Understanding Dreams and Aspirations in "Of Mice and Men
Explore the significance of dreams to the characters in John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men." Discover the hopes, purposes, and ultimately unattainable nature of these dreams through character analysis and supporting quotations.
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Year 9 English: Text Response Year 9 English: Text Response Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Before we start Brainstorm with a partner everything you already know about writing a text response
Structure of a Text Response There are three parts to a text response: 1. Introduction The text type, text and author Background information on the topic CONTENTION: a clear, concise response to the topic An indication of the main points to be taken up in the body paragraphs 2. Body Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2 Paragraph 3 (Paragraph 4) 3. Conclusion A clear response to the topic A concise statement about your central argument A brief summary that draws together the main points of the essay
Sample Topic: What is the importance of dreams to the characters in Of Mice and Men? _____________________________________________________ In order to plan an essay in response to this topic, we need to do the following: 1) Unpack the topic list the KEY TERMS 2) Develop a list of synonyms of these key terms 3) Explore key ideas within topic 4) Gather evidence (examples and QUOTES from the text) 5) Organise ideas (EXPLANATION) and examples (EVIDENCE) into a plan in order to structure our essay.
Exploring the key ideas 1. What are the dreams of the central characters? 2. What is the purpose of these dreams? 3. Why are their dreams ultimately unattainable?
Character Dream Purpose of dream (what does the dream bring this character?) Brings hope and possibility of a stable life and home Gives them a sense of purpose to work and save. Will make them accountable only to each other Self-sufficiency Will unite them as brothers Reasons why dream fails Supporting Quotations To own their own property, be their own bosses, grow their own vegetables, tend to animals. live off the fatta the lan. Lennie and George Guys like us, that work on ranches they ain t got nothing to look ahead to. Crooks Candy Curley s Wife
Lets start with the introduction What are the ingredients of a good introduction? Text type, text and author Background information on topic Contention Main arguments to be discussed
Sample Introduction What is the importance of dreams to the characters in Of Mice and Men? John Steinbeck s novel Of Mice and Men explores the idea of the American Dream, as many of its central characters search for a better life. Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the lives of the itinerant farm workers often appear mundane, unstable and pointless. Dreams are pivotal to these characters lives, as they provide them with a sense of hope, purpose and belonging. George and Lennie s dream to have their own property unites many of the isolated characters in the novel and provides a common goal. These dreams also function as coping mechanisms, to take characters such as Curley s wife out of their miserable reality. Despite the character s aspirations, Steinbeck foreshadows trouble throughout the novel, ultimately suggesting that they are unattainable and that merely having a dream may not always be enough.
What is the importance of dreams to the characters in Of Mice and Men? John Steinbeck s novel Of Mice and Men explores the idea of the AmericanDream, as many of its central characters search for a better life. Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the lives of the itinerant farm workers often appear mundane, unstable and pointless. Dreams are pivotal to these characters lives, as they provide them with a sense of hope, purpose and belonging. George and Lennie s dream to have their own property unites many of the isolated characters in the novel and provides a common goal. These dreams also function as coping mechanisms, to take characters such as Curley s wife out of their miserable reality. Despite the character s aspirations, Steinbeck foreshadows trouble throughout the novel, ultimately suggesting that they are unattainable and that merely having a dream may not always be enough. Text type, text and author Background information on topic Contention Main arguments to be discussed
Of Mice and Men explores the impact loneliness has on peoples lives. Discuss. John Steinbeck s Of Mice and Men is set during the Great Depression in America during the 1930 s. Life was hard for these people, especially the itinerant farm workers who had to move from place to place looking for work in the hope they would get enough money to survive. This was also a time of entrenched racism and sexism. In this story Steinbeck focusses on the despair felt by individuals who do not have companionship and support to guide them through the trials of life. Candy, the old and crippled swamper loses his only companion and Crooks is alienated from the others because he is black. Curley s wife is the only woman on the ranch and has a mean and suspicious husband. These characters all suffer as a result of their situation. Text type, text and author Background information on topic Contention Main arguments to be discussed
LANGUAGE I think their dreams are very important because they distract the characters from their lives. - INFORMAL Use FORMAL language Dreams function as a coping mechanism, allowing the central characters to escape their reality. - FORMAL This is your piece of writing so the reader knows that it is your opinion. You should therefore never use I It is much stronger to write in the third person: ( Lennie Crooks The characters The reader ) Write in the THIRD person! Instead of I think.. Use It could be argued that or This is evident when Examples: don t, can t, should ve, etc. Instead: do not, cannot, should have Do NOT use contractions - (a contraction is where you abbreviate a word by adding an apostrophe). Refer to the author initially as John Steinbeck. Afterwards, simply use the surname Steinbeck. The TITLE of the novel should always be underlined.
Body Paragraphs - TEEL T Topic Sentence: State the main idea/argument of the paragraph. It should set up the main point to be discussed. E Explanation: Expand and elaborate on this key idea in greater detail. E Evidence: Provide quotes and examples from the text to support your idea. You must DISCUSS and ANALYSE this evidence, explaining how it supports your topic sentence. L Link: A final statement that ties your ideas together and links them to the next paragraph. You may even wish to use key terms from the next paragraph. Your paragraph should contain at least two pieces of evidence (quotes) that you will need to explain and analyse. For this reason, your paragraph will look like this: T E E E E L
Sample Body Paragraph For most of the characters in Of Mice and Men, dreams function as coping mechanisms. George, Lennie, Candy and Curley s wife all cling to their dreams as a means of survival. George and Lennie s dream to have their own property is to live off the fatta the lan and become self-sufficient. Candy soon shares this dream, as he is bemused by the beauty of the thing. George and Lennie inspire in Candy a dream that takes the men outside of themselves and their current reality. As their dream gives them a sense of purpose, they are able to focus on more than simply getting through the mundane daily life of the ranch. Their realisation that they could have [their] own ranch to go to, an [their] own house provides a sense of comfort and hope that [they]ain t got to stay here. They are able to emotionally detach themselves from the ranch, as it is only temporary. Curley s wife also uses her dream to separate herself from her reality. She holds onto her dreams of the past, constantly reminding the reader that she coulda been in the movies, an had nice clothes. Her dream allows her to deny her reality and escape from the loneliness and brutality of her situation. By reminding herself that she could have been something more something extraordinary she doesn t have to take any personal responsibility for her choices. Her unhappiness isn t a reflection of herself. Despite their dreams, the reader is positioned to feel great sympathy for these characters. George, Lennie, Candy and Curley s wife all cling to their dreams so desperately and appear to have little else in their lives. If their dreams cannot be realised, the reader doubts whether they have any chance for survival.
QUOTATIONS Avoid using a long quote and dumping it into your paragraph. Instead, select a short quote/part of a quote and try placing it into one of your sentences. This is what we call EMBEDDING QUOTATIONS. Note: If you need to change a quote slightly by adding a word or a letter, you can use square brackets [ ]. Example: Their realisation that they could have [their] own ranch to go to, an [their] own house provides a sense of comfort and hope that [they] ain t got to stay here. The original words begin, have our own ranch, an our own house . However, our does not fit the grammar of our sentence so we need to change the verb to their , using the square brackets to show that the quote is not quite as written in the novel.
Conclusion This brings your exploration of the prompt to a close. It includes a statement of your main argument and summarises the main points of your body paragraphs. It can be very effective to finish your conclusion with a perfect quote that supports your argument. Which is better, conclusion example A or conclusion example B? Example A: Dreams are a significant motif in Steinbeck s Of Mice and Men. The author presents a couple of destitute workers driven by a single dream that seems unattainable. However, their friendship keeps the dream alive, and Steinbeck uses other characters to cause the reader to believe that they might actually succeed in their goals. Nevertheless, the dream is never fulfilled and the characters who have counted on it the most are the ones who are the most devastated. Example B: Dreams are important in Of Mice and Men. George and Lennie, Candy and Curley s wife have a dream because dreams are nice. Dreams help the characters because they do not have much to look forward to in life.
Example A Interested variety of vocabulary that responds to different parts of the prompt Relates back to what has been covered but does not repeat it . Mentions the author Makes a strong statement about the text that has developed from the points raised in the essay ? Example B Repeats the words and terms used in the prompt Almost repeats what was said in the introduction Sums up by almost repeating what is in the topic sentence
Connecting words Similarly; equally; compared; an equivalent; in the same way; as with; likewise; also; another; furthermore; moreover; in contrast; paralleling this; equally; in a similar vein; on the other hand; but; whereas; unlike; conversely; nevertheless; alternatively; however; yet; on the contrary; the opposite; instead; otherwise; accordingly Bridging wordsWords that create a bridge between evidence and your assertions (opinions, ideas, views on the text) highlights; symbolises; signifies; illustrates; reflects; emphasises; epitomises; reveals; exposes; evokes; implies; represents; illustrates; proves; exaggerates; reinforces; acknowledges; conjures; illuminates; embodies; demonstrates; exemplifies; parallels; suggests; engenders; encapsulates; hints at; unveils; reveals
