Literature Analysis #2

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.


     Of Mice and Men By: John Steinbeck is a story about two men to journey off to find work as farm hands in order to earn enough money to start their own farm. The two men (George and Lennie) and very different. George is smaller but very smart and has very "sharp, strong features". Lennie is very tall and has a sort of featureless face. He also has a mild mental disability and doesn't seem to know his own strength.  The two men work of the farm where they befriend a few people and try to stay away from Curley the farm owners son and his wife. They share their plan to own land with their friend Candy but swear to tell no one else of the plan.  While the other men are away, Lennie goes to the barn to pet a few puppies but accidentally kills one. Curley's wife tries to help Lennie but Lennie accidentally kills her too. Lennie back to the road that he and George walked on the way to the farm and hides. George finds Lennie and before the other men can find Lennie and hang him, George kills his friend as an act of mercy. 




2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.


     The theme of this novel is Brotherhood. The bond that Lennie and George have shared since they were kids is one that can never be broken.  George acted as Lennie's older brother for all of his life.  He helped Lennie through difficult times and protected him when he got into trouble. Lennie was always there for George too, though of course not in the way that George was there for him. Lennie was the best friend that George had and vice versa. 




3. Describe the author's tone.  Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).


The author's tone is one of hope. In everything that happens the characters are always looking to the future and knowing that one day everything will be better. 

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don’t have to sit in no bar room blowin’ in our jack jus’ because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us."

 “S’pose they was a carnival or a circus come to town, or a ball game, or any damn thing.” Old Candy nodded in appreciation of the idea. “We’d just go to her,” George said. “We wouldn’t ask nobody if we could. Jus’ say, ‘We’ll go to her,’ an’ we would. Jus’ milk the cow and sling some grain to the chickens an’ go to her.”

"The rabbits we're gonna get, and I get to tend 'em , cut grass an' give 'em water, 'an like that... It ain't no lie. We're gonna do it. Gonna get a little place an' live on the fatta the lan'."

4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone.  Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.


Foreshadowing: Candy's dog being shot foreshadows Lennie's own death.

"He pulled the trigger.  The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering."

Dialogue: The way the characters talk brings you into the time setting of the novel.

"A guy sets alone out here at night, maybe readin’ books or thinkin’ or stuff like that. Sometimes he gets thinkin’, an’ he got nothing to tell him what’s so an’ what ain’t so. Maybe if he sees somethin’, he don’t know whether it’s right or not. He can’t turn to some other guy and ast him if he sees it too. He can’t tell. He got nothing to measure by. I seen things out here. I wasn’t drunk. I don’t know if I was asleep. If some guy was with me, he could tell me I was asleep, an’ then it would be all right. But I jus’ don’t know." 

Tone: The tone always reminds you of how hopeful George and Lennie are that everything will turn out alright in the end.

"We'll have a big vegetable patch and a rabbit hutch and chickens. When it rains in the winter, we'll just say the hell with goin' to work, and we'll build up a fire in the stove and set around it an' listen to the rain comin' down on the roof."

Tools that Change the way We Think

Now a days it seems like I change topics really fast. It's not that I can't concentrate one thing, but I just get bored with only one subject for an extended period of time. I think that this might be a reflection of the way the internet allows you to have 5 different things going on at once. Facebook chat going on, music from iTunes or YouTube, researching information for school on Google, checking your mail, and Skyping with that family member in Texas. Doing one thing and one thing alone just isn't heard of anymore... My priorities have shifted too. Instead of focusing on the long term benefits of getting work done early, I focus on the short term rewards of procrastinating. (Maybe that's why I'm doing this assignment at 9:40) Back in the days when smart phones and internet didn't exist, you had to go about finding information in a much different way. You had to find someone who might know about the topic you had in mind or go to a library and look it up. Now it's only a few clicks away on your computer at home or on your phone in the middle of class. (Because God forbid you should ever have to sit through a class without texting) We want our information. We want it quick and we want it sooner rather than later.

In Search of...

From this video I learned that your filter bubble is designed for you and only you. No one else will see those same results even if they were to type the exact same thing in the search engine. Also, you don't ever get to see what the algorithms don't think you want to see. They filter things based on your past searches and if they don't think that something is relevant, they wont show it to you. End of story...
This new information makes me feel really small... Almost insignificant. I'm just another number or code in their eyes. It also makes me feel somewhat lied to. They aren't showing me everything that's outnthere and making me believe that what I see is everything that there is.
It makes me wonder what else is really out there. Im starting to realize that the Internet really is as big and dangerous as everyone says it is. And that's a really scary thought.
I guess to improve my searches I have to be very specific about what I want. I can't just use general terms. Also is I tried different phrasings of the same idea it might generate more results that I wouldn't have gotten the first time at it.


This time when I did the Shakespeare search I didn't just type in "William Shakespeare" and call it good with what I got the first time. I searched on 3 different computers and I typed in things like "Mr. Shakespeare" "Greatest English poet" really just anything I though might provide a different result. And to be honest, I didn't really get anything new. I got a little bit moremon his early life and am more organized list of the prices that he wrote but that's it.n this might be because I regularly use all of these computers and they already have my filter bible in place. I was hoping that this wouldnt occur seeing as that my parents also use the computers but it didn't go as well as I had hoped... To really get away from my filter bubble I think I'll have to go to a public library or a friends house and do a few searches over there.

Notes on Hamlet

 Post to your blog under the title, "Notes on Hamlet." Explain how your thinking about the play has evolved from the time we began reading to the end of Act III. Has anything changed your mind about the plot or characters since the ghost showed up at midnight? Where do you see things going from here?


     When we first started this play I thought that I was going to hate it. But now I can honestly say that I like it a lot more than I had originally thought that I would.  I feel as if I better understand hamlet as a character, a person and as a thinker. After studying the monologue I feel a lot more connected to the way he thinks and i can better predict what his next move or action will be. I used to think that Polonious was a good man who just worried about his daughter but now I think of him as a sneaky brown nose-er with a hidden agenda. He seems to only want to get n the kings good side and he'll take any measures to do that.  He spies on people and sends people to do his spying for him.  From here I can only see things getting worse. Hamlet will continue to fall apart and so will his uncle until they will finally have no choice but to battle it out. Hamlet will fight his uncle and his uncle will die.

Who was Shakespeare?

     "William Shakespeare" (According to Wikipedia) He was an English poet and playwright and thought to be the greatest writer in the English-Language.  Was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and married Anne Hathaway at age 18.  No one knows for sure when he was born but it is assumed to be in early 1564.  There are no school records of him but it is assumed he went to a free school next to his home. He had three children during the course of his marriage but one died at age 11.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare )


     "William Shakespeare" (According to The Literature Network)  He wrote 30+ plays and histories, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. The website states that he has caused much controversy dealing with the question of whether or not he actually wrote his works or borrowed and added on to other previously published works.
( http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/ )


     When I hear the name Shakespeare, I'm filled with this great sense of awe and admiration. I love the idea of Shakespeare and the way that he spoke. But as soon as I sit down to read his plays, I can think of 100 other things I'd rather be doing. I like the idea of Shakespeare and what he writes but I detest having to actually sit down and struggle through his language. 

To Facebook or Not to Facebook

     When Facebook first came into view for me, I hated it.  I thought that Myspace was SO much better. You could play more games, the format was cooler and you could change the background! How awesome is that?! But finally I grew up a little and realized that Myspace is lame. (no offense to those who like Myspace) I really enjoy Facebook because it makes it so easy to stay in touch with the friends that I wouldn't see on a day to day basis. I can be kept updated with little to no effort on my part other than a few mouse clicks. But you do have to be careful. Once something is on the internet, good luck getting it off. The article made me realize that just because my Facebook settings are 'private' doesn't mean that they're actually private. Millions of people can still see your wall and photos. Companies can view what you like and dislike and advertise to you specifically. 
     Do you have any idea how scary it is to do a Google search of yourself and actually see pictures of yourself?! I do because that's what I just did...  from now on I'm gonna be extra careful about what I say, do, and post online.

(Don't) Be Hamlet

Now that you've mastered the text of "To be, or not to be..." reflect on Hamlet's dilemma and help him make up his mind. Use the text of the play and your own logic to support your opinion.


     In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet begins to contemplate the choice between life and death.  He wonders if putting up with all his trials and tribulations is actually worth all the trouble that he's going through day by day.  But there's a problem... While ending it all might make for an easy way out, there's no telling what lies beyond death. He also wonders whether it's more honorable to keep on fighting what appears to be a losing battle or surrender to the promise of eternal peace.


     Hamlet has been put through a lot. His father has been killed by his uncle, his mother seems to have totally forgotten his father, and he can't quite seem to get the girl.  As all these problems begin to accumulate he starts to stress out and think about alternatives to the troubles.  The easiest being suicide. A "bare bodkin" would quickly end "the sea of troubles".  Suicide would mean that he doesn't need to watch his uncle take his father's place, he wouldn't have to constantly see his mother hanging all over his uncle, and he would never have to worry about all the drama between Ophelia and himself.  


     But a problem presents itself. "...in that sleep of death what dreams may come?" We can't really say that death promises peace because there's no way to know that.  When someone dies, they're gone.  We can't ask what death is like and even if we did, they could never answer us. "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all..." By not knowing what lies in the unknown, Hamlet almost fears death more than he fears continuing to live with "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."  There's another problem as well. Hamlet wonders is giving up on a hard life is noble. He knows that it's a sin and that can actually make a decision harder. After all, the forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. 


     I would tell Hamlet to not give up on life. Not only because it would be a sin to do so and he doesn't know what death will bring but also because it won't solve anything.  It won't change the fact that his father is dead. It won't make his mother hate his uncle and it will make it impossible for  the drama between himself and Ophelia to ever be resolved.  By continuing to live and fight against these hard times, Hamlet would prove to be a noble, brave, and courageous warrior. 


     Hamlet is dealing with the death of his father, what seems to be his mothers betrayal of his father and drama with a girl.  All of these are hard enough to deal with by themselves, but put them all together and you've got a mess of problems that would drive anyone mad. This leads Hamlet to start thinking about suicide and how it would how would get rid of the pain.  But in actuality, it wouldn't solve anything.  It would also be a sin and very un-noble of him.