OF MICE AND MEN

L.O To understand how the status of characters varies in the novel.

Use the cards to rank who has the most power and the least power on the ranch. The person with the most power should be at the top. The person with the least amount of power should be at the bottom. Provide reasons for why he / she should have that ranking.

The social hierarchy

“They left all the weak ones here”

Who are “the weak ones”?

•List the characters that Curley's wife is referring to when she makes this statement.

•In what way are these characters weak?

•Find a quote to support each answer.

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, or ‘survival of the fittest’ promoted the idea that individuals having any advantage over others, however slight, ‘would have the best chance of surviving and of procreating their kind’.

Survival of the fittest.

•In Darwin's theory the weak ones will die in order to protect the future of the species.

•Where would disabled people fit into this?

•Who is disabled in the novel?

Will the fittest survive?

Past question (Summer 2010)

•(c) A critic said about Of Mice and Men: “the characters are powerless.” Do you agree? Give reasons to support your opinions. [20]

•Plan a response to this question.