Why ‘Of Mice and Men’?

Of Mice and Men (OMAM) is a somewhat abstract title for a quite straightforward novella. Duly pessimistic, Steinbeck examines the dehumanising apparatus of a society that asks people to ‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps,’ a sentiment as ideologically uncharitable as it is physically impossible.

Perhaps the best way to approach Of Mice and Men, for IGCSE students and in general, is to understand the origin of the title. The title is an allusion to a poem by Robert Burns written in 18th-century Scots dialect:

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,

In proving foresight may be vain;

The best-laid schemes o'mice an 'men

Gang aft agley,

An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,

For promis'd joy!

This stanza communicates that the plans “o’mice an men” lack any instructive foresight and are doomed to conclude in “grief an’ pain” rather than “promis’d joy.” This sentiment is a descriptive prophecy for the lives of the protagonists in the novella, whose plans to own a farm and live off the “fatta the land” end in desperation and death.

Sample ‘Of Mice and Men’ IGCSE English question

IGCSE questions tend to focus on specific themes in their enquiries. Commonly examined themes in OMAM are death, loneliness, injustice, companionship, and dreams. In our example below, we consider the IGCSE question: how does Steinbeck explore the theme of death in Of Mice and Men?

The question invites the candidate to discuss the significance of death. It should be understood that this theme not only pertains to physical deaths within the text but also death in a more esoteric or abstract sense. Candidates may explore the death of a dream, an ideology, or an ambition. Furthermore, a sophisticated response should include discussion about how death itself structures the novella and its overall formal importance to the text.

As well as demonstrating a nuanced understanding of the theme within the text and close textual analysis of its occurrence, high scorers will also be expected to have a considered and imaginative approach to the prompt.

Weaker IGCSE English response on ‘Of Mice and Men’

Below is an example of a response that a weaker IGCSE student may produce:

Of Mice and Men is a book about some men and not many mice. Death is presented in the text when characters die, for example, Curley’s wife, Lenny and a dog dies. These deaths are shown to be very sad and heartbreaking which can be seen in George’s hesitation to kill his friend “George raised the gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again”. Mice and Men was written in 1937, a time period in which the Great Depression caused a lot of suffering and might have made a lot of people feel like they wanted to die.

Why is this response considered weak for IGCSE English?

There are a few problems evident in this paragraph. First of all, the candidate does not engage in much in-depth analysis. The deaths of significant characters are dismissed in a flippant list and the only quotation used is not subjected to closer scrutiny; IGCSE examiners are looking for students who are able to pay close attention to language. Another area for improvement is the general tone and academic rigour: examiners will not be impressed with colloquial language and inconsistent spelling of the title in this response. Finally, the context drawn upon in the closing sentence is only tangentially relevant to the discussion of the theme. Any discussion of context should be closely related to the textual analysis.

Improved ‘Of Mice and Men’ response

A stronger paragraph might look more like this:

Of Mice and Men is a novella in the form of a tragedy, and a tragedy must end with death. Lennie can be seen as the tragic protagonist of the text, and has a fatal flaw that leads to his ultimate demise. His fatal flaw is his inability to control himself and conduct himself in an appropriate manner, which leads to the murder of Curley’s wife: “he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish”. This flaw is established in the opening of the novella, when Lennie accidentally kills a mouse. As the tragic protagonist, Lennie’s death is fated and made inevitable by the content of his character. Steinbeck’s tragic characters are interesting because it seems their flaws are not their own fault. Lennie cannot control his strength due to his atypical neurology and not because he is a violent aggressor. Perhaps Steinbeck wished to criticise the American social structure, and how it did not have any accommodations for the most vulnerable, leaving them to suffer and ultimately die.

Have a think about why this response is stronger than the previous example, and whether this is the kind of analysis you would be able to produce independently. Check out our website here for more information on our IGCSE English Literature tutoring programmes. If you would like personalised support on Of Mice and Men or IGCSE English in general, feel free to reach out to us anytime.