on your way to an A/A*.

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