Journal Number Four

I finally finished "Of Mice and Men," and boy does the ending take an unexpected twist! Lennie is a good-spirited man with the mind of a little kid. He doesn't mean for any harm to come to anyone. However, that is exactly what happens when he starts petting Curley's wife's soft hair, he liked petting it so much though that he pulled on it. Curley's wife started screaming, so Lennie covered her mouth, and started to shake her. Lennie ended up breaking her neck, and she died shortly after. Lennie knew that now, George wouldn't let him tend to the rabbits at the farm that they were going to own. Lennie was so scared that he ran off into the brush like George told him to earlier. George came across the body not long after and knew that Lennie had done it. Candy went to inform the boys, and Curley started off to look for Lennie to kill him. Then, George knew that if Lennie was going to die, he would be the one to kill him. So rather than a bunch of angry men lynching him, George finds him, reassures him, and peacefully shoots him in the back of the head.

The idea of George, Lennie, and Candy owning their own farm, was such a far off dream that even when George suggested it, he knew that it would never happen. This was the American Dream that a lot of people had during the Great Depression, to make enough money to make something of themselves. My senior study question, has to do with comparing the Great Depression of the 1930's; the family life, the workforce, and our current recession in 2011, having to deal with those same issues. How are they the same? How are they different? How have they grown and changed? These issues were relevant then, and ironically, are still relevant now. These issues are prominent in the book "Of Mice and Men." I am going to try to answer these questions in my study. I am also going to study how George, Lennie, and laborers in general of the 1930's have to do with these issues. These laborers were searching for a dream, that was far off, but sometimes, it was the only thing that kept them going.

Journal Number Three

In the next section that I have read so far in "Of Mice and Men," Lennie an George arrive a their place of Labor. George tells Lennie not to talk, for fear of losing his job. Lennie agrees. They first meet Candy, who gets to know them, and gives them advice. Then they meet the boss, who is skeptical as to why Lennie doesn't talk. Then, they met Curley who is the bosses son. They both get a bad vibe from Curley and dislikes him instantly. However, they get their job assignment, which is to work under a man named Slim. Slim appreciates how Lennie and George travel together, and offers Lennie a pup of his from a litter that one of his dogs just had. On the other hand, Candy's dog is old, good for nothing, can barely walk, and smells up a room. Carlson, a farm hand, offers to kill the dog, put it out of his misery, and he will hardly feel a thing. Candy reluctantly agrees. Curley then walks in looking for his wife, someone then said that they were both in the barn. Curley walks off, steaming mad. Then, George tells Candy and Lennie of hos dream of putting a down payment on a barn house. Lennie sits and dreams about the farm, meanwhile Curley and Slim come back, Slim was in the barn alone. However Curley was still angry so he takes it out on Lennie and starts beating him up. Soon after that, George tells Lennie that it is okay to fight back. Lennie breaks his hand effortlessly.

For my research paper, there are a few topics that I am considering researching. One of them is racism. It was a huge issue then, and I find it amazing that it still is today! I could question: what has made it still such an issue? Has it been society, or other outside forces? Or, has it simply not been enough time for this to pass? The other issue in this novel, noteworthy of research, is depriving people with mental disabilities from having rights. Just because they don't think the same way that we do, does that mean that they should be stripped of their freedom of speech? These are the ideas that I have for now about my research paper. They will probably grow and change as the week goes on.

Journal Number Two

Just for the record I have had this hand-written since Tuesday, I just hadn't blogged it yet. Sorry.

The book I have chosen to read is "Of Mice and Men." This is tying into my theme of banned books from school districts. Anyways, in the parts that I have read so far, there are two main characters; George and Lennie. George is sort of the smart one and the leader. Lennie listens to whatever George tells him to do. George sort of thinks for both of them. They are traveling through the woods to find a good job as laborers. George and Lennie balance each other out well. Lennie had a mouse tail in his pocket that he liked to rub, but George disposed of it, saying that he shouldn't be doing that. Lennie was upset, but he was okay with it in the end. So when they finally got to the work site George ordered Lennie not to talk, because he would probably say the wrong thing. So, when the people who owned the place tried to talk to him, they thought he was dumb because he couldn't talk.

They use the "n" word already, in the part that I have read. That word is offensive to many people, and it is understandable as to why it is banned in some areas. I have decided to do a contemporary research paper on this book. So, the question that the book raises is; what criteria should there be, that goes into banning a book? Is the "n" word really enough to ban a book?