ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
How does an author’s diction determine how readers will view a character or a situation?
How do the seemingly small, insignificant moments or characters reinforce the overall meaning/theme of the text?
What is the relationship between man and nature? Between man and animal?
How does an author’s use of literary devices such as foreshadowing or symbolism help a reader understand a greater meaning within the text?
How can an author use a work of fiction to comment on societal concerns or controversies?
RESOURCES
CLICK HERE for some helpful in-class resources
BACKGROUND INFORMATION – 1930s America
Pantoum of the Great Depression by Donald Justice (poem)
Of Mice and Men – Historical Context
Big Rock Candy Mountain (folk song – audio)
Big Rock Candy Mountain (lyrics)
Dorothea Lange’s Great Depression Photography
FDR’s Presidential Address – September 6, 1936
John Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech – December 10, 1962
Article on Sexism in Of Mice and Men, by Leighton Meester (SPOILER ALERT)
BACK to English 10
Hopkinton High School English Department 