Mini Essay – Of Mice and Men
Essay Question
• Choose a novel or a short story or a piece of non-fiction in which there is a
person towards whom you feel a strong emotion such as sympathy or hatred
or admiration.
• explain why you feel this way.
Introduction Remember Start with T.A.R.T.S
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Title
- “Of Mice and Men”
Author
- John Steinbeck
Reference to Essay Question- Novel in which there is a character that I feel...
Task Overview
- I feel sympathy for George because…and…
Summary of Plot
- Of Mice and Men is about…
(Must be brief , no more than 3 lines, and mention
theme)
Main Body of Essay
Exemplar Key Point – Mini Essay
Firstly, the reader would feel sympathy for George because looking after Lennie is
frustrating and it causes him problems. This can be seen early in the first section of
the novel when Lennie and George are travelling to the farm that they are due to start
work on, and enter a clearing where Lennie starts to drink from a pond:
“Lennie!” he said sharply. “Lennie, for God sakes don’t drink so much.”
George started to warn Lennie about the water because Lennie had made himself sick
from drinking water that was unclean before. The fact that Lennie doesn’t pay heed
to George’s warning and goes ahead and drinks from the pond like an animal would
explain to the reader that Lennie doesn’t always listen to George’s instructions.
Also, Lennie has clearly not learned a lesson from his previous experience and
this demonstrates his child-like nature and how George’s attempts to educate Lennie
are ultimately futile. Later in the first section, the reader can also see why George
would be frustrated by having to look after Lennie when he has to take a dead mouse
from him:
“ George’s hand remained outstretched imperiously. Slowly, like a terrier who
doesn’t want to bring a ball back to its master, Lennie approached, drew back,
approached again.”
Lennie has no understanding of why he shouldn’t have the dead mouse; he doesn’t
know that George takes it from him because it is unhygienic and could spread
disease. Steinbeck illustrates how George has to constantly be like a parent to Lennie
because Lennie is vulnerable and can not look after himself. I feel sympathy for
George because it must be very frustrating to have to take full responsibility for
Lennie, who is a grown man, and particularly because Lennie is incapable of
following George’s instructions or learning from his experiences.
Exercise – Read the above example and use different coloured highlighters to
highlight the different sections of the key point.
Point (topic sentence)
Evidence (including context)
Analysis
Response (to essay question)
Key Point 2 – Your turn!
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P Write a (point) topic sentence with an opener which states that you feel sympathetic for George
because, despite the difficulties, George is kind and cares for Lennie. He protects Lennie against other
people.
E
Give an example of a time when George shows that he cares about Lennie. Explain what is
happening at the time, then give a quotation to prove your point.
A
Explain how this example shows how George feels about Lennie.
(For a more developed point, as an extension, you could give another example and analyse this before
moving on to your response as I have done in the exemplar)
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R
Explain why this makes you feel sympathetic towards George. (Again, try to give more than one
reason.)
Conclusion
 Write a topic sentence with a suitable opener stating that there are several
reasons why you feel sympathetic towards George in the John Steinbeck’s
novel “of Mice and Men”
 Give a brief summary of the reasons you have discussed in your essay.
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You may want to say which of the reasons for your sympathy is the strongest
and why you feel this way.