Of Mice and Men Study Help Main Thread

Hal.E.Lujah

Hello TSRians,

Every year there are absolutely tons of threads looking for help with Of Mice and Men. How about we pool collective knowledge rather than letting it be forgotten each year?

I'll throw in my basic notes now, and as people post good stuff we can update the OP. I'll add bits about characters and themes too when I can. :h:

Context of the novel

Spoiler

The Plot of the Novel

Spoiler

The Characters

Lennie Small

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George

Spoiler

Curley's Wife.

Spoiler

Curley.

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Crook.

[spoiler]

Crooks is so named because of a crooked back caused by a kick from a horse. Crooks is the stable hand who takes care of the horses and lives by himself because he is the only black man on the ranch.

Chapter four starts with the description of Crooks's "harness room" which was is as a "little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn" and his "bunk was a long box filled with straw. This suggests that Crooks was not treated very well or very respectfully in the ranch because he was separated from the other men in the ranch and had to stay by himself, next to the animals. This was because during the 1930s, racial discrimination was quite severe. Black men had a much lower status than others, and were not treated equally. In fact Crooks was so low in the social hierarchy, that he was almost treated like an animal. This is because he lived right next to them and his bunk was filled with "straw" which is usually for the horses.
This point is further emphasized by the fact that Crooks had a "range of medicines, both for himself and the horses", which shows that he is almost no different from the horses. The medicine could also be a metaphor to show that Crooks is ill from the unfairness of the world. This evokes sympathy for Crooks from the readers because of the way he is mistreated by others, just because he is black.
However, even though Crooks is treated like he is almost inferior to the rest, ironically he is intelligent and probably more well-educated than most of the men in the ranch. This is shown by the description of the "tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California Civil Code for 1905" in his room, which not only shows that he is well educated but also that he is aware of his rights.
The sympathy from the reader heightens when Lennie enters Crooks's room and his immediate reaction is tell Lennie that he has no right to come in his room and that "nobody got any right in here" but him. Crooks's initial reaction could show that it doesn't usually happen that people come in his room, so he is slighly taken back by Lennie entering. However Crooks gives in after a while and says to lennie to "Come on in and set a while", which shows Crooks finally has some company and is rather happy about it. This make the readers feel sympathy for Crooks as they realise that he doesn't usually have much of a company just because he is "black" and the men in the ranch say he "stink :".:

However at the same time, Steinbeck manages to create a dislike for Crooks in chapter 4. This is because when Lennie is in Crooks's room, Crooks enjoys torturing Lennie by saying "S'pose George don't come back"and when Lennie reacts he "pressed forward some kind of private victory". This makes the readers dislike Crooks because he is intentionally torturing Lennie mentally, knowing that he is mentally disabled, just because he knows that he can. This can be a result of discrimination and loneliness. Crooks has experienced this so many times in his life, that when he gets a chance, he inflicts the same pain on someone else just because he can. This shows the consequences of loneliness, and evokes a mixed reaction from the readers because even though Crooks is not being a nice person to Lennie, they know that Crooks has been through alot, so they cannot completely dislike him.

The Themes

Spoiler

(edited 8 years ago)

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Reply 1

Stephanie Palmer

Hi,
i am new to the student room, and I am needing some help with my 'Of Mice and Men' essay. I'm just wondering if anyone could help me as I'm struggling, much appreciated. Thanks.

Reply 2

Stephanie Palmer

Hi,

could anyone please help me with my essay on 'Of Mice and Men'. How is Lennie and Curley's wife portrayed as victims, and how could I do my introduction to my essay?

Reply 3

somegirlcalledea

I would mention in my introduction how themes of prejudice and violence are present throughout OMAM (disability discrimination and sexism) and this leads to the characters being portrayed as victims. I think you're also supposed to include context (??) so I would say how this links to attitudes of the time- i.e little regard for women or those with mental disabilities.

Curley's wife is a victim of abuse (from Curley) and also of loneliness (rejected by everyone on the ranch) and sexism (noone thinks highly of her, shes a possession of a man etc).
Lennie suffers as a victim of discrimination, violence and his disability.

I could go into more depth but I believe your essay is about how you interpret OMAM and I wouldn't want to influence your essay any more than I already have with my personal interpretations :colondollar:

Although if you wish for me to expand on any of that PM me

Reply 4

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!

Reply 5

HPanimadPJO

What's the assessment question?

Reply 6

Stephanie Palmer

Original post by HPanimadPJO

What's the assessment question?

'In this book most of the characters are victims, explore the ways Steinbeck presents notions of the victim in relation to Lennie and Curley's wife'

Reply 7

Stephanie Palmer

Original post by Mr...

Look at when everybody talks about her behind her back and how they describe her as "tarty" and the description of her after Lennie kills her :biggrin:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Thankyou!:-)

Reply 8

lele187

George killed Lennie to bring him a peaceful and quick death since Curley and the rest of the ranch workers were prepared to torture him to death for his actions rather than putting him out of his misery. In that respect it can be interpreted as a mercy killing.

She was in no way raped, she merely tempted Lennie then scared him resulting in her death.

This is to highlight Slim as the emotionally understanding character it hasn't got so much to do with Carlson, the ending was used to reinforce that idea of relationships and itinerant workers never truly forming them and therefore lacking that basic emotional understanding.

Reply 9

LenniesRabbit

Yeah George had killed Lennie can be seen as a form of euthanasia or (mercy killing). Curley had said that he was going to basically tortuously murder Lennie and George, being his friend, couldn't let that happen so the best choice was to kill Lennie himself in the most peaceful way possible.

Lennie didn't rape CW.

"now what the hell ya. Suppose is eatin them two guys?" By Carlson is significant. It highlights the fact that nobody in that society cared for anyone else. Carlson represents the fact that no one was ever close to anyone in that society. Carlson had just come across George standing near Lennies dead body and instead of helping George to mourn for the death of his friend he quickly changes the subject (I assume unintentionally knowing how Carlsons character is) which helps to reiterate the fact that life just carried on with or without you in that society. Nobody stopped to care. It was sad but understandable.

Reply 10

Orlando225

Ahhh look.. I appreciate the Plot dude..But think about it there's no point in reading that over and over again..It's about how and why Steinbeck is trying to portray these characters and situations and the messages he's trying to tell us..Write about that in context to what your talking about..and when the teacher says "say how it affects the reader... Really say why ..every word every emotion...that's a guaranteed A..

Reply 11

JohnLE

Thanks for this ill be sure to use it in the future, do you think its worth getting the CGP Of Mice and Men revision guide? :smile:

Reply 12

German123

This would have been helpful about a year ago when I did my Of Mice and Men.

Reply 13

German123

Original post by flibber

How did your exam go last year?

Overall it was okay but if this thread was made like last year I would have done better.

For my Omam revision I used Spark notes.

I got a B overall for my controlled assessment at the end of yr11.

:smile:

Reply 14

BasicMistake

Original post by flibber

But examiners do reward answers that are original in their interpretation, since they'd be bored of seeing stuff like 'Curley's wife has no name.'

Steinbeck never reveals Crooks' real name; Candy explains that he 'got a crooked back where a horse kicked him'. On one hand, the fact that Steinbeck called the stable buck 'Crooks' could mean that just like his back, society in 1930s America was crooked, and was bent out of its created intention of interdependence. From a different perspective, the nickname to him indicates a lack of respect from the white ranchers, who believe that they can control him and erase his identity.

I understand that I have no authority nor the knowledge to critique this paragraph but this is a rather spurious claim.

This is comparing Crook's back with American society? I can just as easily say that Curley's soft hand is representative of retaining American conservatism.

Reply 15

BasicMistake

Original post by Palette

Ask Mr Bruff... it's his idea! I did say I copied large chunks from his YouTube videos.

Plus I am really bad at English Literature.

Is this Mr. Bruff some sort of English literature God whom I have not had the pleasure of discovering?

Reply 16

Palette

Original post by BasicMistake

Is this Mr. Bruff some sort of English literature God whom I have not had the pleasure of discovering?

It depends on which poems or texts you're studying. Search him on YouTube.

Reply 17

Black Rose

Original post by Hal.E.Lujah

Great idea, Hal :awesome:

Spoiler

Haven't done English Literature in a while but I remember this helping me: https://www.youtube.com/user/mrbruff/featured Mr Bruff was really good :yep:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 18

Hal.E.Lujah

Original post by German123

This would have been helpful about a year ago when I did my Of Mice and Men.

Heh, well hopefully it can stay of use to the many people posting for help THIS year as usual. Sorry I didn't make it last year :blush:

Original post by Orlando225

Well, I've outlined the context and the plot so far in the OP. I think that should be enough for most people struggling to be getting on with and drawing conclusions. Just armed with the above information it should be easy to make the jump from Women being seen as inappropriate --> Curley's wife, and the fact she hasn't got a name etc reinforcing that if a question on gender comes up in anyones exam. Or if it's about loneliness there's clearly the idea of differences isolating people like Candy or Lennie or even Curley.

At the end of the day the people who incorporate

1. Context
2. Show reasoning for their assertions

into any essays they make will get full marks. :yep: