Write your own answer to the June 2011 Of Mice and Men Exam question using the plans you created in the lesson today and the structure which you learned in the lesson.
In this passage Steinbeck presents George and Lennie’s relationship as being a father and son relationship: “George why is it both ends the same” This implies here that Lennie is clearly dependent upon George's help as he is asking George why are " both ends the same" which has no answer but he is asking George on the basis that he believes that George should know everything which is similar to how a son views his father as this all mighty being with all the answers. In addition Steinbeck has added the syntax error to reinforce the feeling that Lennie is the son , the one prone to mistakes due to his lack of experience and therefore the reader gets the impression that George is the one with all the experience within the relationship. Similarly in the novel this dependent relationship is evident where at the start of the novel Lennie says: “Where we goin George” In this case Steinbeck shows once again Lennie’s constant dependence on George as he asks him where they are going blindly, assuming that George once again has all the answers. This therefore creates the impression that without Georges apparent knowledge Lennie is nothing without him. This incapability to do things for yourself was common during the 1930s as many people were in a situation whereby they had to rely on the government to provide for them as they had no actual clue on how to go about things most importantly put food on the table, similar to Lennie who relies on George to be his father his provider.
In addition Steinbeck also presents the relationship as quite destructive: “Lennie followed his words admiringly and moved his lips a little to keep up” This implies that Lennie follows every minor thing that George does regardless of whatever he is telling him. What makes the relation seem destructive is the way Steinbeck has shown Lennie to follow Georges words "admiringly" as if his words are special which indicates how highly Lennie seems to think of George's words which means that he will do whatever he can to obey the words even meaning he takes the words quite literally and to heart. This can also be seen when George explains to Lennie: “You do bad things and I got to get you out” Here Steinbeck shows their relationship as destructive in the sense that he has never let Lennie pay for his mistakes therefore he sees the things he does to get sacked as ok meaning he won’t hesitate to do it again as he has never faced any consequences because George has always got him out of trouble. The situation of George having to always move around due to Lennie’s misdemeanours was the typical life for itinerant workers as they can never stay in one place due to different circumstances.
However Steinbeck also presents the relationship as a necessity to George’s sanity and ultimately well being. “You remember Andy Cushman, Lennie? Went to grammar school?” This implies that Steinbeck shows that in a way George welcomes Lennie’s lack of memory as in the process of this lost memory he feels more useful in the sense that he is able to answer any Lennie’s question therefore settling his peace of mind. This control/possession George has over Lennie is further evident when he says that he doesn’t want Lennie to leave: “I want you to stay here with me” This sums up that George sees Lennie as his source of control and a possession he wants to keep as even though he raves about wishing Lennie wasn’t here with him the bottom line is George wants Lennie “to stay” here with him when George’s happiness to embrace Lennie’s absent memory to settle his peace of mind is similar to the masses of men during the great depression who could no longer provide for the family so in order to assert their dominance and the man of the house figure George has done this by attempting to show Lennie that he is on top of everything and ultimately knows all the answers so his lack of memory isn’t going to be a problem because he the breadwinner is there to answer all questions.
On the whole, this is an excellent response Samantha, well done. If you producecd this in the alloted time then you should be looking at a mark of around 27/30 (Band 6). I particularly like the point you make int he final paragraph where you hint at George enjoying Lennie's reliance on him. This is perhaps something you could have made more of throughout the essay.
Targets: 1) Don't allow sentences to become too long 2) Explain what is going in the novel for quotations which are not from the extract
In this passage Steinbeck presents George and Lennie’s relationship as being a father and son relationship:
ReplyDelete“George why is it both ends the same”
This implies here that Lennie is clearly dependent upon George's help as he is asking George why are " both ends the same" which has no answer but he is asking George on the basis that he believes that George should know everything which is similar to how a son views his father as this all mighty being with all the answers. In addition Steinbeck has added the syntax error to reinforce the feeling that Lennie is the son , the one prone to mistakes due to his lack of experience and therefore the reader gets the impression that George is the one with all the experience within the relationship. Similarly in the novel this dependent relationship is evident where at the start of the novel Lennie says:
“Where we goin George”
In this case Steinbeck shows once again Lennie’s constant dependence on George as he asks him where they are going blindly, assuming that George once again has all the answers. This therefore creates the impression that without Georges apparent knowledge Lennie is nothing without him. This incapability to do things for yourself was common during the 1930s as many people were in a situation whereby they had to rely on the government to provide for them as they had no actual clue on how to go about things most importantly put food on the table, similar to Lennie who relies on George to be his father his provider.
In addition Steinbeck also presents the relationship as quite destructive:
“Lennie followed his words admiringly and moved his lips a little to keep up”
This implies that Lennie follows every minor thing that George does regardless of whatever he is telling him. What makes the relation seem destructive is the way Steinbeck has shown Lennie to follow Georges words "admiringly" as if his words are special which indicates how highly Lennie seems to think of George's words which means that he will do whatever he can to obey the words even meaning he takes the words quite literally and to heart. This can also be seen when George explains to Lennie:
“You do bad things and I got to get you out”
Here Steinbeck shows their relationship as destructive in the sense that he has never let Lennie pay for his mistakes therefore he sees the things he does to get sacked as ok meaning he won’t hesitate to do it again as he has never faced any consequences because George has always got him out of trouble. The situation of George having to always move around due to Lennie’s misdemeanours was the typical life for itinerant workers as they can never stay in one place due to different circumstances.
However Steinbeck also presents the relationship as a necessity to George’s sanity and ultimately well being.
“You remember Andy Cushman, Lennie? Went to grammar school?”
This implies that Steinbeck shows that in a way George welcomes Lennie’s lack of memory as in the process of this lost memory he feels more useful in the sense that he is able to answer any Lennie’s question therefore settling his peace of mind. This control/possession George has over Lennie is further evident when he says that he doesn’t want Lennie to leave:
“I want you to stay here with me”
This sums up that George sees Lennie as his source of control and a possession he wants to keep as even though he raves about wishing Lennie wasn’t here with him the bottom line is George wants Lennie “to stay” here with him when George’s happiness to embrace Lennie’s absent memory to settle his peace of mind is similar to the masses of men during the great depression who could no longer provide for the family so in order to assert their dominance and the man of the house figure George has done this by attempting to show Lennie that he is on top of everything and ultimately knows all the answers so his lack of memory isn’t going to be a problem because he the breadwinner is there to answer all questions.
On the whole, this is an excellent response Samantha, well done. If you producecd this in the alloted time then you should be looking at a mark of around 27/30 (Band 6). I particularly like the point you make int he final paragraph where you hint at George enjoying Lennie's reliance on him. This is perhaps something you could have made more of throughout the essay.
ReplyDeleteTargets:
1) Don't allow sentences to become too long
2) Explain what is going in the novel for quotations which are not from the extract