Mr Peel’s revision:

The SHEEP group!OMAM – essay suggestions.Saturday 22 April 2023

3 questions in 30 minutes

• Approach is everything.

• Understand the purpose of the question – never simply to see if you know the story.

• 3 essay stems:• Setting• Importance of a character• How does Steinbeck present a given theme?

Setting

• 4 strands to this question• Time Era• Time when• Place• Nature/weather…

An idea:

Back to the text

• What settings are used? • Nature as a frame, bunkhouse, barn, Crooks’ Room

• What is significant about each?• Look at what they suggest related to themes…

Nature 1

Nature

freedom

peace

companionship

calmness

No human interference

watersnake• Killed at end

Nature 2

Season has moved on

Used to comfort Lennie

Heron kills watersnake

Wind ripples the water

No longer recumbent…

Noises off of pursuit

Associated with

emergency

See how it works?

• The Bunkhouse is the opposite -look at the e C.S.I – white or bare wood, nature is tamed to man’s needs. The talk is of cooties and a lack of privacy.

• Where is this best seen?

• CANDY DOG…

Bunkhouse= harsh life of itinerants

• Shown by Candy Dog scene… (don’t retell the story)• Dark outside, all trapped within the bunkhouse, Carlson is

relentless (as Crooks will be later with Lennie), Candy is ISOLATED and has to resort to turning to “face the wall”.

• Bunkhouse as setting is used to explore the harsh and inhumane life of these men.

• Use also for “arrival and disappointment” and “establishing the dream”.

• Also sets up a MALE environment that only real men can enter…

The Barn

• Half way between the two – how is it described.• C.S.I What does the fork signify?• Why are the animals so evident here? Horses, puppies,

pigeon etc

• Does it provide Curley’s wife with a peaceful resting place – more natural than the male dominated ranch?

IMPORTANCE OF A CHARACTER:

• Not the same as “tell us what X does in the novella…”• Think about the role of the character in the story• Do they help to develop a particular theme?• ( CW/Crooks: discrimination; Candy: Loneliness and the

dream; CW appearance and reality (dreams)…)

Relationships

• In a book “about” the collapse of a humane society, look for relationships…

• George and Lennie are obvious and begin to rectify the situation on the ranch…

• Is the end positive or negative? Slim and George are together, but Carlson has the last word…

Individuals

• Crooks is both discriminated against and discriminatory – why? What is Steinbeck trying to say here?

• Lennie is focus of the dream, but what else does his character enable to happen? How do we know the truth about CW for example? How does Steinbeck use this character in the narrative?

THEMES

• NOTE: most questions will want you to discuss how the writer presents a theme, not simply write about it in abstract terms.

• Major themes:• Loneliness/Isolation - Discrimination• Appearance/Reality• Dreams• Collapse of society

Loneliness/Isolation

Shown in Crooks – “man gets sick…”

Discrimination is a two way thing…

Chooses isolation but is not happy

Unlike Candy, who is isolated within the

bunkhouse after death of dog…

And unlike CW who is isolated by gender

And by a cruel husband –she becomes lonely

Which Steinbeck hides by writing from a male

perspective at the start of the novel

She presents loneliness when she

tells her story – achieves greater impact this way

In the time that is left, look at the other themes

• Always remember that English Literature is testing you on whether you can comment about the choices made by the author.

• It is assumed that you know the texts!• Try to write in an impersonal 3rd person and avoid immature

subjectivity ( “Steinbeck cleverly uses a brilliant adjective…”).• PLAN before you write for 5 minutes minimum – think of the

quotations you will embed at this point.

• GOOD LUCK