Of Mice And Men Powerpoint

A review of the plot, themes, and exercises I use when teaching "Of Mice and Men"

1. OF MICE AND MEN
•Literary analysis of
John Steinbeck’s
novel by Joe Student,
Jane Doe, Fred Smith,
and Sam Project
•Period 1
•October 15, 2002

2. •Author Information
•Story Setting
•George vs. Lennie
•Story Summary
•Character Feelings
•Character Dreams/Goals
•Personal Dreams/Goals
•Theme List
•Theme Poster
•Book Review
•Questions to Think About
•Sources

3. AUTHOR INFORMATION
•1902-1968, Salinas, CA
•Worked as a ranch hand
and a fruit picker as a
youth
•Often wrote about good
but poor and oppressed
people trapped in an
unfair world
•Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1962

4. STORY SETTING
•Places mentioned in
Of Mice and Men
•The ranch in Of Mice
and Men

5. GEORGE VS. LENNIE
Likes Curley’s
wife
Dream of having their
own place
Doesn’t like
Curley’s wife
StrongerHard workersWeaker
TallerMigrant ranch handsShorter
Tries to keep
quiet
Afraid of the past
catching up with them
Talks for both of
them
Less intelligentFriendsMore intelligent
LENNIEGEORGE & LENNIEGEORGE

6. STORY
SUMMARY
•George and Lennie are two migrant ranch hands
who fled from Weed, California, to a ranch near
Salinas, California. They had had to flee because
Lennie had scared a girl there by holding on to her
soft dress and not letting go. He had meant no harm,
but he is not very intelligent and often does not
realize his own strength.

7. •On the new ranch, Lennie and George are doing
well at saving up money to fulfill a dream of
theirs--buying a place of their own. Their dream is
a month from fulfillment when they let Candy, an
old man with one hand, join in their dream.
•Then Lennie accidentally kills the attention-starved
wife of the boss’s son. The boss’s son, Curley, is a
small man who hates big men and seizes on this
opportunity to hunt Lennie down and kill him.
•George finds Lennie first and shoots him in the
back of the head as he recites their dream one last
time.

8. CHARACTER FEELINGS
When Lennie proves his strengthPRIDE
When Lennie starts talkingHUMILIATION
When they’re chased out of WeedFEAR
When he has to keep travelingLONELINESS
When the boss hires themRELIEF
When Lennie wanted ketchupANGER
When Lennie forgets thingsFRUSTRATION
GEORGE

9. CHARACTER FEELINGS
When he’s compared to a bullPRIDE
When Curley laughs at himHUMILIATION
When he kills Curley’s wifeFEAR
When George isn’t aroundLONELINESS
When he’s told he’ll still get to
tend rabbits
RELIEF
When Crooks says George might
disappear
ANGER
When can’t remember thingsFRUSTRATION
LENNIE

10. CHARACTER FEELINGS
When he wins a fightPRIDE
When he has to promise to say he
hurt his hand in a machine
HUMILIATION
When Lennie crushes his handFEAR
When he can’t find his wifeLONELINESS
When Slim isn’t with his wifeRELIEF
When people laugh at himANGER
When he sees big men respectedFRUSTRATION
CURLEY

11. CHARACTER FEELINGS
When talking about being an
actress
PRIDE
When Curley tells her to shut upHUMILIATION
When Lennie tries to stop her
screaming
FEAR
When everyone goes into townLONELINESS
When Lennie talks to her RELIEF
When no one will talk to herANGER
When no one will tell the truth
about Curley’s hand
FRUSTRATION
CURLEY’S WIFE

12. CHARACTER FEELINGS
When talking about his dog’s
abilities
PRIDE
When thinks about his dog’s deathHUMILIATION
When discovers Curley’s dead wifeFEAR
When everyone goes to the fieldsLONELINESS
When gets to be a part of George
and Lennie’s plan
RELIEF
When people pressure him to kill
his dog
FRUSTRATION
CANDY

13. CHARACTER FEELINGS
When defends Lennie being in his
room
PRIDE
When he’s not allowed to play cardsHUMILIATION
When Lennie gets angry at what he
said about George
FEAR
When he has no one to talk toLONELINESS
When he starts enjoying LennieRELIEF
When Lennie comes into “his” roomANGER
When can’t fight the racismFRUSTRATION
CROOKS

14. CHARACTER DREAMS/GOALS
Has faced a lot of racismBe acceptedCROOKS
Feels old, useless, and
unconnected to anything
Be in on George
and Lennie’s dream
CANDY
Bored, lonely, ignored,
& unappreciated
Be an actressCURLEY’S
WIFE
Has a complex about
being small
Be respected/fearedCURLEY
Sick of traveling and not
having a home or family
Own a small farmGEORGE
Finds comfort in soft
things
Tend rabbitsLENNIE
WHY IMPORTANTDREAM/GOALCHARACTER

15. PERSONAL DREAMS/GOALS
DREAM #1: Lifelong
health and happiness for
my son
DREAM #2: To relax
more
DREAM #3: To stay
happy and healthy as I
age
DREAM #4: To pay off
my mortgage

16. THEME LIST
•We need dreams or goals to survive life’s troubles.
•Racism destroys its victims.
•Control your anger and fears.
•Accept yourself.
•Know your strengths and weaknesses.
•Follow your dreams.
•Don’t judge against others just because of their
appearance or intelligence.
•Life is a long struggle to fit in.
•Elderly people and animals need and deserve our respect.
•True friendship may demand hard decisions and actions.

17. •Racism: treating
others unfairly
because of a belief that
their race is inferior.
Crooks, the only black person
in Of Mice and Men, turned
into a broken, bitter man
because of the isolation and
prejudice he had to bear
because of his skin color. He
became so bitter that even
when Lennie offered him some
companionship, Crooks rudely
and angrily rejected him.

18. BOOK
REVIEW
•Steinbeck in this novel manages to portray tough lives
and tough decisions with compassion and even some
humor. The migrant ranch hands that people the
pages are vivid, lonely, hardworking, and heroic. As
such, they cause the reader to reflect on a wide range
of themes, including the importance and effects of
true friendship, age, isolation, racism, intelligence,
dreams/goals, self-knowledge, anger, and self-control.
It is not at all surprising that this novel is so
frequently assigned in English classes.

19. QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
•Anais Nin writes, “Dreams are necessary to life.”
Agree or disagree with this statement with
evidence from Of Mice and Men.
•Discuss what each of the following pairs of friends
gives to each other:
•Lennie and George
•Candy and George
•Slim and George
3.Curley’s wife suffers from acute loneliness.
Analyze the depth of her loneliness, the factors
leading to it, and the consequences of it.

20. QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
4. Think of one character in the novel who makes
either a good decision or a bad one. Identify the
decision, why it was made, why it was good or
bad, and the future consequences the decision
maker will have to face.
5. Explain the significance of the title of Of Mice
and Men.

21. SOURCES
•http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspz?refid=761570273
•http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Steinbeck/
•http://www.steinbeck.org/Home.html
•http://creativegettyimages.com
•http://www.educeth.ch/english/readinglist/maps/california.html
•http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/mice/micesg1.
html