Of Mice and Men Chapter 3 Jigsaw
Directions: Chapter 3 in this novel is extremely important. It has huge implications for the plot of the novel, and from this point on, the story will move extremely quickly. The chapter is heavy with symbolism, foreshadowing, imagery, and thematic elements. You are in a group of three or four people. Each group will be creating a visual representation of the symbolism, foreshadowing, imagery and the thematic elements found in Chapter 3 using the prompts below. From the art cabinet (the cabinet next to the skinny one with only one door), please take a large piece of construction paper. Cut your construction paper into the shape of four jigsaw puzzle pieces.
Piece # 1:
Found Poem: Steinbeck uses such beautiful diction (word choice) in his novel of Mice and Men. The following quote is taken from Chapter 3. The silence plays a large role in setting the mood of this scene. Using a minimum of three phrases from this quote, create a poem of your own. Your poem does not have to rhyme or have a formal structure, but should contain some of your own words and be at least 8 lines long or more. Your poem should reflect the novel and/or silence found in the novel. One piece of your jigsaw will be your found poem.
“His voice trailed off. It was silent outside. Carlson’s footsteps died away. The silence came into the room. And the silence lasted… It came out of the night and invaded the room… They took places opposite each other at the table under the light, but George did not shuffle the cards. He rippled the edge of the deck nervously, and the little snapping noise drew the eyes of all the men in the room, so that he stopped doing it. The silence fell on the room again. A minute passed, and another minute… There came a little gnawing sound from under the floor and all the men looked down toward it gratefully… A shot sounded in the distance. The men looked quickly at the old man. Every head turned toward him. For a moment he continued to stare at the ceiling. Then he rolled slowly over and faced the wall and lay silent. George shuffled the cards noisily and dealt them.”
Piece 2:
Find all the symbolic objects/people/events that you can from this chapter. Cover one side of the second piece of the jigsaw with pictures you have printed, or have hand drawn pictures of those symbols. On the other side of the piece, write explanations for the symbols found in the chapter.This will be the second piece of your jigsaw.
Piece 3:
On your third piece, discuss how the following topical themes are represented in this chapter: friendship, loneliness, the American Dream or failure of said dream, people who are ostracized from society. You should cover the piece with writing about each of these thematic topics including a working theme statement about each one.This will be the third piece of your jigsaw.
Piece 4:
Choose the scene that your group feels gives the strongest example of foreshadowing in this chapter. Artistically, recreate this scene on your fourth jigsaw piece. On the back of the piece, explain what the scene could foreshadow.You have some creative leeway as to how you want to do this; perhaps, you want to try your hand at impressionism, perhaps you are a gifted animator, perhaps there is another technique that you are interested in trying or that you are a pro at. All of those things are fair game as long as your representation is an accurate interpretation of the scene you have chosen! The more creative you are, the more kudos you will get from me!This will be the fourth piece of your jigsaw puzzle.
When you are finished creating your pieces, attach them together to create a large puzzle.