Hi everyone,
This week, I´m going to give you some writing tasks for Of Mice and Men, which might help you explore and recall some of the themes that you read about back in the first semester. Remember, this book will be on the CAE exam in December and the writing tasks can be very specific, so trying to tackle this should only be contemplated if you feel comfortable about what content you have to include.
Anyway, now to get down to some practice. What you need to do here is read the tasks below, all of which deal with the book´s central themes, and then write one of them. After that, you have to post it here as a comment - that way other students will be able to compare their ideas and recollections with yours, the way they´ve structured, say, a report, compared to the way you have.
Before you look at the tasks, it´s probably a good idea to listen to the podcast about the book, and you will find that on the previous blog.
The tasks:
1. The idea of the American Dream is prevalent throughout the story. Write a report, explaining its significance to the story and giving examples from the book. (180-220 words)
2. ´Friendship or a lack of it are what the book is really about.´ Discuss.
Write Your essay. (180-220 words)
3. Steinbeck includes several marginalised characters in the book. Write an article as to what this might say about society of that time - paying particular attention to how Crooks, Candy, Curley´s wife and Lenny are portrayed. (180-220 words)
I look forward to reading your compositions.
Have a great weekend,
Steve
TASK 1: REPORT
ReplyDeleteTOTAL WORDS:217
THE AMERICAN DREAM
INTRODUCTION
The idea of the American Dream is the main theme of “Mice and Men”, the book wrote by John Steinbeck. Through the differen charaters this idyllic idea takes diverse forms.
THE DREAM
The idea of fulfilling their dreams and finding happiness is in every character’s mind. Not only the maiin characters but also the marginalised ones are day dreaming about their heart’s long desires.
MAIN CHARACTERS
George and Lenny want to hace their own land and live off the fat of the land.
George has an idylic idea that makes him work hard, and Lenny trust and belives George’s American Dream.
MARGINALISED CHARACTERS
Candy, an old handyman whose dog has being sacrificed for being old and criple, wants to be part of George and Lenny’s dream and live peacefully with friends.
Crooks, like Candy, asks for a part of the long desired land to take care of, and not be alone.
Curley’s wife has unfulfilled dreams that she regarded not being able to reach becase of her marriage to Curley-
CONCLUSION
The American Dream was and is the motivation that guides society. Throughout this book, Steinbeck make us be aware of how important it is and how frustraiting it can be sometimes trying to fulfill our dreams of nearly lost
happiness.
Paula Vallmitjana
people for info general plot, chapter's plot and character descriptions check wikipedia.
ReplyDeletehere is the link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Mice_and_Men
hope it's useful!
Report
ReplyDeleteIntroduction
What the American Dream represents is the idea of prosperity and success earned by working hardly throughout your life. Having your own house, land and being independent should be something equally possible for all. This concept crosses most of the characters of the novel “Of mice and men”, written by John Steinbeck.
The American Dream captured on the novel
On their way to the ranch, George and Lenny passed one night at the bank of the river, where they started to talk about their dreams. They wanted to make enough money to live "off the fat of the land" and be their own bosses. Lenny, particularly, desired most than anything to tend his own rabbits. This was, for them, their American dream.
On the bunk house, they met Candy and Crooks, the black one. When they listened to Lenny and George talking about their future plans, they instantly wanted to joined them and end with their loneliness of years.
Moreover, there it was Curley’s wife, a woman that gave up her own dreams because of her marriage.
Conclusion
To conclude, although the American dream represents an ideal way of life, we can see on the story how harsh can be to achieve your life goals. None of the characters saw his dreams come true. This is, from my point of view, an idea to think about.
Natalia
Essay- 204 words
ReplyDeleteThe aim of this Easy is to discus about the friendship and loneliness in the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck.
The two main characters, George Milton and Lennie Small have an unique relationship. George was an intelligent and cynical man. On the other hand, Lennie was a mental disable man. George was always looking after Lennie and resolving any problem Lennie could have. They shared the same dream of having their own piece of land. At the end, for love, George kill Lennie in order to save him from a horrible death.
The one-handed man in the ranch was called Candy and has a dos. It was killed because of it’s age and smell. He joined George and Lennie dream by giving them his salary.
Curley’s wife dream of becoming a movie star was crashed. Also, her husband was note the person she thought he was. She felt lonely, so she was provocative with the men in the ranch and specially with Lennie.
Crook was a bitter, but educated stable buck, who was sleeping in a separate ranch in due to his skin’s color. He was surprised when Lennie enter his room and talk to him. They developed a strange friendship.
Pau - this is the corrected version.
ReplyDeleteTHE DREAM
The idea of fulfilling their dreams and finding happiness is in every character’s mind. Not only the main characters but also the marginalised ones are day dreaming about their heart’s long desires.
MAIN CHARACTERS
George and Lenny want to have their own place and live off the fat of the land.
George has an idyllic idea that makes him work hard, and Lenny trusts and believes George’s American Dream.
MARGINALISED CHARACTERS
Candy, an old handyman whose dog has being sacrificed for being old and crippled, wants to be part of George and Lenny’s dream and live peacefully with friends.
Crooks, like Candy, asks to be part of the grand plan, and therefore not be alone.
Curley’s wife has unfulfilled dreams that she felt as though she couldn´t fulfil because of her marriage to Curley-
CONCLUSION
The American Dream was and is the motivation that guides the society portrayed here. Throughout this book, Steinbeck makes us be aware of how important it is and how frustrating it can be sometimes trying to fulfill our dreams of nearly lost happiness.
_____
Overall Pau, I think you´ve answered the task in terms of examples given and I like the directness of the very first sentence. I think it also shows that 220 words still means that you have to be quite general and basically doesn´t allow you to say too much!
I also think that the first paragraph might be a place where you could write something about what the American dream actually is.
The different characters are separated clearly into different paragraphs, and it reads quite smoothly, but I wonder if you thought about dividing it into themes – i.e. George and Lenny, the rest of the workers (in the bunkhouse), the bosses (Curley and Curley´s father), and of course, Curley´s wife. Isn´t everyone dreaming of a better life? Wasn´t the 30s, subsequent to the Great Depression a time of renewed hope and promise? Or total despair?
I´m not saying that my idea is right but maybe just another way of thinking about it. In the task it asked you about the book rather than the characters (and you used the word ´marginalised´, which was a word in another written task!).
I feel well informed about what people want or what they are dreaming about, and in the last sentence you give importance to the idea of dreams for the author too.
All in all, well done!
Please look at the original and compare with this version. There were quite a few spelling mistakes – I might as well remind you that you might be able to avoid some of the ´simpler´ errors by checking your work afterwards.
Steve
Nati – first, the corrected version.
ReplyDeleteReport
Introduction
What the American Dream represents is the idea of prosperity and success earned by working hard throughout your life. Having your own house, land and being independent should be something equally possible for all. This concept is prominent in most of the characters of the novel “Of mice and men”, written by John Steinbeck.
The American Dream captured in the novel
On their way to the ranch, George and Lenny slept one night at the bank of the river, where they started to talk about their dreams. They wanted to make enough money to live "off the fat of the land" and be their own bosses. Lenny, particularly, desired more than anything to tend his own rabbits. This was, for them, their American dream.
At/In the bunk house, they met Candy and Crooks, the black stable buck. When they listened to Lenny and George talking about their future plans, they instantly wanted to join them and end their years of loneliness.
Moreover, there it was Curley’s wife, a woman that gave up her own dreams because of her marriage.
Conclusion
To conclude, although the American dream represents an ideal way of life, we can see in the story how harsh life can be in order to achieve your goals. None of the characters saw their dreams come true. This is, from my point of view, an idea to think about.
Natalia
Thanks Nati. I thought the first paragraph was great and dealt with the topic of the American Dream clearly and lucidly. Some of the last sentence is not necessary I don´t think, as the reader already knows that you´re writing about ´Of Mice and Men´ - in other words, finishing the sentence with something like ´of Steinbeck´s novel´ would be fine.
In the second paragraph, I liked the example given about George and Lenny first talking about the dream – indeed an important moment in the book. The other examples are relevant too. I wonder if you´d thought about including a theme, rather than a character, into that part of the report – like, say, the Great Depression, and how important it was to dream in those testing times.
The last paragraph is solid too and brings the reader round again to the point of the report: Dreaming. And your final sentence is thought-provoking too – great stuff!
So overall, you´ve answered the task clearly and have done a very good job in what is a tricky writing task. Well done!
Steve
Things to look at more closely next time: prepositions
Friendship or the lack of it is what the book is really about.Discuss.
ReplyDeleteIt is undeniably true that Friendship or the lack of it is a big topic. That is why it has been largely reflected in literature and indeed is the main topic in “Of mice and men”.
Despite the fact that Lenny depends too much on George, they have built a nice strong friendship, sharing feelings, dreams and taking care one to each other. They have a big dream, based on the United State Constitution prologue, which entitled every citizen “to…own a property and pursuing his/her own happiness…”. Moreover, they have a plan to achieve it. They are pure, without the slightest trace of selfishness.
On the other hand their peers, has become lonely and quarrelsome, mainly because of bad working conditions. Deprived of the benefits of friendship their dreams have sunk into alcohol and the little money they earn is wasted in bad women. They have no plans in sight. Others like Old Candy are afraid of being given the sack, like in the same way they shot his dog.
All think considered, no one should be out of the unique gift of enjoying friendship. No matter you get your target or not having a friend make good thinks better and bad tolerable. The lack of it affect seriously social life and it usually lead people to a miserable life.
Marcelo - Steve course Adv2
Friendship is commonly defined as an unselfish feeling of fondness for another person, which tends to improve as time goes by. This topic is one of the central points of the story in “Of mice and men”.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between Lenny and George is crucial in the novel. They have been together for many years and they both take care of each other. They have shared lots of experiences in life and they have a dream in common, the famous American Dream. They are willing to live “off the fat of the land”.
However, this is not a platonic friendship. Despite being a lumbering giant, Lenny is an extremely sensitive person who seems to be defenseless against problems that come along. For this reason, George is fiercely protective with his friend. Representing the role of a father or a brother for Lenny, he is always looking after him. But this tends to make him unhappy and he is always wondering what his life would be like if he had never met his friend. In the end of the book, he feels free when Lenny is dead.
According to my point of view, this book is not about friendship exactly, but about a weird relationship between the two main characters. Although George really loved Lenny, he can not pretend to be part of his family, he needs some freedom too. For that reason, I think that a strong friendship is not compatible with a big dependence of one on the other.
Is the book about friendship or about the lack of it?
ReplyDeleteHaving a friend means feeling confortable with another person, without needing to weigh thoughts or measuring words. Friendship means being unselfish with the other one, helping him in every problem he can have. This topic is the central point in in “Of mice and men”.
Lenny and George have a relantionship that is very interesting to analize, and which is particulary important to the story. While George is described as an intelligent man, who knows what to do in most of the situations, Lenny is a very big and strength man, who is unable to control his own body, and who is shown as a not very smart person, who copies everything George makes, following his orders and trusting him to protect him from the problems. Although these are two very different characters, they have lived many experiences together (where in most of them George is taking care that Lenny does not get into trouble). These two travell partners, who moved around the world looking for jobs, shared the “American dream”, of being owners of their own piece of land. Despite the fact they worked hard to achieve this goal, in which later the old Candy was included, they finally could not achieve it. The reason for this is that after Lenny got into a big trouble where most of his peers wanted to kill him, George killed him first-for love-, so as to prevent him from a terrible death. After this, he felt free, because he would never had to carry with the responsability of taking care of Lenny again.
In conclusion, from my point of view, although the book talks about friendship and how love is included in relationships, it also makes reference to when some people need to be free and change their relation with some others. The reason for this could be that one of the persons totally depends from the other one, not leaving him feel free to enjoy life. In the case of the book, Lenny and George where an exceptional case of friendship, in a place where all the others were lonely people, beacuse they had an exceptional relationship, but when George killed Lenny for love, he realised that being responsable for the other one was not easy.
Friendship or the lack of it is what the book is really about. Discuss.
ReplyDeleteIt is undeniably true that Friendship or the lack of it is a big topic. That is why it has been largely reflected in literature and indeed is the main topic in “Of mice and men”.
Despite the fact that Lenny depends too much on George, they have built a nice strong friendship, sharing feelings, dreams and taking care one to each other. They have a big dream, based on the United State Constitution prologue, which entitled every citizen “to…own a property and pursuing his/her own happiness…”. Moreover, they have a plan to achieve it. They are pure, without the slightest trace of selfishness.
On the other hand their peers, has become lonely and quarrelsome, mainly because of bad working conditions. Deprived of the benefits of friendship their dreams have sunk into alcohol and the little money they earn is wasted in bad women. They have no plans in sight. Others like Old Candy are afraid of being given the sack, like in the same way they shot his dog.
All think considered, no one should be out of the unique gift of enjoying friendship.
No matter you get your target or not having a friend make good thinks better and bad tolerable. The lack of it affect seriously social life and it usually lead people to a miserable life.
____________________________
Corrected version
Friendship or the lack of it is what the book is really about. Discuss.
It is undeniably true that friendship or the lack of it is a prominent theme that has been covered widely in world literature and indeed it is the main topic in “Of Mice and Men”.
Despite the fact that Lenny depends too much on George, they have built a strong friendship, sharing feelings, dreams and taking care of one another. They have a big dream, based on the prologue of The United States Constitution, which entitles every citizen “…to own a property and pursuing his/her own happiness.” Moreover, they have a plan to achieve it. They are pure, without the slightest trace of selfishness.
On the other hand Steinbeck depicts their peers as lonely and quarrelsome, mainly because of bad working conditions. Deprived of the benefits of friendship their dreams have dissipated while they sink into alcohol, and the little money they earn is wasted on weekend ventures to brothels. They have no plans in sight. Others like old Candy are afraid of being given the sack and effectively being cast aside, as happened to his dog when they shot it.
All things considered, no one should be deprived of the unique gift of friendship.
No matter if you get your target or not having a friend makes good things better and bad tolerable. The lack of it seriously affects social life and it usually leads people to a miserable life.
Comments for Marcelo’s essay:
ReplyDeleteHi Marcelo. Well the first paragraph is nice in that it has something about the theme of friendship in literature, although I thought it better to rephrase slightly. Anyway, the point is made.
I like what you did with the US Constitution in the next paragraph – it shows that you were prepared to bring some personal knowledge to your answer, and, contextually, it works here. The last sentence, however, seems a little out of place and I’m not sure that ‘pure’ is the word here. And isn’t there dream selfish? Doesn’t the constitution allow people to be at least a little greedy in that each individual can pursue his/her happiness? A couple of things to ponder…
You begin the next paragraph by introducing what the writer’s intention was, and again I think this is useful in an essay. Yes, I think you’re right that the other characters’ individuality seems to be offset against the special/unique connection that G and L have. And you may be right in saying that ‘they have no plans’, or at least Steinbeck doesn’t make as strong an allusion to them; but it did strike me that they are dreaming, but their dreams (Crooks, Curley’s wife and, to a lesser extent, Slim) seem to be something that is unreachable, and that the reality of their dreaming dissipated long before the book takes place.
Quite rightly, you drew on the parallel of Candy’s dog – a really important episode in the book.
The first sentence of the concluding paragraph is quite a sweeping statement I think, and I was expecting you to use it to make some final remarks about the book – it’s probably needed here, since the final paragraph in an essay is normally where you have your final verdict on the information in the task, and you did have to write about the book.
All in all, a thoughtful piece, with some nice touches of language throughout. It’s great that you’re always willing to show off some of your great vocabulary.
Keep up the good work.
Friendship is commonly defined as an unselfish feeling of fondness for another person, which tends to improve as time goes by. This topic is one of the central points of the story in “Of mice and men”.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between Lenny and George is crucial in the novel. They have been together for many years and they both take care of each other. They have shared lots of experiences in life and they have a dream in common, the famous American Dream. They are willing to live “off the fat of the land”.
However, this is not a platonic friendship. Despite being a lumbering giant, Lenny is an extremely sensitive person who seems to be defenseless against problems that come along. For this reason, George is fiercely protective with his friend. Representing the role of a father or a brother for Lenny, he is always looking after him. But this tends to make him unhappy and he is always wondering what his life would be like if he had never met his friend. In the end of the book, he feels free when Lenny is dead.
According to my point of view, this book is not about friendship exactly, but about a weird relationship between the two main characters. Although George really loved Lenny, he can not pretend to be part of his family, he needs some freedom too. For that reason, I think that a strong friendship is not compatible with a big dependence of one on the other.
Corrected version
Friendship is commonly defined as an unselfish feeling of fondness for another person, which tends to improve as time goes by. This topic is one of the central themes of the story in “Of Mice and Men”.
The relationship between Lenny and George is crucial in the novel. They have been together for many years and they both take care of each other. They have shared lots of experiences in life and they have a dream in common, the famous American Dream. They hope to have their own place and to live “off the fat of the land”.
However, this is not a platonic friendship. Despite being a lumbering giant, Lenny is an extremely sensitive person who seems to be defenseless in telling situations. For this reason, George is fiercely protective with his friend. Representing the role of a father or a brother to Lenny, he always has to watch out for him. But this makes him unhappy and he is always wondering what his life would be like if he had never met his friend. In the end of the book, he feels free when Lenny is dead.
This book, then, is not about friendship exactly, but about a strange and often complicated relationship between the two main characters. Although George really loved Lenny, he can not pretend to be part of his family, he needs some freedom too. For that reason, I think that a strong friendship is not compatible when one depends much more on the other.
Comments for Sebas:
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Sebas, I think you’ve given us all a lot to think about with this.
You start with an explanation of friendship and end with how it seems to be much more complicated than that. So far, fine, but I thought I’d leave you a few thoughts on that matter anyway: aren’t all friendships complicated – especially the most intimate ones? Isn’t it G’s close bond and affection to the lumbering giant in the end that effectively saved him from a much worse fate at the hands of the lynch mob? So are you saying, then, that the lack of friendship is more of a central theme in the book (which is also worded in the task)?
When you say, ‘G needs some freedom too’ – I took this to mean that even the closest of friends are sometimes dispensable = an example of where it might be worth remembering that being abundantly clear, especially when giving your ideas as in an essay, is paramount.
The second paragraph is quite effective in general in that it gets to the essence of G + L’s coexistence. You start the third by using an interesting word: platonic. I take it you mean this sense of the word:
• ( platonic) confined to words, theories, or ideals, and not leading to practical action.
Was this used to contrast the idea of the American Dream – talking about it, just like some of the other main characters, but without seeing their ideals transform into actions or ever becoming real – as explained in the previous paragraph?
- if that is the case, then the rest of that paragraph, which talks about G’s actions to protect his friend, does make more sense. I’m sure I could go on about that paragraph, but perhaps it’s not a great idea to speculate further – again, with a little reformulation, it could become that much clearer.
I’m not sure about the tone of ‘According to my…’ and ‘weird’ in the same sentence, and so changed it.
Good attempt at trying to really get beneath the question Sebas. I’m not sure all of your opinions come off here but the fact that you’ve tried to do much more than provide a straightforward answer is transparent – a compliment indeed.
Is the book about friendship or about the lack of it? Having a friend means feeling confortable with another person, without needing to weigh thoughts or measuring words. Friendship means being unselfish with the other one, helping him in every problem he can have. This topic is the central point in in “Of mice and men”. Lenny and George have a relantionship that is very interesting to analize, and which is particulary important to the story. While George is described as an intelligent man, who knows what to do in most of the situations, Lenny is a very big and strength man, who is unable to control his own body, and who is shown as a not very smart person, who copies everything George makes, following his orders and trusting him to protect him from the problems. Although these are two very different characters, they have lived many experiences together (where in most of them George is taking care that Lenny does not get into trouble). These two travell partners, who moved around the world looking for jobs, shared the “American dream”, of being owners of their own piece of land. Despite the fact they worked hard to achieve this goal, in which later the old Candy was included, they finally could not achieve it. The reason for this is that after Lenny got into a big trouble where most of his peers wanted to kill him, George killed him first-for love-, so as to prevent him from a terrible death. After this, he felt free, because he would never had to carry with the responsability of taking care of Lenny again. In conclusion, from my point of view, although the book talks about friendship and how love is included in relationships, it also makes reference to when some people need to be free and change their relation with some others. The reason for this could be that one of the persons totally depends from the other one, not leaving him feel free to enjoy life. In the case of the book, Lenny and George where an exceptional case of friendship, in a place where all the others were lonely people, beacuse they had an exceptional relationship, but when George killed Lenny for love, he realised that being responsable for the other one was not easy
ReplyDeleteCorrected Version:
Is the book about friendship or about the lack of it?
Having a friend means feeling comfortable with another person, without needing to weigh thoughts nor measure words. Friendship means being unselfish with one another, helping with every problem. This topic is the central point in “Of Mice and Men”.
Lenny and George have a relationship that is very interesting to analyze, and which is particularly important to the story. While George is an intelligent man who knows what to do in most situations, Lenny is very big and strong, but slow and copies everything George does. They have lived many experiences together, rambling from ranch to ranch looking for jobs, sharing the “American dream”. Despite the fact they worked hard to achieve this goal, they could not achieve it. Lenny got into serious trouble where most of his peers were about to kill him, but George killed him so as to prevent him from a terrible death. After this, he felt free, because he would never have to carry on with the responsibility of taking care of Lenny again.
From my point of view, although the book talks about friendship and love, it also makes reference to when some people need to be free from the burden of others. The reason for this could be that one person totally depends from the other one, not leaving him free to enjoy life. Lenny and George have a special bond in a place where all the others are lonely, but when George killed Lenny, he realized that being responsible for the other one was not easy.
Comments for Pedro:
ReplyDeletePedro – where do I start? Thanks for sending your essay, but after editing about 100 words (!) I have to ask why you didn’t edit it yourself before posting it on the blog. I can only imagine that you forgot to check the word limit, but at this stage of the course, you can’t really be doing that. It is a shame, because I think that you really wanted to bring in your own ideas here, albeit in an incredibly verbose way.
So, in an exam, I would normally have stopped reading someway through the extremely long and descriptive second paragraph – without ever getting to your opinions in the final one. Remember that in a standard essay, the second and third paragraphs have a strong focus on what you think and you need to justify them there, e.g. – p2: yes, it’s about friendship (or what you think, in relation to the task); and p3, no it isn’t (with a overall opinion given in the final paragraph). So, sure, you weren’t familiar with the structure of an essay: let the main lesson be that you should steer clear of writing-types you’re unsure about.
The second key lesson here is to check your work. There were numerous spelling mistakes and some inconsistencies (analyze – realise).
I hope this serves to raise your awareness of what to seriously contemplate writing about in an exam and what not. The nice ideas you have need to fit within the structure of the composition type at all times.