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Of mice and men essay on George and Lennie- please mark :)

a) How do the details in this passage add to your understanding of George and his relationship to Lennie?
AND
b) How does Steinbeck use their relationship in the novel as a whole to convey ideas about the American dream in the 1930’s?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a….
The passage presents George as very defensive and possessive over Lennie. The use of the world ‘defensively’ shows that George really cares about Lennie and sees him as someone that he will give his life to. He defends him as slim starts to question their relationship causing a moment of tension as he defends his own, like a father defending his son. This not only emphasizes Georges bond with Lennie but demonstrates the mutual respect and loyalty they have for each other. George is further shown as defensive as slim then relaxes back ‘quiet and receptive’ as George sits in silence.
The passage also shows the development of the George and Lennie relationship and how it has progressed through the age and experience. “well I ain’t don’t nothing like that no more”. After finishing the softened speech to slim about his past events with Lennie, George then ends with this final line. This conveys the story of their relationship as a figure of repentance towards his past mistakes and when he took advantage of Lennie loyalty to him. Though George displays his sorrow attitude about his mistakes, he looks upon them and uses it as a sense of motivation to perspire to their joint ‘American dream’.
From the passage, we are also able to see more about their relationship through the entity of slim. Slim listens throughout Georges moment of reflection and then comments ‘Guys don’t need sense to be a nice fella’. In order to allow for the comforting of George as he reflects upon his past behaviour, he talks about Lennie, someone that is clearly displayed as a monument in Georges life which as a result of this raises the weight of the atmosphere and causes a sudden break within the story.

b…
Steinbeck uses their relationship as they conveyed meaning and the displays of effort they were to put in, in order to achieve the American dream. George and Lennie had to struggle in order to survive the harsh times of lowly paid wages and low employment but were lucky enough to secure jobs. Steinbeck conveys the idea of the American dream by demonstrating the harshness of the reality within the given time period and also shows how intense work accessibility was.
The American dream was further conveyed as Lennies repetition of his and Georges own American dream throughout the novella ‘to live off the flatta land’. This not only drove the career it also potentially means for a possible steady income which they could then save rather than ‘blowing out their jack’ as this was the stereotypical movement for the average worker of their time period.
Steinbeck uses George and Lennie as a vehicle to drive the idea of the how intense the time period was. George has the role of carrying Lennie from place to place and potentially acting as his bodyguard whenever trouble is has occurred e.g. Weed. Towards the end of the novella, Lennie accidently kills Curley’s wife causing a forced decision upon George, which he did not want to have to make. George then shot Lennie in the back of this head in order to reduce the chances of Curley attacking to him and prosperously killing first. Before his death, George tells his to recite the planned American dream for the last time as he ‘looks down the river’, not only did Steinbeck do this to cause a dramatic ending, he also included this towards the ending that times were harsh and not everybody has the ability to benefit the dream nor live it henceforth the death of Lennie.
Not that I'm going to mark it, but you should include our of how many marks each question is.
Original post by Mayhem™
Not that I'm going to mark it, but you should include our of how many marks each question is.


36 marks for both parts
Reply 3
Original post by Mayhem™
Not that I'm going to mark it, but you should include our of how many marks each question is.


Its 36 marks
=> 32 marks for content
=>4 marks for gramatical structure
@ricardo_va you have good points, your vocabulary is used well but try to pick perceptive quotes, not obvious ones. Examiners do have to read hundreds of essays so try to stand out:smile: and you should include analysis of the main quote for each point. Other than that you have good ideass
Reply 5
Original post by ElaArslan
@ricardo_va you have good points, your vocabulary is used well but try to pick perceptive quotes, not obvious ones. Examiners do have to read hundreds of essays so try to stand out:smile: and you should include analysis of the main quote for each point. Other than that you have good ideass


Thanks for that so much :smile:, the feedback is amazing. On a rough estimate, what mark would you give it?
Original post by ricardo_va
Thanks for that so much :smile:, the feedback is amazing. On a rough estimate, what mark would you give it?


It's okayyy and around 23 marks? You have the ability to make your way to the 30s though:smile:
Reply 7
Original post by ElaArslan
It's okayyy and around 23 marks? You have the ability to make your way to the 30s though:smile:


Thanks @ElaArslan :smile:, Good luck with your exams if your sitting any this year.
Original post by ricardo_va
Thanks @ElaArslan :smile:, Good luck with your exams if your sitting any this year.


Good luck to you too! I'm doing the same literature exam hahah let's hope AQA are kind towards us this year
Reply 9
I'm not a teacher, but I do A Level English, so maybe I can help.

It's good for GCSE standard - it's around the mid 20's by my estimation. But if you really want to wow the examiner, instead of using general language like "the word" you could be specific (what kind of noun/literary devices etc... are used).

Your written expression is good, keep working on it.

Good luck!
Reply 10
Original post by selvisin
I'm not a teacher, but I do A Level English, so maybe I can help.

It's good for GCSE standard - it's around the mid 20's by my estimation. But if you really want to wow the examiner, instead of using general language like "the word" you could be specific (what kind of noun/literary devices etc... are used).

Your written expression is good, keep working on it.

Good luck!


thanks for that, what else is missing and what else should i develop just to increase the amount marks to aim it towards nearer the 30mark region
Original post by ricardo_va
thanks for that, what else is missing and what else should i develop just to increase the amount marks to aim it towards nearer the 30mark region


Definitely talk about other characters - Curley's Wife wanting to be an actress, how land owners like Curley would always dominate over working class people like George and Lennie etc...
Reply 12
Original post by ricardo_va
a) How do the details in this passage add to your understanding of George and his relationship to Lennie?
AND
b) How does Steinbeck use their relationship in the novel as a whole to convey ideas about the American dream in the 1930’s?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a….
The passage presents George as very defensive and possessive over Lennie. The use of the world ‘defensively’ shows that George really cares about Lennie and sees him as someone that he will give his life to. He defends him as slim starts to question their relationship causing a moment of tension as he defends his own, like a father defending his son. This not only emphasizes Georges bond with Lennie but demonstrates the mutual respect and loyalty they have for each other. George is further shown as defensive as slim then relaxes back ‘quiet and receptive’ as George sits in silence.
The passage also shows the development of the George and Lennie relationship and how it has progressed through the age and experience. “well I ain’t don’t nothing like that no more”. After finishing the softened speech to slim about his past events with Lennie, George then ends with this final line. This conveys the story of their relationship as a figure of repentance towards his past mistakes and when he took advantage of Lennie loyalty to him. Though George displays his sorrow attitude about his mistakes, he looks upon them and uses it as a sense of motivation to perspire to their joint ‘American dream’.
From the passage, we are also able to see more about their relationship through the entity of slim. Slim listens throughout Georges moment of reflection and then comments ‘Guys don’t need sense to be a nice fella’. In order to allow for the comforting of George as he reflects upon his past behaviour, he talks about Lennie, someone that is clearly displayed as a monument in Georges life which as a result of this raises the weight of the atmosphere and causes a sudden break within the story.

b…
Steinbeck uses their relationship as they conveyed meaning and the displays of effort they were to put in, in order to achieve the American dream. George and Lennie had to struggle in order to survive the harsh times of lowly paid wages and low employment but were lucky enough to secure jobs. Steinbeck conveys the idea of the American dream by demonstrating the harshness of the reality within the given time period and also shows how intense work accessibility was.
The American dream was further conveyed as Lennies repetition of his and Georges own American dream throughout the novella ‘to live off the flatta land’. This not only drove the career it also potentially means for a possible steady income which they could then save rather than ‘blowing out their jack’ as this was the stereotypical movement for the average worker of their time period.
Steinbeck uses George and Lennie as a vehicle to drive the idea of the how intense the time period was. George has the role of carrying Lennie from place to place and potentially acting as his bodyguard whenever trouble is has occurred e.g. Weed. Towards the end of the novella, Lennie accidently kills Curley’s wife causing a forced decision upon George, which he did not want to have to make. George then shot Lennie in the back of this head in order to reduce the chances of Curley attacking to him and prosperously killing first. Before his death, George tells his to recite the planned American dream for the last time as he ‘looks down the river’, not only did Steinbeck do this to cause a dramatic ending, he also included this towards the ending that times were harsh and not everybody has the ability to benefit the dream nor live it henceforth the death of Lennie.


Here's a suggestion: you could link the linguistic devices to the effect Steinbeck is trying to create. For example: you could point out that Steinbeck uses juxtaposition when describing George and Lennie for the first time to explosive how different they are.

Also, see if Steinbeck uses the same type of language device elsewhere in the book and link that to your initial point.

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