Well, we may have finished the book, but there’s still
plenty left to consider and explore. Today, we’re going to delve into some of
the themes of the book; we’ll consider the different issues that Steinbeck
raises and we’ll try to figure out his message by considering the title and
where it came from.
Here's your work for the week beginning 15th June:
2)
Write a title: Themes and issues in Of
Mice and Men
3)
Write a sub-title: Interpreting the title: To a Mouse
Read
the following information and do the tasks below:
The title of the novella comes from a
famous poem by the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns. The poem is called ‘To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the
Plough’. It is about a
mouse which carefully builds a winter nest in a wheat field, only for it to be
destroyed by a ploughman. In the poem, the ploughman addresses the terrified
mouse. (According to Burns’s brother, Robert Burns really did destroy a mouse’s
nest and he composed the poem while still holding his plough!)
Read the poem
(which is written in a Scottish dialect) and a modern translation on the
document below. This document also has some questions on the poem that you should answer. You can download the doc
in either word or pdf format here: WORD | PDF
You will also find an audio recording of the poem on the video
below, so you can listen along as you
read.
Hopefully, you can now explain why the novella is called Of Mice and Men and offer an interpretation of what Steinbeck was trying to say.
If you still want more to do:
- If you haven't already, you can watch the excellent 1994 film version of Of Mice and Men on Clickview. You need to click this link and sign in using your school login details.
- You can have a look at the revision/extension tasks on this old blogpost.
That’s all for this week. Next time, we’ll be delving deeper
into one of the issues – and one of the characters - in the book.
Until then, stay safe,
THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
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