Thursday 31 May 2012

Works Cited.

Clip from 2nd Post (SparkNotes Summary) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GJIDR9J5eg
Pictures:
http://new01.ugc.kontain.com/photo/20090128/prod_64da290c-d5ec-4865-99b1-567f46072d27/tb_1920x1080.jpg

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2ch8mXqUP1qg00amo1_1280.jpg

http://spark.insyncstrategy.com/spark/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/spark-by-insync-social-science-being-left-out-is-bad-for-your-health-post.png

Song: One is the Loneliest Number - Three Dog Night (Lyric Video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ab8BOu4LE

Lonely George.

George had just shot the closest thing he had to family. He had killed Lennie. It was all for the better, but he was now alone. It is safe to assume they have known each other for years, and have travelled together for years. Killing Lennie must of have been near impossible for George to cope with, and it took every ounce of courage to do so. He killed his best friend, he killed his only real friend. He no longer had anybody by his side, he was alone. Just like the rest of the men, he was forced to move on, all alone.

One is the Loneliest Number..

This song can relate to the situation almost perfectly. George and Lennie were together, the closest thing they had to family. Even though there were two of them, it was a lonely time for them both. Now that Lennie is dead, George is all alone.

Chapter 6 Overview.

Lennie comes back into the story. He has finally got to the brush where George had previously told him to wait. He was sitting there talking to himself, and waiting.

Out of nowhere, a fat old woman appeared from out of Lennie's head. The "person" was an image of Lennie's aunt Clara, and she scolded him for being so careless. Lennie began to get upset because he knew she was right; George had been nothing but nice and caring to him, but he kept on messing up. Then, as always, he brought up the fact that George wouldn't let him tend rabbits anymore. As he spoke those words, aunt Clara disappeared and a gigantic rabbit appeared from out of his head. The big rabbit started to say he wasn't even fit to tend rabbits. The rabbit said Lennie would of forgot to feed them and the rabbits would have died. The rabbit repeated that George would leave him and Lennie freaked out and began to yell as the rabbit disappeared. Then George showed up.

George said he was not going to leave him and that he would not give him hell for what he did. Lennie then had George repeat his speech of how his life would be easier without Lennie to look after. Lennie then had George repeat the speech about how them two were not like any other rancher. They looked after each other. Then he told George to retell the dream. George made Lennie turn away from him as they spoke and he pulled out Carlson's pistol. He had taken it when he went back to the bunk before Candy alerted the other workers. He raised the gun to the back of Lennie's head. As soon as Lennie asked to finally get the land, George said sure, and then pulled the trigger. Lennie died instantly.

Curley, Slim, and the other workers appeared of of the bushes to the scene. They saw Lennie dead, and George throwing away the pistol. George made up the story that he had taken the gun from Lennie then killed him with it. The men believed the story and Slim escorted George, who was still shaking for what he had done took a lot out of him, away from the scene.

This is where the book ends.

Wednesday 30 May 2012

What happened while Lennie was Runnng Away?

After Lennie leaves the barn, he isn't mentioned until the 6th chapter. So it would be up to one's imagination to picture what he would be going through as he was running back to the spot by the Salinas River, from the beginning of the book.

In my opinion, Lennie would be most scared of  George. He would be scared that George won't let him tend the rabbits anymore or not want Lennie to be around him anymore. If i were in Lennie's position i would be really afraid of this. Lennie would die if he was living on his own without George. Also, since he mostly only cared about the "dream" he and George had, not being able to tend the rabbits would be devastating.

Other that this, he must feel confused, lost, and lonely. It would be easy to argue that Lennie had some kind of mental problem. If he in fact did, which I strongly believe, he wouldn't understand the situation. This situation would definitely confuse him because it was a moment of panic and it had happened so quick. He would also be lost because he wouldn't know what to do or what would happen to him once he was found. The feeling of wanting to know would make anybody anxious, nervous, and very scared. He was like a fugitive on the run after escaping prison, except for the fact that a fugitive had a plan. Lennie didn't. George did all the thinking between the two so he was probably lost in his mind, just running hoping for the best. In addition, in a moment like this, he would and should feel very lonely. He was all alone, away from George, running from trouble once again. He could have even lost his way since he was by himself, because he was obviously not the brightest person. This is definitely the lowest, most lonely time for poor Lennie over the time the book covered.

Chapter 5 Overview.

The chapter opens up on a somewhat sad note. Lennie was in the barn with his puppy, but he accidentally killed it with his uncontrollable strength. He thought about hiding it or making up a cover story about it to make sure George wouldn't get mad at him. Lennie was just sitting there talking to himself when Curley's wife came in. Lennie tried to tell her that George didn't want him to be near her, but she knew that if she continued to talk to Lennie would eventually carry on the conversation. Then Lennie uncovered the dead puppy and revealed it to her. All Lennie could focus on was the fact that George might not let him tend the rabbits anymore. This made Curley's wife break out in anger because all she wanted to do was talk to someone, but when she finally got the chance to talk with Lennie, all he did was talk about rabbits. She then started to talk about her life and how she wanted to be an actress, which she had never done with anyone else. Even then, all Lennie talked about was the rabbits. Curley's wife noticed that all he talked about was the rabbits, so she asked him why.

Lennie told Curley's wife about how he loved to pet soft things. Curley's wife thought he was nuts of course, but she like soft things as well and tried to start a conversation with the topic. She motioned Lennie to touch her hair, which was a big mistake because it was soft. Just like what happened in Weed, Lennie didn't let go and this made Curley's wife scream. Lennie didn't want her to scream so he grabbed her, covered her mouth to muffle the yelling, and flailed her around. Due to his uncontrollable strength, he snapped her neck. It took him a while, but he eventually figured out that he had killed her. He knew he was in big trouble, so he remembered that George told him to go to the spot by the river from the beginning of the book to hide until George came for him. He did as he was told, and left immediately.

Candy came into the barn soon after and found the body. He already knew that Lennie had done this so he didn't panic and called George right away. They tried to come up with a way to save Lennie, but they couldn't really figure something out. George told Candy to give him a few minutes to go back to the bunk house before he alerted the others, and he did what he was told. The men playing horseshoes came in and Curley automatically wanted Lennie dead. He took his shotgun and said he was going to shoot him in the stomach to let his guts spill. Carlson couldn't find his Luger and came to the conclusion that Lennie had taken it, when in reality he didn't. Since George came in last, they didn't think he was in on the killing, but to insure this they make him come along to hunt Lennie. Curley left his wife's body there, took the men, and left immediately. Candy realized their little dream would now never come true.

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Chapter 4 Overview.

This chapter opens up with the stable buck, Crooks, alone in his living quarters. All the main ranchers had gone into town to visit the local cat house. He was on his bunk rubbing ointment on his back when Lennie appeared in his doorway. They started to talk and eventually Crooks let Lennie inside. He started to play with Lennie's mind asking him questions like, "What if George went into town and never came back?" or "What if George got hurt?". This made Lennie angry so Lennie growled at Crooks and then sat down to coll off. Then Crooks starts venting his lonely feelings to Lennie. He also apologized to Lennie for messing with his head.

Later on Candy steps on in and joins their conversation. The conversation swayed over to the plan about that rabbits and the little farm, due to Lennie. He always wanted to talk about these things. Crooks doubted the man, and said they couldn't pull this off, but Candy and Lennie remained positive about the idea.

Then Curley's wife appeared. The men in the room didn't want to talk to her because they knew she meant trouble, because of her husband. Curley's wife knew this and she got upset/angry. She was also questioning the real story behind Curley's hand but the guys stuck with the cover story. Crooks knew this "meeting" was starting to escalate so he asked Curley's wife to kindly leave. Curley's wife instantly went into an offensive made and snapped on Crooks making his retreat onto his bunk. She then yelled a bit more at the others and left quietly but quickly. After this Crooks just asked everyone else to leave his quarters.

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Chapter 3 Overview.

This scene opens up with Slim and George entering the bunk house. Slim had just given Lennie one of the puppies in his dog's litter because Lennie wanted something to pet, after all he was infatuated with soft things. They ended up talking about Lennie afterwards. Slim admit that George was right about Lennie, that he wasn't bright at all but he was an amazing worker.Then their conversation drifted into the topic of George & Lennie travelling together. Slip found it surprising because at the time, men usually travelled alone, worked for a month, collected their pay, then left. They never gave a damn about anybody else. George then tells Slim a little about George's history with Lennie. What happened in Weed was brought up so George told hm the whole story. Slim reassured himself that Lennie wasn't a mean guy after all, but much like a child instead. When Lennie enters the bunk house hiding his new puppy, it confirmed what Slim thought and what George had said about Lennie.

Candy and Carlson then enter the bunk house. Candy's dog then entered and Carlson was agitated by it, as always.Carlson offered Candy the option of killing the dog, because it was so old. This made Candy upset because he had the dog since it was a puppy, but he knew that there was no fighting this argument. Candy decided that killing the dog was best, but he didn't have the will to shoot it so Candy let Carlson do the dirty work. Then the shot rang off in the distance, and Candy had lost a good friend.

Later on, Curley burst into the room asking rudely if anyone had seen his wife. He also though Slim was with her so he boomed off into the barn looking for him. George knew that something bad was going to happen so he told Lennie to stay away from Slim at all costs. When Curley later came back, he ended up picking a fight with Lennie when he mistook Lennie's chuckling for teasing. Eventually George saw enough so he told Lennie to get him, so Lennie crushed Curley's fist. To avoid a bigger problem, the cover up for the story was that Curley got his hand caught in a machine.