Of mice and men proposal

Jason DeMasi

AP English IV

February 8, 2004

Mrs. D'Alonzo

Research Paper Proposal

Purpose:

Thesis: John Steinbeck's use of loneliness, along with companionship, to show the suffering the main characters undertook throughout Of Mice and Men.

Proposal:

1. Definition of topic - I plan on showing how John Steinbeck's uses loneliness and companionship between characters to portray the main conflicts in Of Mice and Men. Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life that not even the strongest can avoid. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates the loneliness of California ranch life in the early 1930's. Throughout the story, the reader discovers the many sources of solitude; primarily being loneliness is an inevitable fact of life that not even the strongest can avoid. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck illustrates the loneliness of California ranch life in the early 1930's. Throughout the story, the reader discovers the many sources of solitude, primarily being discrimination and prejudice, resulting in loneliness and isolation.

English: John Steinbeck

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132 Central Avenue, Salinas, California, the home ...

2. Background of Topic - Of Mice and Men was one of John Steinbeck's greatest and most well known novels. Steinbeck worked his way through college at Stanford University but never graduated. In 1925 he went to New York, where he tried for a few years to establish himself as a free-lance writer, but he failed and returned to California. His novels can all be classified as social novels dealing with the economic problems of rural labor, but there is also a streak of worship of the soil in his books, which does not always agree with his matter-of-fact sociological approach. This is no more evident then how the lack of companionship in Of Mice and Men leads to the downfall of the main characters.

3. Slant - I feel this paper...