Study Questions

Questions for Study

Use the questions below to create a mind map or brainstorm of ideas.  The questions may provoke insight or further questions, record these in differnet colours so that you can trace your thought process and create a more useful revision aid.

• What is important about the title? What is the famous reference? Was the title misleading?
• What are the conflicts in Of Mice and Men? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional)?
• How does John Steinbeck reveal character in Of Mice and Men?
• What are some themes in the story? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
• What are some symbols in Of Mice and Men? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
• Are George and Lenny consistent in their actions? Are they fully developed characters? How? Why?
• Do you find the characters likable? Are the characters persons you would want to meet?
• Discuss some of the symbols in Of Mice and Men.
• What is the central/primary purpose of the story? Is the purpose important or meaningful?
• Why is the novel so controversial? Do you think the book should be censored or banned?
• How essential is the setting to the story? Could the story have taken place anywhere else?
• What is the role of women in the text?
• Would you recommend this novel to a friend?
• Does the story end the way you expected? How? Why?

Question 21

Read the following passage and then answer part (a) and part (b).

The bunk house was a long, rectangular building. Inside, the walls were whitewashed and the floor unpainted. In three walls there were small, square windows, and in the fourth, a solid door with a wooden latch. Against the walls were eight bunks, five of them made up with blankets and the other three showing their burlap ticking. Over each bunk there was nailed an apple box with the opening forward so that it made two shelves for the personal belongings of the occupant of the bunk. And these shelves were loaded with little articles, soap and talcum powder, razors and those Western magazines ranch men love to read and scoff at and secretly believe. And there were medicines on the shelves, and little vials, combs; and from nails on the box sides, a few neckties. Near one wall there was a black cast-iron stove, its stove-pipe going straight up through the ceiling. In the middle of the room stood a big square table littered with playing cards, and around it were grouped boxes for the players to sit on.

At about ten o’clock in the morning the sun threw a bright dust-laden bar through one of the side windows, and in and out of the beam flies shot like rushing stars.

The wooden latch raised. The door opened and a tall, stoop-shouldered old man came in. He was dressed in blue jeans and he carried a big push-broom in his left hand. Behind him came George, and behind George, Lennie.

‘The boss was expectin’ you last night,’ the old man said. ‘He was sore as hell when you wasn’t here to go out this morning.’ He pointed with his right arm, and out of the sleeve came a round stick-like wrist, but no hand. ‘You can have them two beds there,’he said, indicating two bunks near the stove.

George stepped over and threw his blankets down on the burlap sack of straw that was a mattress. He looked into the box shelf and then picked a small yellow can from it.‘Say. What the hell’s this?’

‘I don’t know,’said the old man.

‘Says“positively kills lice, roaches, and other scourges”. What the hell kind of bed you giving us, anyways. We don’t want no pants rabbits.’

Part (a)

How does Steinbeck use details in this passage to present the bunkhouse and its inhabitants?

and then Part (b)

In the rest of the novel, how does Steinbeck present the lives of ranch workers at that time?

(30 marks)