Monday, May 24, 2010

Analysis : Of Mice and Men

Detail

From his first paragraph, John Steinbeck sets the scene in Of Mice and Men through his use of imagery as he describes the natural world as a parallel to later events in the novella.

The quote "the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green" has imagery. Deep refers to depth in personality and green refers to health. George and Lennie are deep and green. George has depth of personality. Both have good health physically at least.

The "strong and rocky Gabilan mountains" parallels George and Lennie. Strong means stable, while rocky refers to rough or treacherous. George is strong, because he has mental capabilities. Lennie is rocky, because he is of low mentality and acts like a kid by getting himself into trouble a lot of times.

"The leaves lie deep and so crisp" has imagery. Leaves lie deep is like the roots lie deep. Crisp means new or fresh. Curley is like the leaves that lie deep, because his roots lie in the ranch. Lennie and George are crisp, because they are new on the ranch.

"A path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches" parallels the system of the ranches. A path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches refers to men going to the ranches to find work. George and Lennie symbolize a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches. George and Lennie went to the ranches to find work.

"The limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it" parallels later events in the book. Worn smooth by men who have sat on it refers to someone getting injured or harmed by someone else.George symbolizes the limb worn smooth, because he lets the men talk him into shooting his friend Lennie even though he does not want to, but because he knows it will be better than letting him get tortured by getting shot in the guts and bleeding out, to shoot him in the head.

Point Of View

The third-person objective point of view solidifies the solitary lives these men lead.

"Crooks did not see him...on raising his eyes...a scowl came on his face." This quote shows that Crooks is disgusted and does not like human contact. Crooks wants his own space on the Earth, because he was not allowed to stay in the bunkhouse. He figures that if he cannot go in their then no one should be able to go into his place."Lennie smiled helplessly in an attempt to make friends." (p 68)This quote shows that Lennie s friendly and he relies on human contact.Lennie relies on relationships to help him out, because he is just like a kid and needs someone to help him out. Without relationships he might not be able to stay out of trouble.

"Curley glared at him. His eyes slipped on past and lighted on Lennie." This quote show that Curley is aggressive and full of rage. Curley is a little guy who thinks that he is better than everyone else. He tries to fight anyone for whatever reason he can. "Lennie looked helplessly at George, and then he got up and tried to retreat."(p 62-63)This quote shows that Lennie is helpless and non-aggressive.Lennie is helpless when it comes to fighting others. Since Lennie is a big guy almost everyone thinks that he should be aggressive but they do not realize how low his mentality is.

Tone

The guilt and obligation tones in Steinbeck's passage reflect George's reluctance to kill Lennie but his knowing the necessity to do so.

The word guilt shows reluctance. "George raised gun and his hand shook, and he dropped his hand to the ground again." (p 105)the George felt guilty about killing Lennie his best friend who was not mean at all. George felt like Lennie did not know what he was doing doing when he killed Curley's wife and he would not have killed her out of meanness.

The word obligation shows necessity." The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger." (p 106)George felt obligated to kill Lennie because the other guys would kill Lennie in a more treacherous way. George knew the other guys would worry Lennie. George felt obligated to Lennie in all aspects, because he made it his responsiblitity to watch out for Lennie.

Theme

The theme "I am my brother's keeper" fits Of Mice and Men very well,because George and Lennie look out for one another.

"I was jus' foolin', Lennie 'Cause I want you to stay with me." (p 13) Lennie gives George the air of responsibility. George gives Lennie comfort and protection.

"He used to like to hear it so much I got to thinking maye we would."(p 94) Lennie gives George hope to dream of the en of their oppression. George gives Lennie the grand idea of a new life for him without bosses.

"The hand shook violently,but his face setand his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger." George causes Lennie to have a quick end rather than bleed out painfully. George had a hard time kiling Lennie,because he was his best frien. George's shooting Lennie was keeping him because he would have suffered had the other guys shot him.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Home

When most people think of home the idea of a house comes up,but in the Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange is a tent like thing. What would you do if all you had was a tent to live in and not a house?

During the Great Depression many people were homeless. But truly being homeless is impossible, when you are with the people who care about you. In my opinion there were probably more "homes" during the Great Depression, because there was not as many material possessions to get in the way of family and friends. What do you consider a home?

The fact that people did not have money or houses would be bad. The children most likely did not act up as much as they do now.The migrant mother had to sell almost all she had in order to have a semblance of getting buy. How would you like to have to lose almost all you have?

Friday, April 30, 2010

The Giver

The Giver shrugged,"Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness." This is what the Giver's explanation was for why all the color's had disappeared. Lois Lowery's The Giverintrigued me with a tale of Sameness and a bleak world.

How would you like there world if it was only in black and white? Jonas's wolrd has the absence of color. Jonas has always felt like there was something missing. No bright cheery colors are found in Jonas's world.

How would you feel if you lived in a world free of emotions? The people in Jonas's world have the pain of minor injuries all right, but noone ever feels true gut-wrenching pain. There is no joy, no sorrow, no loss, no anger, and worst of all no love. When Jonas asks his parents if they love him, they say that he should have better precision of language.

The people in the community do not think anything about killing people. In fact, there Ceremony of Release is by lethal injection and then dumping them in the garbage. The old are given this treatment, as well as third time offenders and one twin if the twin if they are identical. The people doing the releasing do not relize the wrongfulness fo what they are doing.

The Giver has several great aspects. It shows how utopias can very well turn into distopias. I recommend this book to those who like great books. This book deserves a 9.75 out of 10.

Animal Farm (Effectiveness)

The way George George Orwell uses animals to portray his message about utopoas could be said to be excellent. He shows how a utopia for one person can not come about without having a distopia for someone else.

The pigs represent figures of authority who use others for their own personal gain and perfect world. Napolean has his own personal escort of dogs to enforce his demands if any animal even thinks of acting out. Squealer lies for Napolean if any animal questions one of Napolean's decrees.

The animals, other than the pigs, traded one "hell" for another one, but this one was even worse. Napolean worked them even more than Jones did and gave them even less food than Jones. Napolean wanted the majority of the food for himself,so, he cut the rations to less for all the other animals gradually. Napolean hardly ever left the farmhouse, because the other animals on the farm were his slaves and believed everything that he told them.

The pigs took advantage of the fact that most of the other animals could not read. When Napolean decided that he wanted to sleep in a bed, he changed the rule to no sleeping in beds with sheets. Napolean told the other animals they were mistaken, when a commandment was questioned, because the animals remembered it differently.

Napolean and the other pigs wanted to be humans. The pigs drank alcohol like humans do. They wore clothes and stood on their hind legs. At the end its ironic how the pigs and humand were portrayed the same. The pigs asnd humans are both greedy and money hungry. The pigs revert back to the way the farm was before the rebellion, the only difference being that now the pigs are the ones in charge.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Cross-Examination

Someone might cross-examine me if they thought something was wrong about what I did.If they though I have too much stuff in my closet. The reason one might cross-examine this because I have alot of stuff piled up in my closet.

My closet has a ton of shoes and clothes spillong out.My closet has so much of a mess in it. I never get rid of anything in my closet. My closet has more of a mess than other peoples' closets.

If someone was going to cross-examine me for something, that person would most likely do the cross-examining of my closet. My closet has piles of junk everywhere. My closet never gets clean.

Monday, April 12, 2010

A symbol of hope

A Cause for Celebration

Celebrate because of being alive. Living's the only alternative seems to be death. Life's worth living so enjoy yourself and celebrate.

Holidays cause people to celebrate. People get off of work or out of school. The entire family gathers fo a feast, fun, and family togetherness. Every one enjoys the games and sports.

Friends are a cause for celebration. Celebrate for your friends' happiness and gladness. Celebrate in their competitions and winning. Celebrate in all of their fun and joy.