Of Mice and men Literature

context and significance of different characters.

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  • Created by: lys2
  • Created on: 21-05-16 11:38
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  • of mice and men (literature)
    • context
      • The poem to a mouse
        • the plans of mice and men often go wrong
          • the poet is jealous of the mouse as it can move on unlike humans who cant move on from disopointment
        • the mouse spend ages building his house and then the farmer destroys it (crushing his dreams) but the mouse just starts rebuilding the house.
          • links to Curley and George
      • jim crow laws
        • made it illegal for black and whites to mix
        • segregation
        • Links to crooks
      • the walll street crashed in 1929
        • the great depression during the 1930's
          • 1/3 people unemployed
            • itinerant/ migrant workers - travel round looking for work
              • majority of agricultural work - hard physical labour
                • still limited because of the dust bowl (drought)
                • people had little to believe in so belieif in the american dream  was high
                  • any body no matter who they were would be able to acheive their dream if they work hard
                    • George and Lennies dream is to have self sufficiency
                      • they want this so trhey have a more reliable futre and when they work hard they would see the benefits
                        • their dream is crushed when lennie kills curleys wife
                      • To have a house and a bit of land of their own
                    • Curleys dream is to become a boxer. this is crushed when lennie breaks his hand. Steinbeck doesnt like him so he is the first to have his dream crushed.
                    • Curleys wifes dream is to become a movie star. THis is crushed when Lennie kills her.
                    • whits dream is to be remembered
                    • Candys dream is to be looked after and have some where to live when he cant work any more. He gives his money to George and Lernie. His dream is crushed when Lennie kills Curleys wife.
                    • Crooks dream is to not be treated as badly. He temporally joins in with George Lennie and Candys dream because he knows he wouldnt be treated as bad there. His dream is crushed when Curleys with threatens to get him lynched
              • George and Lennie
    • Significance
      • George is significant because he represents the average working man at the time and also he is a flawed hero (drinks, swears, blasphemes, sleeps with prostitues and beats up Lennie). He also is important as he looks after lennie.
      • Candy is important as he represents the old and the disabled. He is also important as he teaches george to take care of the people you care about and not to let anyone else do it.
      • Crooks is important as he represents the treatment of black people in the 1930's and the injured. he is also important as he schadenfreude (takes enjoyment from others misery (like lennie).
      • Slim is important to the novel as he likes the idea of people traveling round together and looking out for each other. He is also important as he is a skilled worker so he has job security. Also steinbeck likes him because he has worked hard for everything he got
      • Lennie represents people with mental illnesses and shows how they are being treated is wrong. He is also significant as he crushes lots of peoples dreams.
      • Curley is significant as he has wealth and privilege. Steinbeck crushes his dreams because he doesnt desereve them as he has everything handed to him on a plate.
      • Curleys wife represents how women were treated as property.  She is lonely and isolated. She is neither a prostitute or a motherly figure so she had no place in society at the time. married curley to escape her mother not because she liked him
      • Whit represents a young worker on the ranch in the 1930's. He can either go the same way as George or Carlson. At the end of the novella he goes the same way as carlson as he get exited about killing lennie and is the first to get his gun
      • Carlson represents loneliness and what happens when you are on your own for too long. He is emotionally dead. He is important as he teaches george *********** without causeing pain and its his gun george uses to kill lennie.
    • in the exam
      • 47 marks 24 for importance 16 for context and 7 for SPAG
      • 45 mins
      • Why is it important to the plot and how does it link to context.
      • no marks for commenting on Language, Punctuation, or sentence types.
      • use quotes from any where in the novella.

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