Happy New Year
Controlled Assessed Work –
OMAM January 7th 2013
Focus on Minor character
What can you remember from last
term about Crooks?
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Who is he?
What is his position on ranch?
Where does he live?
How is he treated?
What does Crooks feel about his own life on
the ranch?
• Who shows that they do like and trust him?
• Who insults him?
The essay title
• Explore the ways Steinbeck presents and
develops the character Crooks in chapter four.
How does this character contribute to the major
themes of the novel?
• Remember to include detailed analysis of the
ways language, form and structure are used by
the author to present the character at key
moments
• Don’t forget to include your personal responses
to the character and themes
Preparing the notes ....
• Chapter four opens with a detailed description
of Crooks’ living quarters – direct ‘stage
setting’ (remember it was originally going to
be a play).
• Steinbeck uses the description of the room to
highlight aspects of Crooks personality and his
lifestyle.
• Choose any small detail from the opening
paragraph and comment upon it.
Modelling a response PQE
• Steinbeck paints an image of Crooks through the
details of his living quarters.
• ‘Crooks had his bunk in the harness room’
• The opening sentence makes it clear that this is not a
proper bedroom but a place of work. Perhaps this
shows that Crooks is never free from his labours but
also shows that he is segregated from the other men
and kept in the realm of the animals who also live in
the barn. This could be Steinbeck’s way of alerting us to
the prejudice of the times and the isolation this caused
for a man like Crooks, ‘the negro stable-buck’.
How does Steinbeck use adjectives to
build up a visual image of Crooks?
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Proud
Aloof
neat
Crooked
Deep
Thin
Pain-tightened
Here Steinbeck is suing direct description to paint
a picture for the reader.
9.1.2013 Steinbeck describes actions
• Saturday night – what is Crooks doing?
• ‘A bottle of liniment ...he rubbed his spine ..he
flexed his muscles.... He shivered’
• How are you affected by this description of
him on a Saturday night alone in his room with
the small electric globe which threw a ‘meagre
yellow light’? Which words make the greatest
impact?
Steinbeck uses Symbolism p74
• In the stable buck’s room a small electric globe
threw a meager (thin, weak) light.
• This small, weak light perhaps reflects the lack
of hope and joy in Crooks’ life. The room is
full of shadows; Crooks’ life is also shadowed
by the racial prejudice he suffers and the
loneliness he feels.
Voice and speech – analysing form
p 74
• What kind of voice does Steinbeck give Crooks
when Lennie first approaches him?
• Crooks said sharply.. (sharply is an adverb
describing the action)
• He uses short, abrupt sentences. Find an
example. Why? What is the impact of these curt
sentences?
• Curt aggressive hostile bitter unwelcoming
• antagonistic
10.1.2013 How does Steinbeck present Crooks
through his conversation with Lennie? P76
• Grumpy? Lonely? Longing for company? Eager
to talk? Insulting to Lennie? Nostalgic for past?
Regretful? Perceptive (about George and Lennie’s
relationship)? full of life and energy?
• P78-79 Cruel and sadistic? Eager to wield some
power? What happens to the emotional
temperature across these two pages?
• Write two sentences about the change in
emotions over these pages starting with this
phrase .. Steinbeck creates emotional tension
when...
Page 80
• How does Steinbeck show us that Crooks is
a deeply lonely character? Through.....
• Do you feel sorry for him?
Page 81 – Crooks is cynical about the
dream (doesn’t believe in it)
• Point : Crooks is scornful about the American
Dream.
• Quote: Nobody...
• Explore
• Can you find another comment on page 83
which supports this idea that Crooks is
contemptuous of the mens’ dreams?
SDP
• Deep
• Crooks speaks of ‘heaven’ and ‘land’ with the
bitter voice of long experience. He has seen so
many men come and go; the dream they all
share is a fantasy which both tortures and
delights their imaginations.
• Profound. Crooks speaks out of a dark, atheist misery
due to the sadness of his own tortured existence. For
him ‘heaven’ is a religious fairytale which offers no
consolation for the horrors of his lonely life. He has no
faith in the dream vision of sacred land. The double
negative ‘nobody never’ intensifies his bitter
depression.
Your Essay
• What is Crooks like as a character?
• How does Steinbeck reveal all his
characteristics to us? (look for his skill as a
writer)
• Why and how is Crooks significant to the
themes of the book?
• What do you feel about Crooks?
82 Steinbeck manipulates the scene by
adding another character - Candy
• Crooks is secretly delighted to have company
and friendship – highlighting the problem of
isolation which Steinbeck cares about so
much. How does he react to Candy? (actions,
behaviour, voice) page 82
• How can we tell that Crooks is really quite a
friendly approachable character if given a
chance?
Bitter irony
• Candy is embarrassed about the awkward social
situation and compliments Crooks on his room.
Crooks replies, ‘Sure. And a manure pile under
the window. Sure, it’s swell. ’
• Through the ironic use of the colloquial term
swell and the connotations of manure, Crooks
shows his bitter knowledge that his ‘privileged’
room is really little more than an animal’s den.
He resents Candy’s pretence that it is a luxury
pad.
84 Steinbeck develops Crooks!!!
• The Dream – suddenly, against all his spoken
disbelief and scorn, Steinbeck reveals that Crooks
too is a romantic dreamer, longing to escape
his trap of poverty, misery and
abuse!
• There is softness and gentleness
within Crooks.
• How do we know this?
Shallow Deep Profound p 80
• ‘I seen things out here’ This quote shows Crooks
is potentially going mad (shallow)
• Through this comment Steinbeck reveals Crooks’
fears that loneliness is slowly driving him mad.
(deep)
• Crooks uses a short dramatic statement which
displays his suffering in his isolation. He has had
frightening visions which threaten his sanity. His
word ‘things’ hints at terrible ghostly sights.
(profound)
Another character enters – Curley’s wife –
Steinbeck is building up the scene
• Practise your PQE skills – your Chance for
teacher feedback on your writing
How does Steinbeck use the scene with Curley’s
wife to show us more about Crooks and his
feelings? About his power or lack of it?
• 1. Crooks does not speak for two pages – why
not?
• 2. Crooks speaks up again page 88
• 3. Crooks makes his final comments p90-91
Thursday 17th Jan
• LO
• Get ready to write – last chance to fine tune
your commentary to achieve top grades.
• Evaluate how well Steinbeck uses different
techniques to establish aspects of Crooks and
his existence.
Respond to another group
• What do you think are some of
the more subtle emotions
displayed by Crooks at a various
points in the scene we have read?
When is Steinbeck most effective?
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Group work
Techniques used to reveal emotion
Direct description of emotion
Dialogue – words, expression, tone, pace (implicit
meaning)
• Body language and gesture
• Action
• Highlight and discuss the effectiveness of the
examples you can find in this section of chapter 4
Introduction
• We are going to practise our introduction
• Steinbeck presents Crooks (in a number of
ways)
• Why is he an interesting or intriguing
character?
• How does he contribute to the themes of the
the whole text?
Start with a powerful introduction
• Steinbeck presents Crooks (in a number of ways)
• Why is he an interesting or intriguing character?
• How does he contribute to the themes of the
whole text?
• What do you feel about him?
• Start with an adjectival phrase e.g. Bitter, lonely
and rejected, Crooks .... Or outcast from human
company, Crooks .....
How does Steinbeck present Crooks
• Through
• Direct description using adjectives, adverbs (his
room, himself)
• Dialogue – words, expression, tone, pace,
(implicit meaning) talking to other characters
• Body language and gesture
• Actions
• Which is the most effective device?
Monday 21st January
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The CA begins --do you have...
Good Pen?
Clear Plan?
Secure sense of what you need to do to impress
the marker?
Don’t forget ....
Offer Deep and Profound PQE
Evaluate the quality of Steinbeck’s presentation
of Crooks
Respond personally to the text
The essay title
• Explore the ways Steinbeck presents and
develops the character Crooks in chapter four.
How does this character contribute to the major
themes of the novel?
• Remember to include detailed analysis of the
ways language, form and structure are used by
the author to present the character at key
moments
• Don’t forget to include your personal responses
to the character and themes