Essay Questions:

Your test will consist of writing 2 Riveroll body paragraphs. You must have quotes! Each
body paragraphs requires you to have 2 quotes, so you need 4 quotes in total.

1. Compare and contrast the pros and cons of George’s decision to kills Lennie. In your
final sentence or paragraph, explain whether or not George made the right choice.

2. Think about what it means to care for someone. Do you think George’s decision to
shoot Lennie showed that he cared for him? What predictions can you make about
George’s future? How will he feel about his decision in five years?

3. Throughout the story, George and Lennie talk about getting their own place…with
rabbits. This image made such an impact on Lennie, he envisioned a rabbit talking to
him as he waited for George on the bank. What was important or symbolic about rabbits
in this novel?

4. Many people in the novel suffer from disappointment. Choose any three of the
following characters and discuss what reasons they have to be disappointed about their
lives: Crooks, Curley, George, Candy, and Curley’s wife.

5. Using the two main characters (George and Lennie), which do you think represents the
mouse and which represents the man? What other significant meaning(s) might the title
symbolize?

6. Do you think people like Crooks and Lennie are treated the same way in today’s
society as they were in the novel? Do you think that Lennie would have suffered the
same consequences in today’s world?

7. What is the connection between Carlson shooting Candy’s dog and George shooting
Lennie? Do you think it was right of both men to make the decision to kill?

8. Would you be able to marry someone you didn’t truly love, like Curley’s wife decided
to do? Why was this choice a viable option for her?

9. If you had a gut instinct that a man was guilty of a horrific crime, but you didn’t have
time for a full inquiry, would you call for vigilante justice? Why was immediate justice
with minor investigation such a crucial part of life on the ranch?

10. Compare George’s reaction to and assessment of Curley’s wife to Curley’s reaction
and assessment. Explain how they differed. Was she responsible for her own fate, or was
she a victim of the men’s decisions and actions?