1. { Of Mice and Men Review EQ: What are the key literary terms and dominant themes in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men?

2.  Of Mice and Men is a novella written in 1937.  A novella is work of fiction that is shorter than a standard book.  Novellas are more complex than short stories, but often less complex than novels and have a comparatively narrow focus.  The author of Of Mice and Men is John Steinbeck, who wrote the novella based on his experiences working in the 1920s. Background Information

3.  The American Dream (and difficulties faced achieving it)  Friendship (in spite of adversity)  Loneliness (both its universality and harmful effects) How are these themes illustrated in the story? Major Themes

4.  Idioms  Motif  Allusion  Circular Plot Structure  Conflict Literary Terms

5.  An idiom is a combination of words that has a popularly used figurative meaning in addition to its literal meaning.  How does the author use idioms to help set the tone? What does the characters’ manner of speaking reveal about them? Idiom

6. A motif is a recurring symbolic element in a story. Motifs help contribute to the mood or theme of a story. Motifs can refer to images, phrases, or ideas that are repeated over and over again over the course of the story. What is the dominant recurring motif in Of Mice and Men? What could it represent? Motif

7.  An allusion is a reference to another text within a literary work.  The title of Of Mice and Men is an allusion to the Scottish poem “To a Mouse,” written by Robert Burns in 1785.  It refers to the following line from the poem: “The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go often awry, / And leave us with nothing but grief and pain, / For promised joy!” How does this connect to the novella? Allusion

8. Of Mice and Men includes various types of conflict.  Man vs. man – Curley vs. Lennie, Candy vs. Carlson  Man vs. self – George’s struggles with his ultimate decision to kill Lennie  Man vs. society – Lennie is at the mercy of a society who wants to arrest or execute him; Crooks is mistreated by a culture that hates him because of his race; all the migrant workers are unable to achieve their American dreams due to class divisions Conflict

9.  Foreshadowing is the use of hints to suggest what will happen later in the story to mentally prepare the reader for what is to come.  What are some hints used in Of Mice and Men that predict the outcome of the story? Foreshadowing

10.  Of Mice and Men has a circular plot structure because the story begins and ends in the exact same place.  The description of the natural environment around the campsite is identical to the description the novella opens with (the heron, the snake, the mottled sycamores). Circular Plot Structure