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How much do you know about Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck?
Of Mice and Men - Context
This GCSE English Literature quiz will challenge you on context in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.
Context means the environment in which a text is written. This makes context in many ways very similar to setting. You might like to think of context as the author’s setting. Social issues, geographical location and political events together create the context of any particular text. Sometime issues and events from the author’s recent past have as much effect on a text as those which occurred nearer to the time of writing. Context also includes any personal beliefs of the author which help to shape the work.
How to write about context
Understanding the context of a fictional work is important because of the effects which this has on the meaning of text. The relationship between text and context is not always straightforward, however.
1.
What does the bindle signify?
Poverty
Homelessness
Frequent unemployment
All of the above
George and Lennie have few possessions and no home; they carry all of their possessions in their bindles. At the beginning of the novel, George takes their supper, three tins of beans, out of his bindle
2.
The title of the novel is taken from a poem by Robert Burns which includes these lines: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang oft a-gley." How are these lines relevant to the novel?
When their dream seems finally within reach, everything falls apart for Lennie and George
Lennie and George do not plan well, unlike the "mice and men" of Burns's poem
If Lennie and George had been better workers, they would already have bought their own land
If Lennie and George had been more careful with their money, they would already have bought their own land
Their impossible dream has only just become a concrete and achievable possibility when Lennie's killing of Curley's wife makes it once again impossible. "A-gley" means "awry"
3.
George and Lennie carry their "bindles" with them. What is a "bindle"?
A sack or bundle
A suitcase
A box
A trunk
A bindle, or bundle of belongings, is often pictured being carried over the shoulder tied to a staff. George and Lennie are described as carrying their blanket rolls "slung over their shoulders"
4.
What effect did the "Dust Bowl" have on 1930s California?
California's rich agricultural land was slowly eroded and impoverished during the long drought
A severe drought in California led to a shortage of agricultural labour in the state
A severe drought in the southwest caused an influx of migrants into the state
The Dust Bowl had no effect on California; its effects were confined to Oklahoma
Driven from home by an extended drought, these migrants hoped, like Lennie and George, for agricultural work and eventually land and new homes of their own. As in the novel, this dream had very little chance of coming true
5.
In the novel, California's rich and productive agricultural land provides a stark contrast with which of the following?
The impoverishment of the owners of the land
The impoverished lives and circumstances of those who work the land
The impoverishment of the bosses
The impoverishment of those working in factories and other industries
The wealth of the land belongs to the owners; very little is shared with the workers who plant, tend and harvest crops
6.
What are itinerant labourers?
Workers who have several part-time jobs at the same time
Illegal immigrants
Self-employed workers
Workers who must move from one job to another
Itinerant labourers must move from place to place in search of seasonal work such as the agricultural jobs upon which Lennie and George survive. Such work is by its nature extremely insecure
7.
What event took place on 29th October 1929?
The sinking of the Lusitania
The bombing of Pearl Harbour
The assassination of William McKinley
The Wall Street Crash
The stock market crash on Wall Street marks the beginning of the Great Depression, magnifying the long-running labour problems in California
8.
When was Of Mice and Men first published?
1927
1937
1947
1957
Of Mice and Men is set in the same decade in which it was written and deals with the social and economic issues facing its contemporary audience
9.
Who is the victim of the racist attitudes prevalent in the United States at the time the novel was written?
Crooks
Candy
Curley's wife
Lennie
Crooks is excluded from the company of the other men because of their ingrained racist views. California had a long history of racist laws and an unofficial racial segregation prevails on the ranch
10.
Where was John Steinbeck born?
New York
Oklahoma
California
Mississippi
Steinbeck grew up in California and set Of Mice and Men in an environment very familiar to him (he was, in fact, born in Salinas)
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