miércoles, 10 de septiembre de 2008
jueves, 4 de septiembre de 2008
Of Mice and Men in popular culture
Of Mice and Men is a novella by John Steinbeck, which tells the tragic story of George and Lennie, two displaced Anglo migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression (1929-1939). The story is set on a ranch a few miles from Soledad in the Salinas Valley. Since its initial publication in 1937, it has been frequently referenced in popular culture.
Characters similar to George and Lennie have been popular since the publication of Of Mice and Men.
Characters similar to George and Lennie have been popular since the publication of Of Mice and Men.
Characters
George Milton – protagonist; a quick-witted man who is friends with Lennie. He looks after Lennie and dreams of a better life.
Lennie Small – protagonist; A mentally disabled man who travels with George. He dreams of "living off the fatta' the lan'" and being able to tend to rabbits.
Despite possessing a child's mental ability he is described as having strength like a "bull".
Candy – A ranch worker who lost a hand in an accident and is near the end of his useful life on the ranch. He wishes to join Lennie and George in their "dream" of a homestead.
Candy's dog – is described as "old" and "crippled", and is killed by Carlson. Candy's dog foreshadows Lennie's fate.
Curley – The boss's son – a young, pugnacious character, once a semi-professional boxer. He is very jealous and protective of his wife and immediately develops hatred towards Lennie.
Curley's wife – A young, pretty, woman, who is mistrusted by her husband, Curley. The other characters refer to her only as "Curley's wife," and she is the only significant character in the novella without a name. She had dreams of becoming an actress, but has failed to achieve this due to her marriage with Curley. She was described by Candy as flirtatous towards all of the male workers on the ranch.
Slim – A "jerkline skinner", the main driver of a mule team. Slim is greatly respected by many of the characters and is the only character that Curley treats with respect.
Crooks – The only black ranch-hand. Like Candy, he is crippled: his nickname refers to a crooked back resulting from being kicked by a horse. He sleeps segregated from the other workers, and is embittered from discrimination.
Carlson – A ranch-hand, he kills Candy's dog with little sympathy. It is also a foreshadowing of George's final solution to Lenny's actions.
Whit – A ranch-hand.
The Boss – Curley's father, the owner of the ranch.
Aunt Clara – Lennie's Aunt, only mentioned in references to the past.
Lennie Small – protagonist; A mentally disabled man who travels with George. He dreams of "living off the fatta' the lan'" and being able to tend to rabbits.
Despite possessing a child's mental ability he is described as having strength like a "bull".
Candy – A ranch worker who lost a hand in an accident and is near the end of his useful life on the ranch. He wishes to join Lennie and George in their "dream" of a homestead.
Candy's dog – is described as "old" and "crippled", and is killed by Carlson. Candy's dog foreshadows Lennie's fate.
Curley – The boss's son – a young, pugnacious character, once a semi-professional boxer. He is very jealous and protective of his wife and immediately develops hatred towards Lennie.
Curley's wife – A young, pretty, woman, who is mistrusted by her husband, Curley. The other characters refer to her only as "Curley's wife," and she is the only significant character in the novella without a name. She had dreams of becoming an actress, but has failed to achieve this due to her marriage with Curley. She was described by Candy as flirtatous towards all of the male workers on the ranch.
Slim – A "jerkline skinner", the main driver of a mule team. Slim is greatly respected by many of the characters and is the only character that Curley treats with respect.
Crooks – The only black ranch-hand. Like Candy, he is crippled: his nickname refers to a crooked back resulting from being kicked by a horse. He sleeps segregated from the other workers, and is embittered from discrimination.
Carlson – A ranch-hand, he kills Candy's dog with little sympathy. It is also a foreshadowing of George's final solution to Lenny's actions.
Whit – A ranch-hand.
The Boss – Curley's father, the owner of the ranch.
Aunt Clara – Lennie's Aunt, only mentioned in references to the past.
Lennie
Enormous
Strong
Has learning difficulties
Physically well co-ordinated and capable of doing tough manual jobs with skill
He has a mans body but a child’s outlook on life.
He gains pleasure from pettin (patting) soft things like puppies and rabbits and even dead animals.
He is dependent, emotionally on George, who organizes his life and reassures him about their future.
Lennie can be easily controlled by firm but calm instructions
Panic in others makes Lennie panic
Lennie’s deficiencies enable him to be accepted by other defective characters. (candy, crooks and Curley’s wife)
He poses no threat to people
Strong
Has learning difficulties
Physically well co-ordinated and capable of doing tough manual jobs with skill
He has a mans body but a child’s outlook on life.
He gains pleasure from pettin (patting) soft things like puppies and rabbits and even dead animals.
He is dependent, emotionally on George, who organizes his life and reassures him about their future.
Lennie can be easily controlled by firm but calm instructions
Panic in others makes Lennie panic
Lennie’s deficiencies enable him to be accepted by other defective characters. (candy, crooks and Curley’s wife)
He poses no threat to people
George
George comforts Lennie with a tale of a golden future.
George is called a ‘’smart little guy’’ by Slim.
George is modest.
George is imaginative, he creates pictures of small holdings (farms) that he plans to own with Lennie some day.
George sometimes becomes irritated by Lennie (feels like he is a burden).
Lennie and George share companionship and trust. They are truly good friends and like a family.
George confesses to Slim that he has one abused Lennie’s trust by making him perform degrading activities. (making him nearly drown).
George confronts a great moral dilemma (huge problem) and acts decisively (with control).
George is Lennie’s friend until the end.
George is called a ‘’smart little guy’’ by Slim.
George is modest.
George is imaginative, he creates pictures of small holdings (farms) that he plans to own with Lennie some day.
George sometimes becomes irritated by Lennie (feels like he is a burden).
Lennie and George share companionship and trust. They are truly good friends and like a family.
George confesses to Slim that he has one abused Lennie’s trust by making him perform degrading activities. (making him nearly drown).
George confronts a great moral dilemma (huge problem) and acts decisively (with control).
George is Lennie’s friend until the end.
miércoles, 3 de septiembre de 2008
Lesson 1 - Notes on the depression
Migrant workers=
People who travel for work (mainly agricultural work - farming)
There was a financial recession
There was a drop in the market value so that they had to produce more crop to earn the same money
2 The banks ran out of money
3 People fled their towns to make money and escape debt.
GEORGE AND LENNY
People who travel for work (mainly agricultural work - farming)
There was a financial recession
There was a drop in the market value so that they had to produce more crop to earn the same money
2 The banks ran out of money
3 People fled their towns to make money and escape debt.
GEORGE AND LENNY
George and Lenny Again!
George and Lennie
The principal characters are George Milton and Lennie Small (whose name is the subject of a feeble joke: “He ain't small”. Who says this?). Lennie is enormously strong. He is simple (has a learning difficulty) though he is physically well co-ordinated and capable of doing repetitive manual jobs (bucking barley or driving a cultivator) with skill.
Lennie has a man's body, but a child's outlook: he gains pleasure from “pettin' ” soft things, even dead mice, and loves puppies and rabbits. He is dependent, emotionally, on George, who organizes his life and reassures him about their future. Lennie can be easily controlled by firm but calm instructions, as Slim finds out. But panic in others makes Lennie panic: this happened when he tried to “pet” a girl's dress, in Weed, and happens again twice in the narrative: first, when he is attacked by Curley, and second, when Lennie strokes the hair of Curley's wife.
Lennie's deficiencies enable him to be accepted by other defective characters: Candy, Crooks and Curley's wife. He poses no threat, and seems to listen patiently (because he has learned the need to pay close attention, as he remembers so little of what he hears). As a child is comforted by a bedtime story, so George has come to comfort Lennie with a tale of a golden future. To the reader, especially today, this imagined future is very modest, yet to these men it is a dream almost impossible of fulfilment. As George has repeated the story, so he has used set words and phrases, and Lennie has learned these, too, so he is able to join in the telling at key moments (again, as young children do).
George is a conscientious minder for Lennie but is of course not with him at all times; and at one such time, Lennie makes the mistake which leads to his death. He strokes the hair of Curley's wife (at her invitation) but does it too roughly; she panics and tries to cry out, and Lennie shakes her violently, breaking her neck.
There is no proper asylum (safe place) for Lennie: Curley is vengeful, but even if he could be restrained, Lennie would face life in a degrading and cruel institution - a mental hospital, prison or home for the criminally insane. George's killing of Lennie, supported by Slim (who says “You hadda' ”) is the most merciful course of action.
In the novel's final chapter we have an interesting insight into Lennie's thought. Until now we have had to read his mind from his words and actions. Here, Steinbeck describes how first his Aunt Clara and second an imaginary talking rabbit, lecture Lennie on his stupidity and failure to respect George. From this we see how, in his confused fashion, Lennie does understand, and try to cope with, his mental weakness.
George is called a “smart little guy” by Slim, but corrects this view (as he also corrects the idea that Lennie is a “cuckoo”: that is, a lunatic - Lennie is quite sane; his weakness is a lack of intelligence). George's modesty is not false - he is bright enough to know that he isn't especially intelligent. If he were smart, he says, “I wouldn't be buckin' barley for my fifty and found” (=$US 50 per month, with free board and lodging). George is not stupid, but there is no real opportunity for self-advancement, as might be achieved in the west today by education. He is, in a simple way, imaginative: his picture of the small-holding (small farm) he and Lennie will one day own, is clearly-drawn and vivid, while some of the phrases have a near-poetic quality in their simplicity, as when he begins: “Guys like us...are the loneliest guys in the world”.
Lennie is a burden to George, who frequently shows irritation and, sometimes, outright anger to him. But it is clear that George is not going to leave him. What began vaguely as a duty, after the death of Lennie's Aunt Clara, has become a way of life: there is companionship and trust in this relationship, which makes it almost unique among the ranch-hands. George confesses to Slim how he once abused this trust by making Lennie perform degrading tricks; but after Lennie nearly drowned, having (although not able to swim) jumped, on George's orders, into the Sacramento River, George has stopped taking advantage of Lennie's simplicity. At the end of the novella George confronts a great moral dilemma, and acts decisively, killing Lennie as a last act of friendship.
The principal characters are George Milton and Lennie Small (whose name is the subject of a feeble joke: “He ain't small”. Who says this?). Lennie is enormously strong. He is simple (has a learning difficulty) though he is physically well co-ordinated and capable of doing repetitive manual jobs (bucking barley or driving a cultivator) with skill.
Lennie has a man's body, but a child's outlook: he gains pleasure from “pettin' ” soft things, even dead mice, and loves puppies and rabbits. He is dependent, emotionally, on George, who organizes his life and reassures him about their future. Lennie can be easily controlled by firm but calm instructions, as Slim finds out. But panic in others makes Lennie panic: this happened when he tried to “pet” a girl's dress, in Weed, and happens again twice in the narrative: first, when he is attacked by Curley, and second, when Lennie strokes the hair of Curley's wife.
Lennie's deficiencies enable him to be accepted by other defective characters: Candy, Crooks and Curley's wife. He poses no threat, and seems to listen patiently (because he has learned the need to pay close attention, as he remembers so little of what he hears). As a child is comforted by a bedtime story, so George has come to comfort Lennie with a tale of a golden future. To the reader, especially today, this imagined future is very modest, yet to these men it is a dream almost impossible of fulfilment. As George has repeated the story, so he has used set words and phrases, and Lennie has learned these, too, so he is able to join in the telling at key moments (again, as young children do).
George is a conscientious minder for Lennie but is of course not with him at all times; and at one such time, Lennie makes the mistake which leads to his death. He strokes the hair of Curley's wife (at her invitation) but does it too roughly; she panics and tries to cry out, and Lennie shakes her violently, breaking her neck.
There is no proper asylum (safe place) for Lennie: Curley is vengeful, but even if he could be restrained, Lennie would face life in a degrading and cruel institution - a mental hospital, prison or home for the criminally insane. George's killing of Lennie, supported by Slim (who says “You hadda' ”) is the most merciful course of action.
In the novel's final chapter we have an interesting insight into Lennie's thought. Until now we have had to read his mind from his words and actions. Here, Steinbeck describes how first his Aunt Clara and second an imaginary talking rabbit, lecture Lennie on his stupidity and failure to respect George. From this we see how, in his confused fashion, Lennie does understand, and try to cope with, his mental weakness.
George is called a “smart little guy” by Slim, but corrects this view (as he also corrects the idea that Lennie is a “cuckoo”: that is, a lunatic - Lennie is quite sane; his weakness is a lack of intelligence). George's modesty is not false - he is bright enough to know that he isn't especially intelligent. If he were smart, he says, “I wouldn't be buckin' barley for my fifty and found” (=$US 50 per month, with free board and lodging). George is not stupid, but there is no real opportunity for self-advancement, as might be achieved in the west today by education. He is, in a simple way, imaginative: his picture of the small-holding (small farm) he and Lennie will one day own, is clearly-drawn and vivid, while some of the phrases have a near-poetic quality in their simplicity, as when he begins: “Guys like us...are the loneliest guys in the world”.
Lennie is a burden to George, who frequently shows irritation and, sometimes, outright anger to him. But it is clear that George is not going to leave him. What began vaguely as a duty, after the death of Lennie's Aunt Clara, has become a way of life: there is companionship and trust in this relationship, which makes it almost unique among the ranch-hands. George confesses to Slim how he once abused this trust by making Lennie perform degrading tricks; but after Lennie nearly drowned, having (although not able to swim) jumped, on George's orders, into the Sacramento River, George has stopped taking advantage of Lennie's simplicity. At the end of the novella George confronts a great moral dilemma, and acts decisively, killing Lennie as a last act of friendship.
George and Lenny
Lennie is retarded and George has assumed responsibility for caring for him.
1 Imagine how difficult it would be to care for a disabled person if they were forced to keep moving from place to place in order to live?
Also to help students understand the complexity of this relationship it is helpful to discuss why even a difficult relationship can make life more worthwhile?
(handicapped, ill, or elderly and infirm people).
1 Imagine how difficult it would be to care for a disabled person if they were forced to keep moving from place to place in order to live?
Also to help students understand the complexity of this relationship it is helpful to discuss why even a difficult relationship can make life more worthwhile?
(handicapped, ill, or elderly and infirm people).
Lession 1 - The Great Depression
The History of Migrant Farmers in California
After World War I, economic and ecological forces brought many rural poor and migrant agricultural workers from the Great Plains states, such as Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, to California. Following World War I, a recession led to a drop in the market price of farm crops, which meant that farmers were forced to produce more goods in order to earn the same amount of money. To meet this demand for increased productivity, many farmers bought more land and invested in expensive agricultural equipment, which plunged them into debt. The stock market crash of 1929 only made matters worse. Banks were forced to foreclose on mortgages and collect debts. Unable to pay their creditors, many farmers lost their property and were forced to find other work. But doing so proved very difficult, since the nation's unemployment rate had skyrocketed, peaking at nearly twenty-five percent in 1933.
The increase in farming activity across the Great Plains states caused the precious soil to erode. This erosion, coupled with a seven-year drought that began in 1931, turned once fertile grasslands into a desertlike region known as the Dust Bowl. Hundreds of thousands of farmers packed up their families and few belongings, and headed for California, which, for numerous reasons, seemed like a promised land. Migrant workers came to be known as Okies, for although they came from many states across the Great Plains, twenty percent of the farmers were originally from Oklahoma. Okies were often met with scorn by California farmers and natives, which only made their dislocation and poverty even more unpleasant.
Steinbeck illustrates how grueling, challenging, and often unrewarding the life of migrant farmers could be. Just as George and Lennie dream of a better life on their own farm, the Great Plains farmers dreamed of finding a better life in California. The state's mild climate promised a longer growing season and, with soil favorable to a wider range of crops, it offered more opportunities to harvest. Despite these promises, though, very few found it to be the land of opportunity and plenty of which they dreamed.
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