Theme Analysis

In last week's blog response, I asked you to select a theme that "hit home" with you the most.  Now that you have set your sights on a theme you would most like work with some more, it is time to test your skills of analysis.  Scan through the last chapter (6) in Of Mice and Men and see if you can pull out a moment from the text that, upon close reading, says something about your selected theme.
Lennie said softly , "I didn't forget, you bet, God damn. Hide in the brush an' wait for George." He pulled his hat down low over his eyes. "George gonna give me hell," he said.

Wherever Lennie goes he never thinks for himself because he's used to George thinking for him. This is a power struggle because it's like a kid running away and coming back beacause they have nowhere to go and don't know what to do.  

Chapter 6 Notes

Question: pg. 105
They are at the place where they started off, in the woods and Lennie had escaped and hid in the bush just like George told him. George found him and Lennie thought he was mad at him but he wasn't. Lennie told him to retell the story of the lonely ranchers and how they weren't like that, and George told him to turn around as he recited it, planning to kill him.
Why would George want to kill Lennie? Will he stay at the ranch after that? What will he do all lonely?

Connection
I can relate the end of this chapter to a show I watched. In the movie the man who killed the other man wasn't exactly friends with him but he killed him out of kindness. The man was a disaster everywhere he went even though he never meant it and all he wanted was to be excepted by other people. He gave him mercy because it wasn't a life to be on the run like Lennie and George.

Summary
In Chapter 6 Curley and the other guys are pretty mad so they go on a hunt to find Lennie and shoot him. George reaches there first and goes to Lennie. Lennie thinks George is mad at him but he says he's not mad. Then George tells him to turn his back to him and he recites the story of how they were going to have the perfect life with a garden and bunnies and their own crops. Slowly George pulls out a gun and shoots Lennie in the back of the head. A painless death.

Chapter 5 Notes

Question: pg. 98
Candy and George had found the dead body of Curley's wife and told all of the other workers. Now they all are going to look for Lennie and most probably kill him.
Why wouldn't George not want to help Lennie and get him away even though he knows Curley is going to kill him?

Prediction: pg 98
I predict that Curley will find Lennie and shoot him before George can do anything about it or the police will find him and shoot him because he's pretty dangerous even though he never means any harm

Summary:
In Chapter 5 Lennie starts out in the barn grieving for the little puppy that he killed because he pet it too hard. The Curley's wife comes in and sits next to him. When she starts talking to him he immediately puts his gaurd up and tells her that he can't talk to her. She starts ranting about how she's so lonely and she can't talk to anybody and then about how she could've been a big movie star or worked in a famous show. Lennie doesn't listen to her at all and just keeps talking to her abot the rabbits and finally she asks what he's talking about. He says that he talks about rabbits because they are soft. She strokes her hair and tells him to pet it too. He starts to ruin her hair and she yells at him. He panicks and holds on and then puts his hands on her mouth and neck. While trying to shut her up he kills her.

For this week's blog response, you need to make some pretty serious decisions!  We are quickly approaching the time where you will be expected to write your Research Paper based on a topic of interest from Of Mice and Men.  If you have been keeping up with your reading, completing your notes, participating in conversations and activities during class on the various themes, and completing your blog responses this choice will be fairly easy!  If not, you may be in for a struggle....

I think I want to write my reasearch paper on racism or the power struggles in the book because those were very important issues throughout the book and i'll have a lot to write.

Chapter 4 Notes

Question: pg. 71
Lennie is sitting with Crooks and he just told him about how they were going to get some land and live a good life with animals and their own land so they wouldn't have to share anything. Then Crooks starts talking about how George could get hurt and never come back or he could just choose to leave which is really freaking Lennie out.
Why is Crooks provoking Lennie and does he enjoy doing it? What would Lennie do without George and how long would he last?

Prediction: pg. 82
I predict that Curley's wife is going to go taunt Curley about his hand because she knows something is going on and the whole story with his hand getting caught in the machine was a lie. That will cause more fights and because Lennie doesn't let go of things when he's scared he is probably going to end up killing someone.

Summary:
In Chapter 4 everything took place in Crooks' cabin. When Lennie first came Crooks was tense and on the edge but it was so easy for him to relax because Lennie is just like a child. The Lennie tells him about his dreams of living in a nice little house with bunnies alongside George. Crooks sees how vulnerable Lennie is and scares him saying that George isn't coming back for him. Lennie has a meltdown and almost crushes Crooks' hand. Then Candy comes in and they start talking about their plans to own land. Cooks asks them if he could come with themm and work for them.

Chapter 4 in Of Mice and Man, paints a very realistic portrait of racism in the 1930s.  Discuss at least two ways in which racism is explored in this chapter.  Include quotes and your own analysis of key moments in this chapter that clearly demonstrate the racism that existed in the American 1930s.  What do readers understand about racism as a result of reading this chapter?

One moment in the chapter when they showed racism was on pg. 68 when Lennie comes in the room and Crooks starts ranting about how he's not wanted in the bunkhouse because he is black so Lennie can't come in either. Crooks acts like he's tough and that he doesn't need any company be he's actually really lonely all by himself.

Another racist moment in the chapter is on pg. 70 when Crooks is remembering his childhood, when he used to play with white kids on his dad's farm. He said some of them were nice meaning that he probably expected them to be mean. His dad didn't like it because they would probably grow up and treat him a lot differently.

Chapter 3 Notes

Prediction: I predict that Curley will get his revenge on Lennie by getting him fired. Since Lennie practically broke his hand, he won't have a chance there because if he doesn't get fired Curley will make his life a living hell. I also think that Curley's wife will get Lennie in some trouble. Lennie already seems a bit attracted to her and based off the things the other workers said about her she's to all out there and has her eye on everyone.

Question: pg. 47
Slim and George had just come in the room and Lennie was in the barn watching and playing around with the pups. The other guys were complaining about Candy's dog and how he's so old and of no use hat they should kill him.
Why would they be pressuring Candy so much to kill the dog? Doesn't anyone care about the dog or feel sorry for it. Why won't they just let it die naturally?

Summary: In Chapter 3 they were just having a normal day at work and Lennie was excited to see Slim's pups. When Curley comes in right before George he thinks that his wife is with Slim because he's looking for her and Slim is in the barn, not in the room. When they came back, Curley and Slim were arguing and Lennie was smiling at another thought but Curley got mad at him because he thought he was laughing at him. Curley started a fight with Lennie and Lennie ended up breaking his hand just by holding on to it.

1.)  What different forms of power exist in Of Mice and Men?  What kind of power does Lennie have?  What kind of power does George have?  What kinds of power or powerlessness do other characters possess? 

There is a lot of different power that comes with different people in Mice and Men. George has power over Lennie because Lennie listens to George like a parent and he has depended on him t take care of him and keep him out of trouble. Curley also has power in the form of self entitlement because he's the boss' son and he can fire anyone in a blink. Lennie has power as in strength, whenhe pets the mouses so hard he crushes them.

 Naturalism

Let's see if you can make the connection!  Think about some of  the naturalistic elements we identified in class (Chapter 1).  What aspects or characteristics of the 1930s are being demonstrated to us at those moments in the text?  What do you believe John Steinbeck was trying to show us or expose about the way people, life, or society was during this time in American history?

      Today there are no ranches that hire you and let you live on them, providing you with basic necessities as long as yo work there like the place that Lennie and George are in. When they were all talking in the book it sounded like slang and the book would spell everything out the way it sounds. They also needed a lot of people to do the ranch work but today we have easy o operate machines to do all of the hard work.

 

      People had a very hard life back then and society was cruel and judgemental. Because of the Great depression the unemployment rates were high and it was hard to find a job nonetheless a good one. In the book it said that people who worked on ranches were usually alone and they had nothing to live for except their survival.

American 1930s.    


     Let's see if you can make the connection!  Think about some of  the naturalistic elements we identified in class (Chapter 1).  What aspects or characteristics of the 1930are being demonstrated to us at those moments in the text?  What do you believe John Steinbeck was trying to show us or expose about the way people, life, or society was during this time in American history

The text shows us how people really lived in the 1930's. Before I thought that mostly everyone lived in glamour with their fancy old cars and their feather barrettes. Education was a luxury for people and the main characters George and Lennie didn't have it. In chapter 1 they aren't shown very civilised because of the way they speak and their grammer.

John Steinbeck was trying to show us that society was more judging but it didn't have very high standards. If People knew that Lennie wasn't right in the head, people would give him dirty looks or treat him like he's worthless. If you had an education people would treat you respectfully and you'd have a high place in society. And not many people got an education and became more than a farm worker or factory worker.

Question: pg.11
Lennie and George are sitting by the stream and George is ranting on and on about how he could have a much better life if he didn't have to take care of Lennie. This happens because Lennie wanted ketchup but they didn't have any.
Why does George have to take care of Lennie, and if they are just friends then why is George taking so much care of him like a parent?
Is George doing this because he sympathises for Lennie and if Lennie has an Aunt Clara why doesn't he just leave her there?

Prediction:
I predict that Lennie will ruin things for them when they go to the ranch for a job. Because Lennie is so forget full he will say or do something wrong because he'll just forget about George telling him to keep quiet. Lennie messed things up at the last ranch they worked on and he could do it again.


Summary:
        In the first chapter of the novella "The Mice and Men" there are two main characters: Lennie and George. George is a small and smart man and Lennie was a tall muscular man who was like a six year old child. George and Lennie are looking for a job at a ranch because they had to run from the old one. Lennie just wanted to feel a woman's dress but seeing as he's not a child but a grown man, it wasn't right. Now they were just a short distance away from the new ranch they would be working on, by a stream.

Think about this section from the beginning of the book:

     For a moment the place was lifeless, and then two men emerged from the path and came into the opening by the green pool.
     They had walked in single file down the path, and even in the open one stayed behind the other. Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls slung over their shoulders. The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose. Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely.

     The first man stopped short in the clearing, and the follower nearly ran over him. He took off his hat and wiped the sweat-band with his forefinger and snapped the moisture off. His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself. (1.2-4)

Sound familiar? Kind of like the pictures, right? In writing, compare and contrast this opening section from Of Mice and Men to the pictures you analyzed in class. What does the text and the photographs show us about the 1930s?  Be specific!




The text shows us what people wore in the 1930's and it said they were carrying blanket rolls so they were probably traveling. No one nowadays travels by foot with a blanket roll on thier shoulders. This peice of text text reminds me of the picture of the man with his back turned to us and he's also walking with a blanket roll on his shoulders. I can infer that people travelled a lot in the 1930's because of the Great Depression and were always looking for a job.