As I've already mentioned, I've previously written essays on the topics of Slim, Crooks, Carlson and Candy's dog, all of whom Steinbeck (2015) introduces in the second chapter of
Of Mice and Men. This term, I thought it was time to write on the boss, so after my morning coffee, a bit late today, I read chapters 1 to 4 again to refresh my memory. I'll read the last two chapters again this afternoon.
Since the only research this essay requires, and the only research that you can cite to support your thesis about your chosen character, is what's in chapters 1 to 3 of the novel, I also wanted to check that people writing on Crooks, in whose room all of chapter 4 is set, could support an interesting thesis from what is in chapters 1 to 3, really, what is in chapters 2 and 3. I think it's obvious that reading chapter 4 not only tells us a lot about Crooks, but also about Candy and Curley's wife, who are the co-stars in this chapter, and perhaps less directly we learn more about Curley, the boss, and Slim; in fact, I think we can also get some ideas about Candy's dog and Carlson from chapter 4. So, it's clearly a very good idea to read chapter 4 if you're looking for ideas about any of the characters that Steinbeck introduces in chapter 2.
When I wrote my essay on Crooks, chapter 4 was very useful in suggesting main ideas to support. And if you have time today and tomorrow, you might like to read the rest of the novel, looking out for clues about your chosen topic. How consistently does Steinbeck present his characters? Do they do the sorts of things that we expect? How much clearer do our
initial impressions of their characters become?
But it's those initial impressions in chapters 2 and 3, developed by reading later chapters, that are based on evidence you can cite to support your two or three main ideas about the character that combine to make your complex thesis that needs support. I also assume, although it's unnecessary, that you might get ideas from the many online commentaries on this famous story. That's fine: if you find an idea or two that you agree with, that seems right to you, it can be used in your thesis statement, but all of the support has to be what Steinbeck tells us in chapters 1 to 3. Although I don't agree with them all that they say, most of the online commentaries, such as SparkNotes, are fairly competent, if basic.
However, reading the source, Steinbeck's novel, especially the crucial chapters 2 and 3 is the best research, and the only research that we expect to be cited in the body of this essay: on what page and line did you find that useful quotation? On what page is that paraphrase found? When I wrote my essays, especially the one on Crooks, I read them carefully, noting every time Crooks was mentioned by anyone, since much of the evidence about him is not what he says or does, but what the other characters tell us about him.
And now that I'm starting to get some ideas about the boss, it's even clearer that the support isn't going to be directly what he says or is seen doing in the novel. Maybe after I read chapters 5 and 6, which I hope will clarify my ideas about the boss, I should sit down with my pink pen and read chapters 2 and 3 again.
Perhaps I'll write a provisional thesis statement first - I think I've done steps 1, 2, and 3 of the writing process enough to move on to step 4 and write that one, all important sentence, at least provisionally.
Steinbeck, J. (2015).
Of Mice and Men. Bangkok: AUA for AEP. (Originally published 1937).
