Of Mice and Men Essay Topics

The following is a list of potential topics for the essay that you will write about Of Mice and Men, beginning today. You will write a well-thought out essay answering ALL parts of the prompt that you choose.

 You only will choose one of the five prompts.

 When you write your essay, you should brainstorm first to get your ideas down then begin writing.

 Your final essay should be typed and is due on Thursday, 1/15/15! Make sure that it is clear which topic your essay is on by writing it in the title.

 Although you will have extra days to write the essay at home, you will not be guaranteed time in class to write your essay.

 Your essay should be citing evidence from the text to support your thinking/answer to the question(s) (use the book!) and you should explain how your evidence proves the answers you claim. (Remember, you can use your Literary Analysis notes)

 Your essay should have an introduction, body paragraph(s), and a short conclusion.

______

1. Dreams: What is the importance of dreams in Of Mice and Men? What role do they play in people’s lives? How do people use dreams, and how to various characters’ dreams affect them?

2. Friendship: How does Steinbeck portray friendship in Of Mice and Men? How does its presence or absence affect different characters, in their actions and in their relationships? What does it require of people, and what does it offer them in return?

3. Loneliness: Many of the characters in Of Mice and Men seem lonely. Why are various characters lonely, and how does it affect them?

4. Power: Think about different characters in Of Mice and Men, and the power that they have. What different kinds of power do different characters have? Where does it come from? What do they do with it? How does it help them, or hurt them?

5. Foreshadowing: Consider the many examples of foreshadowing in Of Mice and Men. What important actions and plot points are foreshadowed? How do these important events differ from the events that foreshadow them? How does foreshadowing help us understand the important turning points in the novella?