Socratic Seminar Topics

For a homework grade, prepare your responses in writing with quotations. Groups will be assigned at random on the day of the seminar.

Round One
1. How does Steinbeck foreshadow the turn of events at the end of the novel—from the death of Curley’s wife to the shooting of Lennie? Is the foreshadowing skillful or heavy-handed? What does it add to the story? Explain, with examples and reasoning.

2. Steinbeck paints a vivid picture of George and Lennie’s dream through several—if sometimes incomplete—recitations of it. Analyze the content of this dream, discussing what it represents and how it contrasts with the lives they’ve lead. Is the dream ever truly within their grasp? How important is the ritual recitation of the dream versus its achievement?

3. Consider the allusion to Burns’s “To a Mouse” (see attached). How does Burns’s poem illuminate a central theme in Of Mice and Men? Do you find this theme to be realistic or pessimistic? How are we to respond to or integrate these ideas in our own lives?

Round Two
1. Are there questions that should be revisited from the first group?

2. Consider the role of gender in the novel. Curley’s wife is the only woman in the novel, and she is never given a name, nor ever presented as less than a threat. Much more, of course, can be said of her. Is Steinbeck’s portrayal of women problematic? Or, through his presentation of this character, is he making a point that is ultimately supportive of women? Explain.

3. Does Of Mice and Men have a place in the curriculum? Consider the grounds upon which the novel has been frequently challenged (see attached) and occasionally banned. On the other hand, many critics consider this one of the greatest works of short fiction of all time. How would you defend the book to those who would ban it from school curricula and libraries? Muster a strong, coherent argument grounded in the work’s larger purpose and value.