Senior Library Books
Resource Key
LEVEL 1
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Key Terms
- Disability A disability is any continuing condition that restricts everyday activities. The Disability Services Act (1993) defines ‘disability’ as meaning a disability: which is attributable to an intellectual, psychiatric, cognitive, neurological, sensory or physical impairment or a combination of those impairments which is permanent or likely to be permanent which may or may not be of a chronic or episodic nature which results in substantially reduced capacity of the person for communication, social interaction, learning or mobility and a need for continuing support services. With the assistance of appropriate aids and services, the restrictions experienced by many people with a disability may be overcome.
- 1930s Even to mention the 1930s is to evoke the period when human civilisation entered its darkest, bloodiest chapter. No case needs to be argued; just to name the decade is enough. It is a byword for mass poverty, violent extremism and the gathering storm of world war. “The 1930s” is not so much a label for a period of time than it is rhetorical shorthand – a two-word warning from history.
- The Great Depression The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep declines in industrial output and employment as failing companies laid off workers
Databases
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Scholarly resources on JSTOR include Archival and Current Journals, Books, and Primary Sources.
- World Book Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window
Online version of the complete reference work along with dictionary, atlas, links, magazines, historical documents, audio, video, images, and 3D photograph
Spark Notes - Of Mice and Men
- Spark Notes.. (2019). Of Mice and Men. Retrieved from https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/micemen/Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis.
Schmoop Of Mice and Men
Shmoop. (n.d.) Of Mice and Men Summary. Retrieved from https://www.shmoop.com/of-mice-and-men/summary.html
Introduction
Somerset County Tourism. (n.d.) Retrieved from Lord Stirling Theater Company Presents John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” at Farmstead Arts Center in Basking Ridge June 2-11. https://visitsomersetnj.org/event/lord-stirling-theater-company-presents-john-steinbecks-mice-men-farmstead-arts-center-basking-ridge-june-2-11/2017-06-03/
Of Mice and Men, novella by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The tragic story, given poignancy by its objective narrative, is about the complex bond between two migrant labourers. The book was adapted by Steinbeck into a three-act play (produced 1937). It was adapted for television three times, including a Turkish-language version, and for motion pictures twice (1939 and 1992).
The plot centres on George Milton and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to the large and mentally challenged Lennie, calming him and helping to rein in his immense physical strength. When Lennie accidentally kills the ranch owner’s flirtatious daughter-in-law, George shoots his friend rather than allowing him to be captured by a vengeful lynch mob.
- Of Mice and Men. (2019). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school-eb-com-au.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/levels/high/article/Of-Mice-and-Men/485952
Steinbeck
In 1902, Salinas, California was a prosperous farming community, founded about fifty years earlier. Agriculture was the region’s pay dirt. Only fifteen miles from the Pacific, the 50-mile long Salinas Valley was cool and often foggy, temperatures moderate, and the soil rich beyond measure. Ranchers and farmers thrived. Growing wheat and barley in the 19th century, sugar beets in the late 1890s and vegetables and lettuce in the opening decades of the 20th century, growers and shippers’ fortunes would soar during John Steinbeck’s childhood and teens. By the time he went to college in 1919, the valley was about to ship lettuce across America in refrigerated railroad cars. Lettuce became the “green gold” of the Salinas Valley....
National Steinbeck Centre. (2019). Biography. Retrieved from http://www.steinbeck.org/about-john/biography/
Context
4 Part series of videos on context, characters, and themes.
Part Two: Character Analysis
End scene comparison
Staging Shakespeare. (2015). Of Mice and Men Film Comparison 1939/1992. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAGV1WxFkos
Cliffs Notes
Cliffs Notes. (2016). Of Mice and Men. Retrieved https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/o/of-mice-and-men/of-mice-and-men-at-a-glance
To a mouse - Robbie Burns
Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickerin brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee
Wi’ murd’ring pattle!
I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An’ fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave
’S a sma’ request:
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,
An’ never miss ’t!
Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,
Baith snell an’ keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary Winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro’ thy cell.
That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld!
But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,
On prospects drear!
An’ forward tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!
Poetry Foundation. (2019). To A Mouse. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43816/to-a-mouse-56d222ab36e33
The Grapes of Wrath
- The Grapes of Wrath. (2019). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school-eb-com-au.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/levels/high/article/The-Grapes-of-Wrath/485018
The Grapes of Wrath, the best-known novel by John Steinbeck, published in 1939. It evokes the harshness of the Great Depression and arouses sympathy for the struggles of migrant farmworkers. The book came to be regarded as an American classic.
Analysis of dialogue in Of Mice and Men
Patti Forster. (2016, May 1). Dialogue and Formality in Of Mice and Men. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHqNSx814RY