Introduction

Question 1

What does the title allude to

Answer 1

• Alludes to ‘To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough’ by Robert Burns, 1785

Question 2

What is the main focus of mice and men

Answer 2

• Focus on destruction of plans: ‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/Gang aft agley’

Question 3

What does the poem represent

Answer 3

• Common nature of man and beast suggested: ‘nature’s social union’, ‘earth-born companion/An’ fellow-mortal!’
This bond is broken by ‘man’s dominion’

Question 4

What is the “man” concerned with in the title

Answer 4

• Discusses how man is concerned with the past and future whilst the mouse can
focus on the present:

Question 5

What is the main theme of mice and men

Answer 5

Social commentary: didactic? Originally titled ‘Something that happened’

• Elements of tragedy

Question 6

SECTION 4 EVENTS

Answer 6

• Most men go to the brothel
• Lennie, then Candy talk to Crooks
• Curley’s wife mocks them
• When asked to leave, she threatens Crooks

Question 7

What is Of mice and Men and allegory for

Answer 7

Allegory of American experience: microcosm; characters as personifications

Question 8

What makes the book a novella/play script

Answer 8

Dramatic form (originally intended to be a novella and a play-script): lighting, entrances and exits, dialogue, ‘stage directions’…

Question 9

What allusions are there

Answer 9

• Biblical allusions e.g. Eden, ‘baptism’ Cain and Abel…