Of Mice and Men paper
assignment
OF MICE AND MEN
LITERARY ANALYSIS
STRUCTURE
OF MICE AND MEN
REVIEW:
In addition to a thesis statement, an
introduction includes:
 An attention-getting first sentence.
 The name of the author and the title of
the book.
 A preview of points that will be used to
support the thesis statement.
Of Mice and Men
Now, we move on to writing structure:
Writing in present tense
 Because literature is timeless, it is written about in
present tense. For example, George and Lennie are on
an endless quest for their dream because the story
starts anew each time a new reader picks up the book.
They are forever in the circumstances of the book. To a
new reader, Lennie is mentally challenged, not was.
Even after you finish reading the book, Slim still moves
with the majesty of a master craftsman.
Of Mice and Men
So let’s look at some samples of how the
world in the book is caught in time. It
never ends.
Original: When Lennie killed the mice
and puppy, when Carlson killed Candy’s
dog, and when the heron ate the snake;
this all foreshadowed what happened to
Lennie at the end.
Of Mice and Men
Notice how all of the verbs or action words are in the
past tense: killed the mice; killed Candy’s dog; the
heron ate the snake; all foreshadowed what happened
to Lennie.
The solution: simply convert the verbs to present tense.
Revised: When Lennie kills the mice and puppy, when
Carlson kills Candy’s dog, and when the heron eats the
snake; this all foreshadows what happens to Lennie at
the end.
Of Mice and Men
Now you try one:
Original: George and Lennie had more
than just a friendship; they were different
than any other ranch workers.
Of Mice and Men
Your correction should look like this:
George and Lennie have more than just
a friendship; they are different than any
other ranch workers.
Of Mice and Men
OK, your next challenge: writing in third person. This
simply means taking “I,” “we,” “us,” “my,” “mine,” and
“our” out of your writing. Those are first-person words
(pronouns).
In this type of paper, you need to write in third person.
Think of it as becoming a professional critic for this
paper. You don’t need to say things like “I think.” It’s
implied that you know. Does it make your opinion the
only right one? No, but this is your reading of the book.
When someone reads your paper, you become a
source who knows what you are saying.
Of Mice and Men
First-person example:
Friendship can teach us some strange but
meaningful lessons.
Solution: Simply remove “us.”
Friendship can teach some strange but
meaningful lessons.
Of Mice and Men
Now you try changing one from first
person to third person:
My final example is a little more vague.
Just before the scene where George kills
Lennie, a heron snatches a snake out of
the water.
Of Mice and Men
You could have done something like this:
Although subtle, the encounter between
the heron and the snake provides a
meaningful illustration of foreshadowing.
Of Mice and Men
Now, let’s look at effective transitions.
A transition is a word or phrase that joins the
thought or point in one paragraph with the
thought or point you want to make in the next
paragraph. This makes your writing flow in a
smooth and logical pattern.
Let’s try to create one for these two paragraphs.
Of Mice and Men
(This is the last sentence of the prior
paragraph): Never once does George
take advantage of Lennie’s stupidity.
George regards Lennie as too good of a
friend.
(This is the first sentence of the next
paragraph): Crooks is the stable buck.
He has a bent back, and he is an African
American.
Of Mice and Men
(Let’s put them together as they would appear in an
essay):
Never once does George take advantage of Lennie’s
stupidity. George regards Lennie as too good of a
friend.
Crooks is the stable buck. He has a bent back, and
he is an African American.
This feels disjointed. We need to create a transition
that can help link the two paragraphs/ideas. Feel free
to add a few words or change a few words if
necessary.
Of Mice and Men
Does yours look something like this?
Never once does George take advantage of Lennie’s stupidity.
George regards Lennie as too good of a friend.
However, Crooks, the lonely stable buck, has no such friend.
Crooks, whose name comes from his bent and damaged back, is
the only African American on the ranch.
See how the word “however” and the phrase “has no such friend” ties
this paragraph to the idea expressed in the prior paragraph:
friendship.
Lennie and George are friends. They have each other. Crooks has no
friends. He is lonely.
Of Mice and Men
Try one more:
The mice, puppy, and Curley’s wife are so
weak compared to Lennie, they cannot survive.
Candy’s dog is the last example of
foreshadowing in the book.
Create an effective transition. Feel free to add
more words, or change words, as necessary.
Of Mice and Men
How does yours compare to this one?
The mice, puppy, and Curley’s wife are so
weak compared to Lennie, they cannot survive.
In much the same way, Steinbeck uses
another animal, Candy’s dog, to foreshadow
the decision George faces at the end of the
novel in regard to Lennie.
The phrase “in much the same way” is the link
between the two paragraphs.
Of Mice and Men
Putting the text to work
In this form of writing, it’s very effective (and in
this assignment, required) to use passages
from the book to help support your points. This
not only provides “evidence” for your points, it
also adds multiple voices to your writing (as
long as you don’t overdo it).
Let’s see how this works. Let’s say we’re still
writing our paper about Crooks.
Of Mice and Men
The effects of this isolation become clear when
Crooks confides in Lennie during a poignant moment in
Crooks’s room. Lennie’s mental retardation and short
memory span gives Crooks the confidence to bare his
soul without fear of getting in trouble. After painting a
terrifying picture for Lennie of life without George –
whom Lennie travels with, idolizes, and loves – Crooks
turns his harsh words inward. He tells Lennie how
hard it is to be shunned by the other men, and how
lonely it gets in the barn with just books to keep Crooks
company.
Of Mice and Men
There’s nothing wrong with that paragraph. However, it
becomes even more effective if we let Crooks do some of the
talking, like this:
The effects of this isolation becomes clear when Crooks
confides in Lennie during a poignant moment in Crooks’s room.
Lennie’s mental retardation and short memory span give Crooks
the confidence to bare his soul without fear of getting in trouble.
After painting a terrifying picture for Lennie of life without George –
who Lennie travels with, idolizes, and loves – Crooks turns his
harsh words inward, saying about his own lonely life that, “A guy
needs somebody – to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got
nobody” (72).
Of Mice and Men
We have used Crooks’s own words to help
support our point. Because they are Crooks’s
words, we put them in quotation marks. Notice
that we put the page number, in parentheses,
where the quote comes from. In this paper,
we’re only using material from one source, so
we do not need to identify the author with the
page number; simply use the page number.
Because the quote is shorter than four typed
lines, we can just include it in the same
paragraph as the writing that comes before it.
Of Mice and Men
However, if we use quoted material that is five lines or longer, we make it
a separate paragraph; we indent all lines on the left; we take away the
quotation marks; and we leave it double-spaced, like this:
The effects of this isolation becomes clear when Crooks confides in
Lennie during a poignant moment in Crooks’s room. Lennie’s mental
retardation and short memory span gives Crooks the confidence to bare
his soul without fear of getting in trouble. After painting a terrifying picture
for Lennie of life without George – who Lennie travels with, idolizes, and
loves – Crooks turns his harsh words inward on his own empty life:
S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the
bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How’d you like
that? S’pose you had to sit out here an’ read books. Sure you could
play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books.
Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody – to be near him. A
guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. (72-73)
Of Mice and Men
Now, one last step. We have to complete our point with a concluding thought after
the quoted material. It would look something like this (PLEASE NOTE: THIS
WOULD ALL BE DOUBLE SPACED)
After painting a terrifying picture for Lennie of life without George – who Lennie
travels with, idolizes, and loves – Crooks turns his harsh words inward on his own
empty life:
S’pose you didn’t have nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse
and play rummy ‘cause you was black. How’d you like that? S’pose you had
to sit out here an’ read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark,
but then you got to read books. Books ain’t no good. A guy needs somebody
– to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. (72-73)
It’s clear that Crooks is aware of the damage loneliness is doing to his soul and
that he envies the relationship George and Lennie share. This prompts him to offer
to work for free if he is allowed to join George and Lennie’s dream of owning their
own place. Crooks is willing to work merely for room and board if it means having
human companionship to stave off his devastating isolation.
A final note: Your follow-up discussion after the quote should be at least as long as
the quote itself. Also, do not indent the follow-up paragraph.
Of Mice and Men
One last requirement:
• Format your first page according to MLA style (all
double-spaced):






Your first and last name
Mr. Johnston
Communications 9 Honors
19 February 2013
Your Last Name 1
TITLE IS CENTERED
Of Mice and Men
 Now, let’s practice this with a miniature
essay based on the activity you did with
“To A Mouse.”
Naturalism
 Now that we have translated “To A Mouse,” review your
notes on Naturalism.
 Compose a short essay (three to four paragraphs) in which
you interpret the poem through a Naturalistic lens. In your
essay:
 Include an introduction with a thesis statement: a
sentence that indicates your interpretation of this poem:
Robert Burns’s poem “To A Mouse”
reveals/indicates/shows that…
 Cite specific lines in the poem to support your analysis.
Burns demonstrates this in the third verse: “I’m truly
sorry Man’s dominion…”
Naturalism
 Compare your analysis of the poem to the Naturalistic
themes in Of Mice and Men. How can the naturalistic
message of the poem be directly mapped onto the
naturalistic aspects of the novel? For example, you
might consider the conditions the mouse in the poem
faces and the conditions George and Lennie face.
 Structure
 Your essay should be written in third person (take out
the personal pronouns: “I” “me” “my” “us” “we” “our”;
avoid second-person “you”).
 Also, write in present tense: Burns states that (not
stated); The mouse cowers in fear (not cowered).
Naturalism
 REMINDERS:
 All writing assignments are typed, double-spaced, 10point type.
 Format essays per MLA style.
 Create a title: something stronger than “To A Mouse” or
“Naturalism in ‘To A Mouse’”
 As noted after the “Diner” paper, form paragraphs and
indent them.