Reading Assignments
Reading Assignments
Reading Assignments
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Of Mice and Men<br />
Vocabulary<br />
For each term, in each chapter, write the word, the page number, the definition, and the<br />
sentence in which it appears in the text, with the term underlined, as follows:<br />
Mottle: a surface having covered spots or blotches<br />
Book Sentence: “On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curve up to the strong<br />
and rocky Gabilan mountains, but on the valley side the water is lined with trees –<br />
willows fresh and green with every spring, carrying in their lower leaf junctures the<br />
debris of the winter’s flooding; and sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent limbs<br />
and branches that arch over the pool” (1).<br />
Original Sentence: My skin has been mottled since I was twelve.<br />
Section One<br />
Mottle<br />
Recumbent<br />
Bindle<br />
Morose<br />
Contemplate<br />
Imperious<br />
Dejected<br />
Section Two<br />
Scourge<br />
Pugnacious<br />
Derogatory<br />
Tart<br />
Plaintive<br />
Arch<br />
Apprehensive<br />
Gravity<br />
Section Three and Four<br />
Hame<br />
Aloof<br />
Fawn<br />
Disarming<br />
Contemptuous<br />
Indignation<br />
Avert<br />
Crestfallen<br />
Section Five<br />
Jeer<br />
Complacent<br />
Contort<br />
Bewildered<br />
Dusk<br />
Cringe<br />
Hover<br />
Snivel<br />
Section Six<br />
Scud<br />
Skitter<br />
Gingham<br />
Snooker<br />
Haunches<br />
Retort<br />
Belligerent<br />
Monotonous
Of Mice and Men<br />
<strong>Reading</strong> Review Questions<br />
Section One<br />
1. What do the two main characters look like?<br />
2. Why is George mad at the bus driver who dropped them off?<br />
3. What does Lennie have in his pocket? What does George do with it?<br />
4. Why did George and Lennie have to leave their last job in Weed?<br />
5. Where will Lennie go if George leaves him? How will he survive?<br />
6. How does George feel about having to look after Lennie?<br />
7. What is George and Lennie’s dream for the future? Describe.<br />
8. What does George tell Lennie to do if he gets into trouble at the new job?<br />
Write a reflective essay on the nature of friendship and the enduring human need for companionship. Relate both to<br />
George and Lennie and to yourself.<br />
Section Two<br />
1. Why is the boss on the ranch mad at George and Lennie?<br />
2. How does George explain to the boss why Lennie can’t talk for himself?<br />
3. Why does Curley have an inferiority complex? Why does he get mad at George and Lennie?<br />
4. Why is the stable buck set apart from the other men? What does he look like?<br />
5. Why has Curley gotten even more mean in the past couple of weeks?<br />
6. How does Curley’s wife behave when she comes looking for her husband in the bunkhouse?<br />
7. Describe how the men think of Curley’s wife. What do George, Lennie, and Candy think of her?<br />
8. How do Slim and Carlson’s remarks about dogs show they are being responsible?<br />
9. What does Lennie want George to get him at the end of this chapter?<br />
10. Why is Curley upset at the end of the chapter?<br />
11. Describe the character traits you know about George and Lennie.<br />
Discuss loneliness and friendship in regards to Curly and Curley’s Wife to George and Lennie. Discuss initial<br />
impressions regarding Curley’s Wife. What is her motivation? Why doesn’t she have a name? Is she a “slut” or is there<br />
something deeper beneath the surface?<br />
Section Three<br />
1. How did George use to treat Lennie when he first started looking after him?<br />
2. What does George tell Slim about what happened in Weed? How did they hide from the lynch mob?<br />
3. What happens to Candy’s old dog in this chapter?<br />
4. What makes their dream of owning a farm more realistic in this chapter?<br />
5. What comparison does Candy make between his condition and his dog’s?<br />
6. What does Lennie’s fight with Curley show the ranch hands?<br />
7. What animals are used to describe both Lennie and Curley during the fight scene?<br />
8. How does Lennie stop Curley from hitting him? What happens to Curley as a result?<br />
9. Why does Curley agree to keep his mouth shut about the fight? What will he say instead?<br />
10. After the fight, what is Lennie worried about?<br />
Write a reflective essay on the “American Dream.” Compare the traditional meaning of the phrase with George and<br />
Lennie’s ideas. How do your prospects as a teenager in Northern California differ from George and Lenny’s childhood<br />
possibilities? To whom and what do you owe those privileges?<br />
Section Four<br />
1. Why is Crooks’ name appropriate?<br />
2. Why does Lennie go in Crook’s room?<br />
3. How does Lennie react when Crooks says that they’ll “take him to the booby hatch”?<br />
4. What does Crooks first think about George, Lennie, and Candy’s dream to get a ranch?<br />
5. What does Curley’s wife think of her husband? Give a couple quotes from the book to back up your explanation.<br />
6. Why is Curley’s wife so interested in the bruises on Lennie’s face?
7. How does Crooks get pulled into their dream of owning land? What does he want to do?<br />
8. How does Crooks react when Curley’s wife tells him to “shut his trap”?<br />
9. How does George feel about Lennie being in Crooks’ room telling him about their dream?<br />
Summarize the interchange between Curley’s Wife and Crooks – why does she choose Crooks as her target? Discuss<br />
segregation in relation to the American Dream – how are Crook’s prospects even more limited than George’s? Than<br />
Curley’s Wife? How close will these men ever come to their goals?<br />
Section Five<br />
1. How and why does Lennie kill his puppy? What does he do with it?<br />
2. In what way was Curley’s wife a dreamer as well? What became of her dream? In what way was it similar to<br />
George and Lennie’s dream of owning a ranch?<br />
3. How does Curley’s wife entire Lennie into touching her? What happens?<br />
4. Who discovers the body first? How does he react?<br />
5. How does George react when he is shown the body?<br />
6. Why couldn’t anyone hear when Curley’s wife and Lennie were in the barn? What were the rest of the men<br />
doing?<br />
7. How does Curley wan to punish Lennie after the body is discovered?<br />
8. Why is Candy upset at the end of the chapter?<br />
Write a reflective essay discussing what would happen if Lenny were caught. Could he expect compassion from these<br />
men? Why or why not? Is compassion something these men understand? If not, what has hardened them? Is the<br />
incident Lenny’s fault or Curley’s Wife or neither? Explain.<br />
Section Six<br />
1. Where does the action of this final chapter take place? How is the setting different from the opening?<br />
2. Who pops out of Lennie’s head? What do they say to him?<br />
3. Why does George say, “It don’t make no difference”?<br />
4. Why does Lennie need to hear the story about the dream again?<br />
5. Why does George want Lennie to know that he is not angry with him?<br />
6. How do you know it’s difficult for George to do what he has to do?<br />
7. What does Slim understand at the end that none of the others do?
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