Of Mice and Men Test (85 points)
Spring 2008
I. Identification (2 points each/ 22 points total)
Tell to whom or what the underlined part of each statement refers.
1. “An’ he was so damn nice to me for pullin’ him out. Clean forgot I told him to jump in. Well, ain’t done nothing like that no more.”
2. “The way I’d shoot him, he wouldn’t feel nothing. I’d put the gun right there.”
3. “For a moment he continued to stare at the ceiling. Then he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent.”
4. “A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head. . .”
5. “And then from out of Lennie’s head there came a little fat old woman.”
6. “The next minute he was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand.”
7. “They left all the weak ones here. Think I don’t know where they all went? Even Curley. I know where they all went.”
8. “I don’t know why I can’t keep it. [. . . ] I didn’t steal it. I found it lyin’ right beside the road.”
9. “I want you to look around here. You can remember this place can’t you?
10. “A little stocky man stood in the doorway. [. . .] he wore high-heeled boots to prove he was not a laboring man.”
11. “They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head.”
II. Quote Identification (9 points each/ 36 points total)
Answer the questions that follow FOUR of the following quotes. Label each part of your answer (a,b,c. . .).
1. #1: “Now what do you suppose is eatin’ them two?”
#2: “You hadda, George. You just hadda.”
a. Who is speaking in the first quote? The second?
b. When? (Be as specific as you can.)
c. What fundamental difference between the two characters do these lines illustrate?
2. “[He] had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego – nothing to arouse either like or dislike. He said, “Yes, ma’am,” and his voice was toneless.”
a. Who does the quote describe?
b. To whom is he speaking?
c. Explain why this change in the character takes place.
3. “God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want.’
a. Who is speaking? To whom?
b. When does this conversation take place?
c. How does this conversation contribute to our understanding of the speaker’s relationship with the listener?
4. “Oh, I duno. Hardly none of the guys ever travel together. I hardly never seen two guys travel together. You know how the hands are, they just come in and get their bunk and work a month, and then they quit and go out alone. Never seem to give a damn about nobody.”
a. Who is speaking here? To whom?
b. How does the listener react?
c. Briefly explain how this quote contributes to one of the novel’s major themes.
5. “S’pose I went with you guys. Tha’s three hundred an’ fifty bucks I’d put in. I ain’t much good, but I could cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some. How’d that be?”
a. Who is speaking?
b. How does the listener react?
c. How does this quote (and the larger conversation of which it is a part) contribute to one of the novel’s main themes?
6. “ – I think I knowed from the very first. I think I knowed we’d never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would.’
a. Who’s speaking? To whom?
b. What has the speaker realized and why?
III. Short Answer (9 points each/ 27 points total)
Give a succinct but thorough answer (a solid paragraph or so) to THREE of the following questions.
3 – weak 6 – average 9 – strong
1. Explain how the novel illustrates the following statement: “Man’s ability to achieve his dream is directly attached to his having someone to share the dream with.”
2. The story begins and ends in the same place. Why is this significant and what other cyclical aspects are there to the novel?
3. How is the theme of power addressed in Of Mice and Men? (Who has power? Why? Who wants power?) Refer to at least two characters in your answer.
4. How does Of Mice and Men function as a microcosm? (Address at least three different characters in your answer.)
5. In November 1785, Scottish poet Robert Burns penned a poem called “To a Mouse.” He was a farmer as well as a poet, and he was ploughing a field in late autumn when he accidentally ploughed over the nest of a field mouse. The mouse would have survived the winter in this nest, but now it was going to die from the cold because there was neither the time nor the materials to make a new nest. Burns wrote the poem afterwards to apologize to the mouse. One stanza of the poem reads as follows:
‘But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [you are not alone]
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Gang aft agley [often go wrong]
And lea’e us nought but grief and pain
For promis’d joy.’
Why do you think Steinbeck chose words from this poem as the title for his novel?
BONUS:
a. What was Steinbeck’s original title for this novel? (2 points)
b. Explain how the original title applies to the content/ themes of the novel. (up to 3 points)
Name: ______Date: ______Period: _____
Of Mice and Men Test
I. Identification
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______
6. ______
7. ______
8. ______
9. ______
10. ______
11. ______
II. Quotes
# _____
______
# _____
______
# _____
______
# _____
______
III. Short Answer
# _____
______
______
# _____
______
______
# _____
______
______