Of Mice and Men - Extract 2
This Literature quiz is called 'Of Mice and Men - Extract 2' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at senior high school. Playing educational quizzes is one of the most efficienct ways to learn if you are in the 11th or 12th grade - aged 16 to 18.
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This senior high school English Literature quiz is the second of two extract questions for Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Curley’s wife discovers Lennie alone in the barn while the rest of the men are busily engaged in a horseshoe throwing tournament. Only these two characters are present and their quiet conversation leads quickly to the most devastating events in the novel.
In a case of tragic irony, by choosing a time when she and Lennie were unlikely to be interrupted in the barn, Curley’s wife has no chance of being rescued from Lennie’s overwhelming strength. Pay close attention to the shifts in this passage, both characters change tone as they manage to evoke unexpected emotions in one another. Remember to read the passage through more than once before answering the questions. Consider how this passage relates to the themes of the novel. Which details are the most significant? Can you account for the language choices?
What does the conversation tell us about each of these characters and their inner lives? And remember, it’s a good idea to practice several extract questions, so be sure to try the Extract 1 quiz, as well!
How to answer an extract question in an exam:
When answering an extract question in an exam be sure to read the passage through more than once as you consider your response. The first time you can aim for a broad understanding of the passage and how you might use it to answer the questions. On the second reading you can begin noting details and making annotations. It can be useful to ask yourself why the specific passage has been chosen. How does it relate to the rest of the text? Pay attention to its place in the structure of the text. Are any significant characters or significant themes introduced? What happens afterwards? Does anything in the passage foreshadow later events? What changes? Also consider the ending of the extract: why do you think it ends where it does instead of somewhere else? What is significant about the final line?
Pay very close attention to the exact question being asked. You might be asked to write about mood, atmosphere, or a particular character. You might be asked to discuss dialog, behavior or feelings. Always explain the passage’s immediate context: what events precede the extract? Pay close attention to the detail, to setting and characterisation. Think about how the passage relates to the themes of the text. Try to balance organization, such as grouping related ideas together in your writing, with thoroughness, by being sure to discuss the entire passage. Above all, avoid writing about the first half of the passage in such detail that you run out of time to write about the second half!
Read the extract from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck below carefully before answering the questions.
In a panic, he shoveled hay over the puppy with his fingers. He looked sullenly at her.
She said, “What you got there, sonny boy?”
Lennie glared at her. “George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you — talk to you or nothing.”
She laughed. “George giving you orders about everything?”
Lennie looked down at the hay. “Says I can’t tend no rabbits if I talk to you or anything.”
She said quietly. “He’s scared Curley’ll get mad. Well, Curley got his arm in a sling — an’ if Curley gets tough, you can break his other han’. You didn’t put nothing over on me about gettin’ it caught in no machine.”
But Lennie was not to be drawn. “No, sir. I ain’t gonna talk to you or nothing.”
She knelt in the hay beside him. “Listen,” she said. “All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin’ on. It’s on’y about four o’clock. None of them guys is goin’ to leave that tenement. Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.”
Lennie said, “Well, I ain’t supposed to talk to you or nothing.”
“I get lonely,” she said. “You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like not to talk to anybody?”
Lennie said, “Well, I ain’t supposed to. George’s scared I’ll get in trouble.”
She changed the subject. “What you got covered up there?”
Then all of Lennie’s woe came back on him. “Jus’ my pup,” he said sadly. “Jus’ my little pup.” And he swept the hay from on top of it.
“Why, he’s dead,” she cried.
“He was so little,” said Lennie. “I was jus’ playin’ with him…an’ he made like he’s gonna bite me…an’ I made like I was gonna smack him…an’…an’ I done it. An’ then he was dead.”
She consoled him. “Don’t you worry none. He was jus’ a mutt. You can get another one easy. The whole country is fulla mutts.”
“It ain’t that so much,” Lennie explained miserably. “George ain’t gonna let me tend no rabbits now.”
“Why don’t he?”
“Well, he said if I done any more bad things he ain’t gonna let me tend the rabbits.”
She moved closer to him and she spoke soothingly. “Don’t you worry about talkin’ to me. Listen to the guys yell out there. They got four dollars bet in that tenement. None of them ain’t gonna leave till it’s over.”
John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men (Penguin, 1994)
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