Literary Analysis Questions for Of Mice and Men

***All questions must be answered using complete sentences or your answers will be marked completely wrong.***

  1. Understanding Foreshadowing: Foreshadowing is the author’s use of hints early in a piece of literature that relate to an event or events that take place later on. Fully explain how each of the following are foreshadowed in Of Mice and Men(hint: there is more than one instance of foreshadowing for each)?
  1. Curley’s wife’s death
  1. Lennie’s death
  1. Understanding Allusion: Allusion is when an author refers to another place, time, or piece of literature with the assumption that the reader will be able to make the connection from prior knowledge. The title Of Mice and Men alludes to a line from the poem “To A Mouse” by Robert Burns. We will read and analyze the poem in class.
  1. Fully relate the meaning of the translated line from the poem to both pieces of literature:

“The best laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry”

  1. Fully explain how the line from the poem relates to each the following characters?

1) Candy

2) Curley’s wife

3) Lennie

4) George

  1. Understanding Theme:
  1. How does the idea of power run through the novella? Fully discuss the various ways in which

the strong dominate the weak in Of Mice and Men.

  1. Fully discuss the theme of friendship in this novella. Give concrete examples from the text. Remember, friendship does not always have to be between 2 humans.
  1. Discuss the theme of loneliness in the novella. What causes some characters to feel left out?
  1. Understanding Imagery: The author’s ability to use words that paint a picture in the reader’s mind or appeal to any of the other senses is called sensory imagery. Steinbeck is known for his sympathetic portrayal of the underdog or powerlessness, his use of animal imagery, and his sensory images. Discuss his use of these three in each of the following chapters:
  1. Chapter 4 (Crooks’ room on Saturday night)
  1. Chapter 6 (Lennie’s death, Sunday evening at the pool)
  1. Understanding Idioms: An idiom is a grammatic construction or expression that cannot be translated literally and are sometimes exclusive toa particular region or group. Discuss the meaning of the following idioms used in Of Mice and Men:
  1. live off the fatta the lan’
  1. bustin’ a gut
  1. get the can
  1. Symbolism: A symbol is anything that stands for or represents something else. An object that serves as a symbol has its own meaning, but it also represents abstract ideas. Fully explain the symbolism of the two items listed below.

a. The pool of water that forms in the weeds on the river:

b. The pigeon flying out of the barn (hint, this symbolizes more than one thing):

  1. Understanding Allegory: Allegory is the representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters,

figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form. The representation of a society as

comprised of classes is an issue of which Steinbeck writes. How is the ranch a microcosm of

American society? What does Steinbeck fear for each of the different classes? A comprehensive

response should be writtenin 2-3 well constructed paragraphs.

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