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Hello Year 11 I'm going to put key resources up here for you, notes on your texts and links to websites that help with revision. Hope you find it useful and that it means you have backs as healthy and ears as happy as this puppy....

If we were honest, though, particularly near the beginning, most of us would have admitted missing the guardians. […] But this was one thing we'd been told over and over: that after Hailsham there'd be no more guardians, so we'd have to look after each other. (10.7) The woods were at the top of the hill that rose behind Hailsham House. All we could see really was a dark fringe of trees, but I certainly wasn't the only one of my age to feel their presence day and night. (5.4) Of course, in practice, especially during the first months, we rarely stepped beyond the confines of the Cottages. We didn't even walk about the surrounding countryside or wander into the nearby village. I don't think we were afraid exactly. (10.9) But I do like the feeling of getting into my little car, knowing for the next couple of hours I'll have only the roads, the big grey sky and my daydreams for company. (18.5) I thought about Hailsham closing, and how it was like som...

Ruth never even tries to work in an office. "It's funny," I said, "remembering it all now. Remember how you used to go on about it? How you'd one day work in an office like that one?" […] "Don't you sometimes think," I said to Ruth, "you should have looked into it more? All right, you'd have been the first. The first one any of us would have heard of getting to do something like that. But you might have done it. Don't you wonder sometimes, what might have happened if you'd tried?" "How could I have tried?" Ruth's voice was hardly audible. "It's just something I once dreamt about. That's all." (19.90, 92-93) The Hailsham students are just pawns "I can see," Miss Emily said, "that it might look as though you were simply pawns in a game. It can certainly be looked at like that. But think of it. You were lucky pawns. There was a certain climate and now it's go...

A great revision exercise is to make plans for the following past exam questions. Start with the one that you would find the hardest! 1. To what extent can you blame Curley’s wife for the tragic events of the novel? 2. How does John Steinbeck present the theme of loneliness in Of Mice and Men? 3. Which character do you believe to be the greatest victim in Of Mice and Men? 4. How is the character of Slim important to the novel as a whole? 5. The title Of Mice and Men refers to how plans and dreams often go wrong. To what extent do you find it an effective title for the novel? 6.  What do you think of Curley and the way he is presented in the novel? 7. “The world of Of Mice and Men is a world of harshness and violence.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?  8.  How does John Steinbeck present the relationship between George and Lennie throughout the novel?

Essay writing tips: An Inspector Calls Example question: How effective is the ending of An Inspector Calls? A helpful paragraph structure is: Opening Sentence: 1. What technique is being used? + Why?                                                                            The writer Priestley uses characterisation -           stage directions -           dramatic irony -           contrast -         ...

http://awesomebunnies.tumblr.com/ "I remember about the rabbits, George." "The hell with the rabbits. That's all you can ever remember is them rabbits." (1.18-19) Rabbits encapsulate hope for Lennie. Rabbits represent what the American dream is for him.  On one level this shows how small-minded Lennie is (Lennie Small), but there is a deep sense of pathos as well. Lennie represents 'inarticulate and powerful yearnings of all men'. 

The American Dream The Dream is a central motif in Of Mice and Men - but it is treated quite ambiguously by Steinbeck.  On the one hand, it brings tremendous comfort and a sense of hope for the future. On the other hand, it stops the characters from really living their actual lives, as they are deluded into thinking that they could be film stars, or ranch owners.  'Is it better to have no dreams at all than to have dreams that never come true?' is a question that puzzles the reader as we read Of Mice and Men. It's not a question that Steinbeck himself answers directly, but there are several hints as to what he might answer.  1. The American Dream is a delusion and founded on false premises* …If I was bright, if I was even a little bit smart, I'd have my own little place, an' I'd be bringin' in my own crops, 'stead of doin' all the work and not getting what comes up outa the ground." (3.11) (George) Here George implies that if he w...

Want to be the kind of famous where you get your books banned and win a Nobel prize for Literature? Well, you could try writing a novel like Of Mice and Men , because that's exactly what happened to Steinbeck. When it was published Of Mice and Men horrified some readers because of its racism, sexism, and unapologetic and uncensored description of a lifestyle that involves brothels, swearing, and killing. At the same time it impressed and moved critics with its grit and realism. Of Mice and Men has been studied by countless GCSE candidates but it's much more than an easy ticket to an English GCSE. From its publication in 1937 to today it remains a risky, modern and deeply uncomfortable novel. The style of writing may kid you into thinking it's simple but it's not. We're in trouble, Of Mice and Men , claims.  Our ideas of happiness are messed up - or if they're not - then we're never going to be happy anyway. People are cruel and selfish and that do...

…he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsman. He was a jerkline skinner, the prince of the ranch, capable of driving ten, sixteen, even twenty mules with a single line to the leaders. He was capable of killing a fly on the wheeler's butt with a bull whip without touching the mule. There was a gravity in his manner and a quiet so profound that all talk stopped when he spoke, his authority was so great that his word was taken on any subject, be it politics or love. This was Slim, the jerkline skinner. (2.170) Slim is so different and distinct from all the other characters in Of Mice and Men that the narrative style itself changes when he is introduced. This is the only moment where Steinbeck gets a bit carried away - his normal terse and understated writing style gives way to metaphor and hyperbole. Why? - Slim could be seen as the idealised man - the highest point of the evolutionary scale. Is he the one whiff of hope in the novel (think about...

"Lennie does not represent insanity but the inarticulate and powerful yearnings of all men, " Steinbeck wrote in a letter to a friend. In other words - there is more to Lennie than meets the eye. He  may seem stupid and idiotic- but Steinbeck wants us to realise that we are all like Lennie. This quote also suggests that Lennie's ultimate strength may not even be physical, even though that is what leads to his death. Lennie's bigger problem - you could argue - is that he experiences strong emotions that he doesn't know how to express - "powerful yearning..." Lennie went back and looked at the dead girl. The puppy lay close to her. Lennie picked it up. "I'll throw him away," he said. "It's bad enough like it is." (5.59) Lennie looked sadly up at him. "They was so little," he said apologetically. "I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then ...