The Ultimate Of Mice and Men Quiz | Steinbeck, John

Answer: Robert Burns

John Steinbeck was inspired by a poem written in 1785 called 'To a Mouse' by Robert Burns, a Scottish poet. The verse that inspired the American writer was 'The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley'. The basic meaning of this verse was that whether you are a mouse or a man, your plans can often go wrong, which is what the story is partly about.

Answer: George & Lennie

The relationship between George and Lennie is very much like the one that the reader sees between Candy and his dog. The most obvious parallel would be the loyalty that Lennie shows George. This is because he idolises George, and will do anything that he is told to.

There is also the clear indication that they need one another for company and companionship as without each other, they have nobody.

Answer: Carlson

Lennie has the mentality of a child. In 1930s America, he would not be cared for the way that he would be today. Instead, with George's help, he had to live with his disability and try to live his life as normally as possible. Crooks and Candy both received their injuries at work, demonstrating the dangerous lifestyle that they live in. Candy only has one arm, and was compensated with 250 dollars, an important detail for later on in the novel when he meets Lennie and George. We are not told whether Crooks receives any compensation after being kicked in the back by a horse, leaving him permanently crippled, and can only assume that he does not because of his race.

His disability ensures that he is permanently working on the farm.

Answer: Ageism

Prejudice is a key theme in the novel, Candy suffers from prejudice because of his age, this is because he is fairly old and will not be useful any longer. Once this happens he will lose his job and be thrown out of the ranch. Curley's wife suffers from prejudice against her because of her gender.

She is the only woman on the ranch and is avoided by most of the ranch workers because she is a woman and they believe that she will get them into trouble simply because she dresses provocatively to get some much needed attention. Crooks is subject to much casual racism, demonstrating how, at the time, it was perfectly normal to discriminate on the grounds of skin colour.

Answer: Crooks

Crooks is alienated from the other ranch workers, with his own room, rather than sleeping in the bunkhouse. Although this means that he is able to own more personal belongings and has more space, it also means that he is unable to socialise with the other workers.

There is, however, evidence of an occasion when he is allowed to participate in activities with the men when he plays throwing horseshoes. He usually wins this game, which suggests the groups preconceptions of him are entirely false.

Answer: Loneliness

Soledad is not only the location of the ranch in the novel, or a place California, it is also Spanish for 'solitary'. John Steinbeck cleverly chose this location to demonstrate the key theme of loneliness. Many of the characters in the novel are isolated and lonely for some reason. George and Lennie travel together to combat this.

This is made evident at the beginning of the novel when George explains how 'Guys like us, that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world' to which Lennie replies 'But not us. And why. Because I got you to look after me and you got me to look after you'.

Answer: To escape ordinary life

The dreams that the characters have are a form of escapism, a way of leaving their bleak lives whenever they want to. This is made evident at the beginning of the novel when George and Lennie recite their dream, almost like a night time story rather than future plans. Curley's wife has a dream of becoming rich and famous, which is likely to never happen and therefore enables her to escape for a moment from her loveless and lonely life with Curley.

Answer: Candy's input

Several things prevented Lennie and George's dream from happening. Firstly, Lennie's fear of not being able to look after the rabbits lead him to panic in situations where he could get into trouble, such as with Curley's wife, when he doesn't want her to call out because George will be mad at him.

This leads him to break her neck. His misunderstanding of situations, linking with his mentality also cause problems for him and George. Finally, the inevitable failure that all of the other ranch workers are faced with also prevents them from succeeding. Candy's input doesn't prevent their dream from occurring, it actually makes it more possible, however, the reader soon realises that they are going to fail and realise that Candy's input simply makes failure even worse than it would have been before.

Answer: Slim

Slim is described in the novel as a character whose 'ear heard more than was said to him' showing how empathetic he is. He also happily speaks with Crooks and Curley's wife while offering support for George who is usually used to dealing with Lennie himself. Slim is one of the few causes of optimism in the novel.

Answer: George kills Lennie

George commits the ultimate act of friendship at the end of the novel, understanding that the best thing he can do is kill Lennie, who is otherwise looking at a bleak existence. Although it is a sad moment in the novel, it contains a hint of optimism - that a friendship like that could exist in such depressing and desperate times.