Life

Of Mice and Men Pre-Reading Questions

  1. What does it mean to “work the land”?

  2. Do you have certain times and places when you feel “close to the land”? Discuss.

  3. How important is it going to be for you to have a place you can call your own some day?

  4. Do you feel that you have your own place today? Where/what is it? How do you feel about it?

  5. How important will it be to have a piece of land?

  6. What are some reasons people have for living a life of “wandering”?

  7. What are migrant workers? (Use prior knowledge, perhaps from your history class, to answer this question)

  8. How have they been mistreated?

  9. What laws do we have today to protect the rights of migrant workers and their children?

  10. Have you ever known a retarded adult? What problems do they face?

Of Mice and Men Introductory Notes

Relatively unknown before the publication of this novel, John Steinbeck quickly began a public figure. First published in February 1937, the book sold 117,000 copies in less than one month. Steinbeck’s shyness and need for privacy made the spotlight of the literary circle somewhat difficult for him. Tired of the constant social gatherings in his honor, Steinbeck finally got away for a well-earned holiday in Europe. There he included this in one of his letters: “I just need to get away from being John Steinbeck for a little while”.

Steinbeck became a Nobel Prize winner a few years before his death in 1968. Since its publication, over fifty years ago, Of Mice and Men has become a permanent fixture of American literature.

Setting:
South of San Francisco in the Salinas Valley of California; during the Depression of the 1930s; three specific locations – along the banks of the Salinas River near the ranch, in the ranch bunk house, and in the barn.

Background:
George Milton has cared for his slow (and presumably mentally retarded) friend, Lennie Small, since the death of Lennie’s Aunt Clara. They...