Francis Gilbert is a Lecturer in Education at Goldsmiths, University of London, teaching on the PGCE Secondary English programme. He also teaches the Creative Writing module on the MA in Children’s Literature, which is run by Maggie Pitfield and Professor Michael Rosen. Previously, he worked for a quarter of a century in various English state schools teaching English and Media Studies to 11-18 year olds. He has, at times, moonlighted as a journalist, novelist and social commentator. He is the author of ‘Teacher On The Run’, ‘Yob Nation’, ‘Parent Power’, ‘Working The System -- How To Get The Very Best State Education for Your Child’, and a novel about school, ‘The Last Day Of Term’. His first book, ‘I'm A Teacher, Get Me Out Of Here’ was a big hit, becoming a bestseller and being serialised on Radio 4. In his role as an English teacher, he has taught many classic texts over the years and has developed a great many resources to assist readers with understanding, appreciating and responding to them both analytically and creatively. This led him to set up his own small publishing company FGI Publishing (fgipublishing.com) which has published his study guides as well as a number of books by other authors, including Roger Titcombe’s ‘Learning Matters’ and anthology of creative writing 'The Gold Room'. He is the co-founder, with Melissa Benn and Fiona Millar, of The Local Schools Network, www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk, a blog that celebrates non-selective state schools, and has his own website, www.francisgilbert.co.uk.
He has appeared numerous times on radio and TV, including Newsnight, the Today Programme, Woman’s Hour and the Russell Brand Show. In June 2015, he was awarded a PhD in Creative Writing and Education by Goldsmiths.
Steinbeck creates suspense and drama when describing the death of Curley’s wife by using some of Curley’s wife’s seductive skills. He first makes her describe how attractive and soft her hair is to make Lennie want to touch it because she knows that Lennie likes to stroke soft things, ‘when I’m doing my hair sometimes I jus’ set an’ stroke it ‘cause it’s so soft.’ After that she tries to seduce him, ‘To show how she did it, she ran her fingers over the top of her head.’ This makes it all-the-more temping for Lennie to stroke it. Then Curley’s wife ‘took Lennies hand and put it on her head. “Feel right here.” She does this to force Lennie to believe her and to hopefully make him complement her, because she is an attention seeker, she gets what she wants. ‘Oh! That’s nice,’ and he stroked it harder. ‘Oh! That’s nice.’ This shows that Lennies obsessive feelings towards soft things is still valid and he then takes it too far and refuses to let go, which leads to a wrestle of Curley’s wife trying to free herself and to the breaking of her neck.
Chapter five starts with us seeing that Lennie has killed his little pup. We can tell that he is distraught, not because of the fact that his pup is dead but more because he think that this will prove to George his irresponsibility and then he won’t let Lennie tend the rabbits. All throughout the book, Lennie is always keeping the rabbits at the forefront of his mind and maybe that is why, in the next chapter he stars hallucinating about them, because that is the only thing on his mind; “God damn you,” he cried. “Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice.” He picked up the pup and hurled it from him. He turned his back on it. He sat bent over his knees and he whispered, “Now I won’t get to tend the rabbits. Now he won’t let me.” In this quote we can see that even though Lennie is usually a good tempered man who means well, this is so important to him that the thought of losing it is making him angry. Steinbeck uses Lennie’s childishness to make the reader connect with him and empathise with him. This is a good way of creating suspense and drama because this is a different side of Lennie that we have only really seen once before in the story; when he is under extreme pressure and stress during the fight with Curley. The change in character leads you to believe that a dramatic change in the story is almost inevitable.
As the scene progresses, we see Curley’s wife enter. As usual she brings a sense of unease and trouble around with her but in the dialogue that follows; we see a different side to her as well. “Listen,” she said. “All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin’ on. It’s on’y about four o’clock. None of them guys is goin’ to leave that tenement. Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” Finally she convinces Lennie to talk to her and we can see how much she trusts Lennie because she confides in him about how she could’ve made a life for herself rather than living a life that she hates; “He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural.” This shows how the ranch isn’t really a place for a lady, being surrounded by men and almost being dictated by them. Also, it might shed some light on why the other men call her a tart. It might be that because she is so lonely, that is what she thinks fills that loneliness. However, the reason she is going to Lennie might be due to the fact that what she was doing with the other men on the ranch was only making her lonelier. This section builds suspense because the story was moving so fast and then it slows down and side tracks but that just makes you feel like something could happen at any moment.
The moment when Curley’s wife dies is different from other deaths in other stories. I think that because the other characters always call her a tart and think badly of her, and also because Lennie is such a lovable character, that even though Lennie killed Curley’s wife, it still seems that he isn’t the bad guy. If Steinbeck had chosen another character to be killed by Lennie, I don’t think the story would have progressed as it did. The description of the death and Lennie’s reaction build a lot of suspense. ‘Don’t you go yellin’’ he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish.” This shows how scared Lennie was throughout this scene and without realising, he breaks her neck. The descriptive words in this quote show how over powering Lennie was and how he killed her instantly. The way Lennie reacts after he realises what he has done builds suspense and drama because he knows he has to run away to the brush and wait for George. However because we know, based on previous happenings, that even something as simple as that will somehow get Lennie in trouble, we are worried for him. Also as this happens at the end of a chapter, it leaves the whole scene on a cliff-hanger.
Of Mice and Men Reloaded 
Steinbeck creates suspense and drama when describing the death of Curley’s wife by using some of Curley’s wife’s seductive skills. He first makes her describe how attractive and soft her hair is to make Lennie want to touch it because she knows that Lennie likes to stroke soft things, ‘when I’m doing my hair sometimes I jus’ set an’ stroke it ‘cause it’s so soft.’ After that she tries to seduce him, ‘To show how she did it, she ran her fingers over the top of her head.’ This makes it all-the-more temping for Lennie to stroke it. Then Curley’s wife ‘took Lennies hand and put it on her head. “Feel right here.” She does this to force Lennie to believe her and to hopefully make him complement her, because she is an attention seeker, she gets what she wants. ‘Oh! That’s nice,’ and he stroked it harder. ‘Oh! That’s nice.’ This shows that Lennies obsessive feelings towards soft things is still valid and he then takes it too far and refuses to let go, which leads to a wrestle of Curley’s wife trying to free herself and to the breaking of her neck.
Chapter five starts with us seeing that Lennie has killed his little pup. We can tell that he is distraught, not because of the fact that his pup is dead but more because he think that this will prove to George his irresponsibility and then he won’t let Lennie tend the rabbits. All throughout the book, Lennie is always keeping the rabbits at the forefront of his mind and maybe that is why, in the next chapter he stars hallucinating about them, because that is the only thing on his mind; “God damn you,” he cried. “Why do you got to get killed? You ain’t so little as mice.” He picked up the pup and hurled it from him. He turned his back on it. He sat bent over his knees and he whispered, “Now I won’t get to tend the rabbits. Now he won’t let me.” In this quote we can see that even though Lennie is usually a good tempered man who means well, this is so important to him that the thought of losing it is making him angry. Steinbeck uses Lennie’s childishness to make the reader connect with him and empathise with him. This is a good way of creating suspense and drama because this is a different side of Lennie that we have only really seen once before in the story; when he is under extreme pressure and stress during the fight with Curley. The change in character leads you to believe that a dramatic change in the story is almost inevitable.
As the scene progresses, we see Curley’s wife enter. As usual she brings a sense of unease and trouble around with her but in the dialogue that follows; we see a different side to her as well. “Listen,” she said. “All the guys got a horseshoe tenement goin’ on. It’s on’y about four o’clock. None of them guys is goin’ to leave that tenement. Why can’t I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.” Finally she convinces Lennie to talk to her and we can see how much she trusts Lennie because she confides in him about how she could’ve made a life for herself rather than living a life that she hates; “He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural.” This shows how the ranch isn’t really a place for a lady, being surrounded by men and almost being dictated by them. Also, it might shed some light on why the other men call her a tart. It might be that because she is so lonely, that is what she thinks fills that loneliness. However, the reason she is going to Lennie might be due to the fact that what she was doing with the other men on the ranch was only making her lonelier. This section builds suspense because the story was moving so fast and then it slows down and side tracks but that just makes you feel like something could happen at any moment.
The moment when Curley’s wife dies is different from other deaths in other stories. I think that because the other characters always call her a tart and think badly of her, and also because Lennie is such a lovable character, that even though Lennie killed Curley’s wife, it still seems that he isn’t the bad guy. If Steinbeck had chosen another character to be killed by Lennie, I don’t think the story would have progressed as it did. The description of the death and Lennie’s reaction build a lot of suspense. ‘Don’t you go yellin’’ he said, and he shook her; and her body flopped like a fish.” This shows how scared Lennie was throughout this scene and without realising, he breaks her neck. The descriptive words in this quote show how over powering Lennie was and how he killed her instantly. The way Lennie reacts after he realises what he has done builds suspense and drama because he knows he has to run away to the brush and wait for George. However because we know, based on previous happenings, that even something as simple as that will somehow get Lennie in trouble, we are worried for him. Also as this happens at the end of a chapter, it leaves the whole scene on a cliff-hanger.