Of Mice and Men

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Of Mice and Men

• Mini Essay

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Lesson Aims

• To identify key words from the essay question
• To learn how to use the essay question to plan
  your response.

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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.
• Say how you feel about the person, and explain
  why you feel this way.

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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.

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Using the 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.

• Of Mice and Men
• George
• We feel sympathy for him
• He has to look after Lennie who has learning
  difficulties.
• Kind to Lennie and cares for him

The word sympathy in essay questions does not
just mean you feel sorry for someone. It can
also mean that you find them likeable or that you
admire their actions or attitudes.
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Critical Essay Structure

• Critical essays always have the same structure.
  (Essentially a beginning, a middle and an end).
• Introduction
• 3-5 Key points
• Conclusion

• However!!!
• This is a mini essay so we will only have 2 key
  points!!
• Even better Ive done the first point for you!!!

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Key Points For this essay our key points will
be reasons we feel sympathy for George.

1. Firstly, the reader would feel sympathy for
   George because looking after Lennie is
   frustrating and it causes him problems.
2. Additionally, Steinbeck encourages the reader to
   feel sympathy for George because he is kind to
   Lennie despite the difficulties he causes and
   feels guilty when he upsets him.

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Introduction Start with T.A.R.T.S

• Title
• Author
• Reference to Essay Question
• Task Overview
• Summary of Plot
• (Must be brief and mention theme)

• Of Mice and Men
• John Steinbeck
• Novel in which there is a character that I feel
  sympathy for.
• I feel sympathy for George because
• Of Mice and Men is about (no more than 3 lines)

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Exemplar Introduction

• Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck is a
  novel in which there is a character that I feel
  great sympathy for. George Milton is an itinerant
  worker in California during the Great depression
  and I feel extremely sympathetic for him because
  he has to look after Lennie who is misunderstood
  because he has severe learning difficulties but
  despite the problems this causes him, he is kind
  and caring towards Lennie. Of Mice and Men is
  about two men who travel together looking for
  work and through George and Lennie (as well as
  the other characters that we meet in and about
  the ranch) Steinbeck explores the theme of
  Loneliness and the need to have a dream.

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Learning Intentions

• To learn how to structure a key point of a
  critical essay
• To learn how to write topic sentences that refer
  to the essay question

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Your essay will have three main sections. (Dont
worry this is only a mini essay and you are only
required to write one point!!!) You will use the
PEAR formula for each section.

• POINT Topic sentence with an opener/linking
  word. It tells the examiner what your paragraph
  is going to be about.
• EVIDENCE You must remember to explain the
  context (what is happening in the part of the
  story from which you have taken your quotation or
  your example) as well as write down your example
  or quotation.
• ANALYSIS Explain how the quotation supports
  the point you are making (e.g what the quotation
  or example tells you about difficulties George
  faces or how George is feeling) and/or what it
  tells us about the theme of the text.
• RESPONSE Explain how your evidence RESPONDS to
  the question. For example, why do you feel
  sympathy for George here.

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Writing Topic Sentences (Points)

• Topic Sentences are very important because
• They make it clear what your point is going to be
  about.
• They help you to respond to the question in a
  relevant way.
• They help you have a line of argument through
  your essay.

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Writing Effective Topic Sentences (Points)

1. Start with a link word/opener.
2. Make it clear what point you are making.
3. Refer (include words from) the essay question.

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Key Point 1

1. Firstly, the reader would feel sympathy for
   George because looking after Lennie is
   frustrating and it causes him problems.

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Exemplar Key Point Using P.E.A.R

• 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 novella
  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
  dont 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 doesnt pay heed to Georges warning
  and goes ahead and drinks from the pond like an
  animal would explain to the reader that Lennie
  doesnt always listen to Georges instructions.
• Also, Lennie has clearly not learned a
  lesson from his previous experience and this
  demonstrates his child-like nature and how
  Georges 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
• Georges hand remained outstretched
  imperiously. Slowly, like a terrier who doesnt
  want to bring a ball back to its master, Lennie
  approached, drew back, approached again.
• Lennie has no understanding of why he
  shouldnt have the dead mouse he doesnt 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 Georges instructions
  or learning from his experiences.

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Exemplar Key Point Using P.E.A.R

• 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 novella
  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 dont 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 doesnt pay heed to Georges warning
  and goes ahead and drinks from the pond like an
  animal would explain to the reader that Lennie
  doesnt always listen to Georges instructions.
• Also, Lennie has clearly not learned a
  lesson from his previous experience and this
  demonstrates his child-like nature and how
  Georges 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
• Georges hand remained outstretched
  imperiously. Slowly, like a terrier who doesnt
  want to bring a ball back to its master, Lennie
  approached, drew back, approached again.
• Lennie has no understanding of why he
  shouldnt have the dead mouse he doesnt know
  that George takes it from him because it is
  unhygienic and 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 Georges instructions or learning from
  his experiences.

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Key Point 2 Your Turn

• P Write a 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, you could give
  another example and analyse this before moving on
  to your response as I have done in the exemplar)
• R Explain why this makes you feel sympathetic
  towards George. (Again, try to give more than
  one reason.)