The Student Room Group

GCSE controlled assessment on 'Of Mice and Men'

Our title is 'Explore how the character of George (or) Lennie is presented and developed in Of Mice and Men'. the teacher also said we could write it about Curley's wife if we wanted to.
I'm trying to decide on which character to write about because Lennie doesn't develop in the novel and while I could make that my point I don't see that I would be able to write much about that, and not much is said about George's character during the novel. I would write it about Curley's wife but the teacher said she didn't recommend it?
Any advice on which character to write about???
(edited 13 years ago)
use the PEE techqniue and stuff it will get you marks i guess
and use a wide range of vocabulary,cheek your puncation full stops,capital letters and stuff.
talk about the mood,tone,setting, autherial style like does the auther make noticeable use of particalr figures of speech or rhetorical devices lioke repetition or asides to the reader?.
talk about the main character and also the other ones too. talk about theme of the book and the idea or message that it is conveying. also talk about the atmosphere in the novel.

i hope i helped and good luck :smile:
always remember to link back to the question at LEAST once per paragraph. If you don't you're likely to go off on a tangent and you wont get marked up for anything other that answering the question. Good luck :smile:
Reply 3
Personally i have decided to answer the question on Lennie.

You dont have to argue that he develops, you can say how he doesnt develop also.

For example; Lennie can be perceived as a stationary character in Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men. Lennie fails to make any development throughout the novel and remains intellectually inferior and physically strong. Lennie does not develop as he does not learn from his mistakes, after killing the mouse and the puppy he still progresses to kill curley's wife, he also does not develop as he still relies on George throughout the novel. When Lennie fights curley George is there to control lennie and prevent him from killing curley, however as george and lennie have been drifting apart (george befriending slim ect) George is not there to prevent him from killing her. His lack of development leads to the tragic inevitable death.

Also, you could state that lennie's lack of development helps the reader understand lennie as a character. You could relate this to the 1930's, lennie could represent the depression. He's holding george back in life, and he's a burden to him.

Thats just some random babble ^ But it could help :biggrin:


Also you could argue that he does develop as he makes friends. When george goes to town he befriends crooks. Lennie's small mental ability allows him to view crooks as an equal (relate to racism at the time). Lennie is also manipulative, he's learnt how to manipulate george. (start of the novel guilt trips him when he offers to find a cave and live on his own)



I hope i helped. ive got to sit this tomorrow. im nervous as hell :s-smilie:
Reply 4
Original post by Percy2
Our title is 'Explore how the character of George (or) Lennie is presented and developed in Of Mice and Men'. the teacher also said we could write it about Curley's wife if we wanted to.
I'm trying to decide on which character to write about because Lennie doesn't develop in the novel and while I could make that my point I don't see that I would be able to write much about that, and not much is said about George's character during the novel. I would write it about Curley's wife but the teacher said she didn't recommend it?
Any advice on which character to write about???


This is very similar to this year's GCSE question, and I found that a lot of students just wrote about what the character does, which is a low mark. So in addition to writing about the chatacters themselves (which is also imnportant) try the following:

There is a big clue from your teacher to also about Curley's wife. Use her to show how Steinbeck presents the character of either George or Lennie rather than as a character on her own. Link her to the girl in weed who wore the red dress (Curely's wife also wears red and had red fingernails- what does this colour signal to the reader? What was Steinbecks purpose in including red?). This colour red links and acts as foreshadowing that the events in Weed are about to repeat. "Curley's wife stood in the doorway, blocking the light". Again, what does this foreshadow? What is symbolic about her blocking the light for the character of George/Lennie? What does the reader learn from this, and how does it help present the character of George/Lennie?

What does the structure of the novel tell us about the characters? How does it being a circular novel add to the repetition of their lives, and how this shows their dream is unobtainable?

The heron and the snake? What can this show? The shooting of lennie- how is this foreshadowed in the book? How is this proof that George shooting him is a mercy killing?

This is off the top of my head, got to pick my daughter up from school now. Will add mroe if I get time
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 5
Original post by teacherfaye
This is very similar to this year's GCSE question, and I found that a lot of students just wrote about what the character does, which is a low mark. So in addition to writing about the chatacters themselves (which is also imnportant) try the following:

There is a big clue from your teacher to also about Curley's wife. Use her to show how Steinbeck presents the character of either George or Lennie rather than as a character on her own. Link her to the girl in weed who wore the red dress (Curely's wife also wears red and had red fingernails- what does this colour signal to the reader? What was Steinbecks purpose in including red?). This colour red links and acts as foreshadowing that the events in Weed are about to repeat. "Curley's wife stood in the doorway, blocking the light". Again, what does this foreshadow? What is symbolic about her blocking the light for the character of George/Lennie? What does the reader learn from this, and how does it help present the character of George/Lennie?

What does the structure of the novel tell us about the characters? How does it being a circular novel add to the repetition of their lives, and how this shows their dream is unobtainable?

The heron and the snake? What can this show? The shooting of lennie- how is this foreshadowed in the book? How is this proof that George shooting him is a mercy killing?

This is off the top of my head, got to pick my daughter up from school now. Will add mroe if I get time


Hi teacher faye please i need your help plz can u tell the same for crooks just like u did for curleys wife! plz help i dont understand my teacher MY control asessment is due in 4 days PLz plz help ! :smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile::smile:
Write about curls wife, I am doing that for my controlled assessment. Here are some points that you could write about,
1) how she is always refered to as Curlys wife, never her name - she is Curlys propert
2) she wears a lot of make up - attract male attention -> counter argument - perhaps not as confident as she seems, hides behind make up.
3) how she says she doesn't love curly
4) hiw she is described when she is dead
Good luck!
How is the tone of injusticia developed through the character of Curley's Wife?

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