Questions: Chapter 3

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In Chapter 2, George and Lennie arrive at the ranch and we meet most of the other main characters. It is important to note what our impressions are of these characters (the impressions Steinbeck is creating) when we first meet them.

For each of the characters listed below, I would like you to explain:

• Your impressions of him/her (how do you feel about this person? What do you think? Describe him/her physically and his/her personality)
• Provide details from the book that create these impressions

If you wish, create a 3 column chart and fill in those two topics as columns for each character. These do not necessarily have to be in complete sentences, but they need to be explained well with good supporting details.

Characters:

• Candy
• The Boss
• Curley
• Curley’s Wife
• Slim
• Carlson

To infer:

1. in·fer

   inˈfər/

   verb

   gerund or present participle: inferring

   1. deduce or conclude (information) from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements

As we’re just finishing up Chapter Two…respond to the following question.  “If you were to empty either George or Lennie’s pockets at this point…what are three items that you would likely find?   Explain how these three items reflect that character’s personality.

Chapter 2 questions: Chapter 2

Write a reading response journal for chapter 1. Your journal should be no shorter than 150-200 words in length.

Here are some suggestions for what you can write in your journal:

• Give your reaction to the story up to this point. What do you find most interesting? Why?
• Describe something important you have learned so far about George, Lennie, or about their relationship.
• Predict what will happen to George and Lennie or how the story might develop from here. Explain your predictions. If you’ve read ahead or if you already know what happens DO NOT USE THIS IDEA!
• Can you see any important ideas or themes already emerging from this story?
• How do you feel about these characters or this story? Does it remind you of anyone/anything? Do you like the characters? Feel anything when reading?

No matter what you choose, the important part of your response is YOUR ideas, reactions, thoughts, feelings, etc. Yes, I do want details from the book, but it’s more important to me that you explain how you feel and what you think.

As always, this must be done in complete sentences, with capital letters and punctuation. If those are missing, it won’t be accepted until you revise.

To tie into our previous discussion about The Great Depression & The Dirty Thirties: The Great Depression in Canada

And a little bit of background information about the novel: Of Mice and Men Background Information

Before we kick into our novel study, here are a few things to review:

1) Point of View:

• Watch this video.
• Fill in the lyrics: 01_point-of-view-lyrics

2) Check out this story

3) Rewrite it from a different point of view! 04_point-of-view-activities

4) Review the 5 elements of a story

• Watch this video
• Fill in the lyrics: 05_fivethings-lyrics
• Fill in this chart: 07_fivethings-exercises

The final step in our look at the Dust Bowl/California migration of the 1930s is to put together the sources and information that we’ve looked at so far and show your understanding of the people, places, time, and issues, along with a healthy dose of creativity and ambition.

You must reference/include AT LEAST one audio file (looked at last time.) This will help you to understand/create a character. You must show an understanding of what was discussed in the file and an awareness of how these people spoke and what they were thinking. You need to include your detailed SUMMARY of your file, as well as a completed Primary Source Analysis sheet (or similar chart/document).

You must reference/include AT LEAST 5 photographs. These help illustrate the place and time you are describing. You need to look at/think about these photos and come up with an explanation of what’s going on in the photos, and how they connect to the character in/from the audio file.

Using this information and these sources, you need to write something from the perspective of or about a character who has moved to California from the Oklahoma area dust bowl of the 1930s. It needs to show a good understanding of the person’s history, current way of life, experiences, and feelings. You need to write as if a person from this time and place is speaking, so try to use the same style of speaking and the same types of words that these people used.

You’ll need to be creative and add in thoughts and ideas of your own, but they must fit in with the research/analysis that you’ve done.

For this, you can create:

• a scrapbook
• a journal/diary
• a magazine/newspaper story
• a series of letters back and forth
• a lengthy, detailed obituary with quotes
• a documentary video or audio recording
• an original interview (written or recorded)
• a fictional story (with good details and dialogue)

*other ideas are possible, but MUST BE APPROVED before beginning. If you start on something unapproved, you will have to do this again using an approved topic. No exceptions.

You will be marked on:

• historical accuracy
• accurate reflection of speech/people in this time & place
• insights into / analysis of historical sources
• creativity
• overall effort
• neatness/format

All sources consulted must be documented and included.

If you have questions, ASK!

Once you’ve spent some time analyzing a photograph (see previous post), you should now turn to listening to voices of people from the era and time we are examining.

Once again, we should be making notes and analyzing what we’re hearing (or seeing, in the case of a video) by using a tool such as this one: Primary Source Audio Analysis

Go to the American Library of Congress Collection of audio recordings from the time or of people recalling the time. You will want to skip a few pages, until you’re at items 172-204.

A first good step is to SUMMARIZE the recording:

Interview about life in Oklahoma and how and why Tom Higginbotham came to California (part 1 of 2)

Interview about life in Oklahoma and how and why Tom Higginbotham came to California (part 2 of 2)

Your task will be to use one of these recordings to create something dealing with or from the perspective of the person in the recording. The links above are for practice, but should give you a good idea of the material we’re working with.

Gather examples of “voices” of migrant workers from various kinds of sources:

• literature;
• folk music;
• sound recordings, and
• other documentary evidence collected by folklorists about Depression-era migrant workers.

Select snippets of language using any of the following three criteria. The way that the migrant workers use language is different than the speech of today. For example, the speaker:

• uses words or phrases that we no longer use;
• uses words or phrases we no longer use in the same way, and
• uses sentence structure different than what we are accustomed to.

Trust your ears in identifying variations in language usage. You might wish to choose examples of language that:

• seems to capture the feelings of the workers, and/or seems to refer to issues they think are important, and
• is interesting, and captures the attention of the reader or listener.