Name: _____________________________________________________Hour:_________
Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck
Cast of Characters
 George:
– A _______________ worker who travels from ______ to ________ for work
during the __________________.
– Cares for ___________, his childhood friend who is _____________ disabled
 Lennie:
– A large mentally disabled man.
– ______________ over touching soft things such as hair and fur
– Dreams of having a ____________ with George and raising ___________
 Candy:
– An old, _____________ man who has lost his ____________
– ______________ at the ranch
 Curley:
– ___________ of ranch owner
– Formidable ___________
 Curley’s Wife:
– Considered a ______________ by most of the ranch men
– Doesn’t have a ____________
 Crooks:
– ____________ buck of the ranch
– Only ______________ man
 Carlson:
– Large man who ______________ about Candy’s old ____________
– Offers to ___________________
 Slim:
– Ranch ______________
– ___________ man
 Boss:
– ______________ George and Lennie when they arrive late
– __________ man
Big Idea #1: George’s Dream - The Fading American Dream
Idea #1: _________________
 The Fading American Dream Based on ________________ Ideal of an
_______________ Society: The creed can be summed up in four parts.
– First, ______________ has a spiritual dimension that generates many virtues,
among them _____________, moral integrity, and honor, because direct contact
with ______________ leads to a meaningful relationship with _________.
Accordingly, like God, the cultivator creates order out of _________.
– Second, farming is the only occupation offering total ________________ and
_________________, primarily because it is the only occupation that creates
genuine wealth.
– Third, the farmer, through his work, gains a sense of _________ and ______.
The reason for this psychological wholeness is simple: the farmer does not live and
work in the city, an artifice of mankind's hubris. He is an alien in the hostile,
____________ environment that is the city.
– Fourth, with its fellowship of __________________ and labor, the agricultural
landscape features the _____________ society. These characteristics and values
of agrarianism have long been a constant in the nation's history. Jefferson
believed that the US should remain a land of ___________ and ranchers with
deep ties to the land. Ever since, land ownership has become every American’s
___________.
Two Disasters Collapse Dream
 The stock market crash of October of ______________ ruins businesses, causes
massive ________________ (25% unemployment), reduces production of basic
resources (50% drop), destroys ______________.
 The Dust Bowl (1931-1939) of the Midwestern and Southern Plains displaces millions of
Americans.
 Both disasters cause an ____________ to the last beacon of hope: California
 __________________ migrants head to CA and it’s rich agricultural lands
 Hollywood creates “dreams” (via _________________), providing an escape from a
harsh reality; many dream of becoming movie stars
 Examples from novel
̶ __________________ dreams of freedom from oppression and
________________
̶ Curley’s Wife dreams of ______________ fame
̶ George and Lennie dream of own farm where they can “live off the fatta the land” ;
true __________________
̶ Candy dreams of a place where he belongs and is _______________ (the dream
farm)
Big Idea #2: Steinbeck’s Group Man Theory
 Steinbeck’s ______________ Man Theory
– Naturalist idea stems from Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, man has a predatory
nature and survives by _____________ of the fittest
– Exploitation of the weak by the ________________(the weak remain powerless)
 To survive, man forms “groups” that function as individual social “organisms.”
– The individuals that make up the group have a common _____________.
– Unfortunately, groups are created by like individuals: the _______ stick with the
_______ and the __________ stick with the ______________
Big Idea #3: Biblical Allusions
 The ____________ of Man (Loss of Paradise)
– The Garden of Eden is a ______________ where God provides Adam and Eve all
of life’s ________________: food, water, shelter, peace, love.
– Man’s _____________ nature (in this case, Adam and Eve’s disobedience of God’s
order not to eat from a certain tree) loses man paradise. Man “falls” from the
grace of God, who banishes Man from Eden.
 Examples in novel
– Paradise ____________: Setting in chapters 1 & 6 “golden foothill slopes” - Quiet
and natural with sycamores, sand, leaves, a gentle breeze, and a pristine pool
populated by ______________, lizards, herons, and water snakes
*Man’s presence is limited to George and Lennie
– ____________ Imagery: This _______________ Heaven “a little house and a
couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs” “we’ll have a big vegetable garden patch
and a rabbit hutch and chickens” “fire in the stove”