1. Of Mice and Men: Close Reading Analysis

2. OMAM: Close Reading As the last entry in your OMAM journal, choose one passage that you would like to discuss in depth. This passage should be something that describes the themes, symbols, or characters in the story. Analyze the passage for foreshadowing/meaning and give your interpretation for why this passage is significant. You will write out the passage at the top of the page and give a 1-2 paragraph analysis of the passage.

3. OMAM: Close Reading “Both men glanced up, for the rectangle of sunshine was cut off. A girl was standing there looking in. She had full, rouged lips and wide- spread eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which little bouquets of red ostrich feathers,” (31).

4. Close Reading Analysis Looking back on this passage, it becomes clear that Steinbeck was foreshadowing that Curley’s wife would play an integral part in the novel. When she walks in, “the rectangle of sunshine was cut off”, implying that she somehow brings darkness with her (31). The multiple references to the color red on her fingernails, lips, and shoes suggest that Steinbeck was warning us about her role. Red is typically tied to danger and death, two things that later prove true about Curley’s wife in the novel.