...Some may view the Great Depression as the loneliest and most isolated period in American history for the people who experienced it first hand. It can be difficult to really capture the essence of the need for companionship that was immensely present in the Great Depression. However, when John Steinbeck uses the dialogue of Crooks, the actions of Curley's wife, and multiple characters undergoing major inconveniences for friendship it openly depicts the need for companionship in his novel, "Of Mice and Men". The primary way that Steinbeck portrays loneliness and the need for companionship, is through the articulation of the character Crooks. Initially, this can be viewed when Crooks expresses that he feels unheard and that nobody listens...
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...John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men In John Steinbeck's classic novella, Of Mice and Men, one of the predominant themes that govern the story and characters in the book is friendship. One of the ways in which friendship plays a large role is in the area of mercy killing, which affects the main characters as well as the supporting ones. The two major mercy killings that occur in the book are those of Carlson's killing of Candy's old dog, and of George's killing of Lennie. In both of these examples, the killer kills the other out of mercy and love, not for the usual motives of hatred, rage, anger, etc. The killing of Candy's dog is an excellent example of mercy killing in the aforesaid novella. Candy's dog was in terrible condition, and it could barely be said that the ratty old thing was even alive. It stunk like a dozen skunks, was nearly blind, could barely hear, had arthritis that was so bad, the old mutt couldn't sit down, had no quality of life, and probably had urinary and bowel problems, a miserable condition that is almost assured in old dogs. This instance of mercy killing, however, was more driven by peer pressure than the typical case of mercy killing. When someone kills another loved one out of mercy, it is normally done to put the afflicted one out of their misery, torment, anguish, distress, etc. The other ranch hands thought that the dog reeked more than any of its other conditions, which was the only one that they, too, could experience. Candy's dog loved its master...
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...John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men In John Steinbeck's classic novella, Of Mice and Men, one of the predominant themes that govern the story and characters in the book is friendship. One of the ways in which friendship plays a large role is in the area of mercy killing, which affects the main characters as well as the supporting ones. The two major mercy killings that occur in the book are those of Carlson's killing of Candy's old dog, and of George's killing of Lennie. In both of these examples, the killer kills the other out of mercy and love, not for the usual motives of hatred, rage, anger, etc. The killing of Candy's dog is an excellent example of mercy killing in the aforesaid novella. Candy's dog was in terrible condition, and it could barely be said that the ratty old thing was even alive. It stunk like a dozen skunks, was nearly blind, could barely hear, had arthritis that was so bad, the old mutt couldn't sit down, had no quality of life, and probably had urinary and bowel problems, a miserable condition that is almost assured in old dogs. This instance of mercy killing, however, was more driven by peer pressure than the typical case of mercy killing. When someone kills another loved one out of mercy, it is normally done to put the afflicted one out of their misery, torment, anguish, distress, etc. The other ranch hands thought that the dog reeked more than any of its other conditions, which was the only one that they, too, could experience. Candy's dog loved its master...
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...What role does nature play in John Steinbeck's novel, Of Mice and Men? Set in the Salinas Valley of California, Of Mice and Men features George and Lennie, two old-time friends setting off to work in a ranch after being kicked out of their last one. Their dream is to own a piece of land on their own, where they're free to do whatever they want. By chasing this dream, the duo will face many obstacles in their path and see new things, many of which will be reflected through the nature and landscape throughout the story. Steinbeck's diction of the natural world creates an atmosphere of peace, eeriness, and forewarning, all of which symbolize events that happen in the story. The story begins with a description of an area surrounding the Salinas...
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...How does Steinbeck’s writing make this such a powerful and revealing moment in the novel? Steinbeck makes this passage such a powerful and revealing moment in the novel as it highlights main of the themes throughout the book, the main theme being friendship. In this novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck focuses on the loneliness of California ranch life in the 1930’s. One of the most important things in life is to have a friend, without friends people will suffer from loneliness like in this novel, not everyone in the novel has the same connection and special friendship like George and Lennie’s. Of Mice and Men is the story about lonely men who travel from ranch to ranch not really communicating with other ranch hands. Candy, Crooks and Curley’s wife all were lonely and dealt with their loneliness in different ways. Steinbeck makes this such a powerful and revealing moment in the novel as it is the first time Curley is introduced and meets Lennie. Curley's character is described in a very wealthy style, convincing the reader that he does not live the life of a ranch hand. This is presented in the first line when Steinbeck presents Curley as a “young man”. On its own, this connotes naivety, as though he is fresh to the job, lacking experience and altogether slightly out of place compared to the other ranch workers. The extract continues, to portray him differently as “like the boss, he wore high-heeled boots”. At this moment Steinbeck makes the reader feel as if Curley is...
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...Seventy six years ago, John Steinbeck released what The New York Times called ‘A thriller, a gripping tale that you wilnot set down until it is finished. Steinbeck has touched the quick’. Of Mice and Men is a novel and film demonstrating the Heroes Journey and a tale of friendship that triumphs over incredible odds, of life in the dust bowl of the Great Depression. But what is it about Steinbeck’s novel that never ceases to appeal to all audiences? From Joseph Campbell’s novel The Hero With A Thousand Faces, a twelve step model known as ‘The Hero’s Journey’ and ‘Archetypes’ has been established. The Hero’s Journey is a narrative pattern that the leading character takes on their typical adventure, and the Archetypes are the supporting characters though out the story. The Heroes Journey and archetypes can be perceived in thousands of stories, dramas, storytelling, religious rituals and psychological development including Of Mice and Men. The narrative pattern of, Of Mice and Men starts with the first stage, what Joseph Campbell called ‘The Ordinary World’. George and Lennie’s ordinary world is going around America, from job to job and ranch to ranch to complete their ‘American Dream’, they wished to own their own property and ‘live offa the fatta the lan’. George and Lennie were forced to leave their hometown, Lennie did not realise his strength and got himself into trouble, this was common for Lennie, but George was always there to fix the problem. As discovered by the reader...
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...This “dream” eluded many people, such as poor citizens from California and surrounding states and migrants suffering from the economical downfall from all parts of the world. It gave them false hopes and dreams of becoming wealthy and prosperous, when in reality, America was in the clutches of the most extensive and most profound economical/social depression ever known. The American Dream fooled endless people into believing that becoming successful is possible, no matter what your situation is. The victims of this fallacy, men and migrants, who owned nothing but the clothes on their backs, would end up living in squalid camps or wandering around the California Dust Bowl, searching for a job so they could make a meagre living. Despite all that was going on around him, each man would have his own small dream in his head of becoming a future success. Miller and Steinbeck were inspired by these dreamers and featured them in many of their books/plays. John Steinbeck was born on February 27th 1902. By the age of fourteen he had made up his mind to become a writer. He completed his first novel, Cup of Gold, in 1929. What is considered to be his finest, most ambitious work is The Grapes of Wrath, which was published in 1939. The book tells the story of a disposed Oklahoma families struggle to set up a new life in California, which is in the midst of the Depression. Steinbeck was living in California whilst this sort of thing was going on. Many of his books protested against the...
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...Of Mice and Men Set in the 1930’s during the harsh Depression, John Steinbeck’s emotional novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ successfully explores the theme of friendship within a harsh environment. He portrays this through the characteristics and relationship between the protagonists, George and Lennie. The novel centers these characters who are two childhood friends who travel around together looking for work and face many struggles due to Lennie’s disabilities. Steinbeck initially presents the reader with a clear image of the central characters, who are complete opposites. George is told to be “small and quick” with a thin figure. He is seen as being short-tempered but a loving and devoted friend. He always makes Lennie’s protection his primary purpose despite sometimes coming off impatient towards Lennie. Lennie on the other hand, is very large with ‘sloping shoulders’ which leads the author to compare him to “the way a bear drags his paws”. Lennie is a very strong man with a child’s mind and this is the main problem that George and Lennie face in the novel. I think that Lennie is the least dynamic character as he is very flat and undergoes no significant changes in the novel and appears in the end exactly the same as when we first meet him. At the start of the novel we can clearly see that the author seems to have set Lennie up for disaster. These very different qualities of the characters George and Lennie show the peculiarity of their friendship...
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...Of Mice and Men Essay ‘Of Mice and Men’ was written by John Steinbeck in 1937, the same time as the great depression. In ‘Of Mice and Men’, Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife in a variety of different ways. In the novella Curley’s Wife is seen as a villainess. Curley’s Wife is also seen as someone who craves attention which leads to the novellas tragic ending. Steinbeck could also be showing society’s view of how women should behave. In the 1930s women were one of two roles- a ‘tart’ or a ‘mother’ in the both cases they are presented as serving a purpose for men- either to give the man sexual pleasure or to provide a family. Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife in many ways in the novella. Firstly he presents her through the male gaze as a tart and we see this through Candy’s description of her. Steinbeck’s use of description states that she is ‘heavily’ made up and she exhibits extremely flirtatious behaviour. Although this could be because how restricted women were at the time. Curley’s Wife did not have children so she may have been automatically put into the category of a ‘tart’. Curley’s Wife also never had a positive female role model because of her bad relationship with her mother. Throughout the novella the reader’s view of Curley’s Wife changes from her being a ‘tart’ to a lonely figure that just wants attention. Steinbeck also presents her as a victim of prejudice and sexism as the reader’s perceptions change as her character develops but the male view of Curley’s Wife...
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...John Steinbeck’s novella “Of Mice and Men” was written the 1930s, during the great American Depression. He used the ranch as a microcosm to show society’s desensitisation to violence, the inhumane ways in which the marginalised were treated and the prevalent misogynistic attitudes. Steinbeck focused on lives of itinerant farmworkers who constantly searched for work. The economic crisis led to high unemployment rates and fierce competition for jobs. Many people were poverty stricken, violence became their ultimate source of escapism and a cheap source of entertainment thus creating a hostile environment. Steinbeck resigned from the prestigious Stanford University in order to gain insight of the hardships faced by peripatetic workers. His strong socialist views and empathy towards the marginalised inspired him to write this story. During his time on the farm, he witnessed a lot of violence. He based most of his characters on people he met; Lennie’s character was based on a man who killed a ranch foreman and stabbed his boss in the stomach with a pitchfork. One way Steinbeck portrays the importance of violence in the novel is through the way in which characters treat each other to determine status. When Curley is introduced in chapter two, he “glanced coldly” at George, his arms “gradually bent at the elbows” and his hands “closed into fists”. Curley “stiffened” and “went into a slight crouch” making Lennie “squirm” and “shift his feet nervously”. His actions...
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...NORTH AMERICAN FICTION BRIEF INTRODUCTION: Before starting our study of American Fiction we must understand what American Literature is in itself and which pieces of writing we can include within this label. It is believed that when a piece is written in North America, more precisely in the USA, it would automatically be given this epithet. But it should be taken into account that this idea is quite broad and doesn’t reflect the real essence of the term. However, there is also another definition that gathers this essence: American Literature is the one that represents the Americanism, the singularity of the USA philosophy and culture. This way, instead of focusing on who the author is, it is focused on the content of the writing. In that which concerns Fiction, the following documents are the ones considered as narrative: Speeches Letters Short Stories Essays Political Documents Sermons Novels Diaries 1 FIRST LITERARY EXPRESSIONS The first documents in which the idea of Americanism is very present are the Sermons. They respond to the strict Protestantism settled in the New Continent after the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers and Puritans in the Mayflower (1620) and the Arabella (1630). They established a theocratic community whose main and only point of reference was the Bible. That is why the idea of the ‘city upon a hill’ is still very present in American mentality. As we all know...
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...AHS RESEARCH MANUAL 2011 Student: __________________________ TERESA STERCHI KIM BROWN AHS LIBRARY CONTENTS PREPARATION OF THE RESEARCH PAPER........................................................1 SELECTING AND LIMITING THE TOPIC............................................................1 PREPARING A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY AND EVALUATING SOURCES…………….2 READING AND TAKING NOTES........................................................................3 DEVELOPING A WORKING OUTLINE/PLAN…………………………………………………….5 DOCUMENTING AND CITING SOURCES USING MLA STYLE……………..……………..7 WRITING THE PAPER…………………………………..…………………...........................18 MLA STYLE OF PARENTHETICAL/IN-TEXT CITATIONS………………………………….19 PLACING CITATIONS IN THE PAPER…………………………………………………………..21 FORMATTING AND TYPING THE REPORT USING THE MLA STYLE…………………26 TYPING THE WORKS CITED PAGE AND SAMPLE TITLE PAGE..........................29 PREPARATION Research is the process of gathering information from different sources on a particular topic. In daily life students may research buying a song on the Internet, buying a new MP3 player, an iPod, or any other product of interest. At school, students may have to research a historical topic, an author or literary work, or a contemporary issue and present their findings in a paper, PowerPoint presentation, or in a movie format. All of this is part of the process of asking questions, looking at the available information, and coming to a conclusion based...
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...AHS RESEARCH MANUAL 2011 Student: __________________________ TERESA STERCHI KIM BROWN AHS LIBRARY CONTENTS PREPARATION OF THE RESEARCH PAPER........................................................1 SELECTING AND LIMITING THE TOPIC............................................................1 PREPARING A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY AND EVALUATING SOURCES…………….2 READING AND TAKING NOTES........................................................................3 DEVELOPING A WORKING OUTLINE/PLAN…………………………………………………….5 DOCUMENTING AND CITING SOURCES USING MLA STYLE……………..……………..7 WRITING THE PAPER…………………………………..…………………...........................18 MLA STYLE OF PARENTHETICAL/IN-TEXT CITATIONS………………………………….19 PLACING CITATIONS IN THE PAPER…………………………………………………………..21 FORMATTING AND TYPING THE REPORT USING THE MLA STYLE…………………26 TYPING THE WORKS CITED PAGE AND SAMPLE TITLE PAGE..........................29 PREPARATION Research is the process of gathering information from different sources on a particular topic. In daily life students may research buying a song on the Internet, buying a new MP3 player, an iPod, or any other product of interest. At school, students may have to research a historical topic, an author or literary work, or a contemporary issue and present their findings in a paper, PowerPoint presentation, or in a movie format. All of this is part of the process of asking questions, looking at the available information, and coming to a conclusion based...
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...author had quietly disappeared. His book stayed on the bestseller list for thirty weeks, though never above fourth place.' Costing 75?, the Bantam paperback edition appeared in 1964. By 1981, when the same edition went for $2.50, sales still held steady, between twenty and thirty thousand copies per month, about a quarter of a million copies annually. In paperback the novel sold over three million copies between 1953 and 1964, climbed even higher by the 1980s, and continues to attract about as many buyers as it did in 1951. The durabilityof The author appreciates the invitationof Professors Marc Lee Raphaeland Robert A. Gross to present an early version of this essay at the College of William & Mary, and also thanks ProfessorsPaul Boyer and John D. Ibson for their assistance. 1AdamMoss, "Catcher Comes of Age," Esquire, December 1981, p. 57; Jack Salzman, ed., intro. to New Essays on "The Catcher in the Rye" (New York:Cambridge UniversityPress, 1991), pp. 6, 7. 567 568 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY its appeal is astonishing. The...
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...Attitudes Broad Learning Outcomes Chapter 3 5 7 9 10 11 11 13 Curriculum Planning 3.1 Planning a Balanced and Flexible Curriculum 3.2 Central Curriculum and School-based Curriculum Development 3.2.1 Integrating Classroom Learning and Independent Learning 3.2.2 Maximizing Learning Opportunities 3.2.3 Cross-curricular Planning 3.2.4 Building a Learning Community through Flexible Class Organization 3.3 Collaboration within the English Language Education KLA and Cross KLA Links 3.4 Time Allocation 3.5 Progression of Studies 3.6 Managing the Curriculum – Role of Curriculum Leaders Chapter 4 1 2 2 3 3 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 21 Learning and Teaching 4.1 Approaches to Learning and Teaching 4.1.1 Introductory Comments 4.1.2 Prose Fiction 4.1.3 Poetry i 21 21 23 32 SECOND DRAFT 4.1.4 Drama 4.1.5 Films 4.1.6 Literary Appreciation 4.1.7 Schools of Literary Criticism 4.2 Catering for Learner Diversity 4.3 Meaningful Homework 4.4 Role of Learners Chapter 5 41 45 52 69 71 72 73 74 Assessment 5.1 Guiding Principles 5.2 Internal Assessment 5.2.1 Formative Assessment 5.2.2 Summative Assessment 5.3 Public Assessment 5.3.1 Standards-referenced Assessment 5.3.2 Modes of Public Assessment 74 74 74 75 77 77 77 Quality Learning and Teaching Resources 104 6.1 Use of Set Texts 6.2 Use of Other Learning and Teaching Resources 104 108 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 109 Supporting Measures 7.1 Learning and Teaching Resource Materials 7.2 Professional Development 109 109 Appendix 1 Examples...
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