english blog

My favorite thing about this year and particularly this class was that the classes seemed to get very deep in discussion and the classrooms became connected in a weird way. I think that the size of our class definitely helped but throughout this year I have enjoyed the deep discussion that this class had set before us. However there are a certain amount of material (such as books and stuff like that) that I’m sure we were supposed to cover you still allowed time to make sure that we not only read and understood the book but that we got a deeper understanding of the book and you allowed us time to reflect on it. I think that this year you and a select few of the other teachers went out of your way to make sure that we had an understanding of what was going on. I liked the fact that you made a personal connection with us instead of maintaining a more professional like stature. I think that through this you helped the rest of us open up to you and the rest of the class making this a class that I will truly miss. I know that we have frustrated you from time to time but you still never gave up on any of us and have done everything but physically beat us to not only make sure that our work was in but make sure that we were hitting on something in the book or lesson and not just going through the motions. The only thing that I didn’t like this year was the vocabulary words however going through the year for the first time I have realized that they are important words to know because they are not just to increase your vocabulary as I previously thought but they are to increase your understanding of books and poems that are complicated and many times beyond our level of thinking. They help to increase and deepen our thought process and teach us to search for a deeper meaning within the words. I have never liked English classes and as you can see by my grade it is not my best subject but for some reason I was always excited to come to this class. You were talking one day and I don’t even know if you realized what you were saying or who you were saying it to but you said that you don’t believe that grades don’t always reflect what that person learned or understood. I truly like what you said on this (not for just the obvious, because it is an excuse to goof off) because it made me think and realize that you have to get good grades but when you mess up and don’t do well it’s not always because you lack understanding but it could be because you understood it differently or had an opposing view. My thirty is about up and I have nothing else to say except thanks for a great year, have a great summer, and hope to see you next year.

My General feelings about the book? I think that the book was a great book. It was completely unexpected and if asked I would definitely recommend it.

“Le’s do it now. Lets get a place now.” Are Lennie’s final words… All he could ever think of was that place where life would be perfect, where nothing would go wrong. I think that he had to do this because of what was going on in there lives. They were in the midst of something that was largely out of their control. The only time they ever actually saw that this dream could be come a reality was when they found out that candy had a large amount of money and was willing to give it all to them in exchange for achieving this greater life that they all pictured. I think that Lennie is what kept George going. I think that Lennie wanted to hear that story so bad and so often that George started to believe it himself despite him knowing how unrealistic it was.   

“You hadda, George. I swear you hadda”. This brings up an interesting question, did George have to kill Lennie, and was there any other option? I don’t think there was. In the end George knew what he had to do. Through the whole book George complained about Lennie and talked about how his life would be without him…. I don’t think those were the thoughts going through his head when he killed Lennie, it was a mercy killing if he didn’t than some one who didn’t care about him at all and would rather watch him suffer would do that. Candy couldn’t put down his dog because of the pain it would give him… What about putting down your best friend someone whom has become a little brother like figure in your life. How can you put down someone who aspires to be like you? Who’s every aim in life is to make you proud of them? I don’t think George will have a life without him… Lennie was George’s innocent half; he kept Georges feet on the ground.

“Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys”……. Do you ever find yourself thinking that if you were in a book or a movie that you would punch that character in the face… What the hell is eaten them? What the hell is wrong with you?  Is he that stupid as to not see what George had to do?

“I didnt wanna, I didnt wanna hurt him” -Lennie

Curley got what was comming to him. I think that things between curley and Lennie will get considerable better and that he and Lennie will actually be freinds. I also think that this is forshadowing a change in his attitude seeing that he now has someone to fear…

“Christ awmighty, I hate to have you mad at me”- Slim

I think that Lennie will have gained a new sense of respect and that there will be few people who mess with him anymore. Lennie has gained some sort of passage into the ranch, before he was a mentally slow but strong worker and now I think he will have become a force to be reckoned with whether he likes it or not.

“It ain’t your fault , you dont need to be scairt no more. you done just what I tol’ you to.”- George

I think that this shows georges gentler side towards Lenie not just cause he knows Lennies strength, but it shows his more caring side it showed that at that point he cared more about Lennies safty then his job.

two questions:

1) Are one of the main characters going to die?

explaination: It seems like Steinbeck is building up the characters alot more than most books do he seems to let you get to know the characters on a more personal level and I think that one of the main characters is going to die within the next few chapters.

2) Are they ever going to get their dream lives?

explaination: this is obviously one of the most frequently pointed out scenarios of the book and I think that in the end someone will get their dream life but I think that it will be with someone unexpected like curly and Lennie.

Chapter two was largely based on establishing the relationship between George and Lennie, and The bosses son curly. Curly is a small guy whom likes to pick fights with big guys to show that hes not weak. This is rapidly becoming a problem for Lennie because of his size and his innocence. One of the quotes that I think best represents Lennie’s biggest problem is When George said “Don’t let him pull you in- but- if that son-of-a-bitch socks you- let ‘im have it” where the problem lies is in the response that Lennie gives “Let ‘im have what George”. The second quote that I though was worth mentioning was a quote by Curly’s wife “If he aint then I guess I better look someplace else”. It is not so much what she said but how she said it. The book states she said it in a playful tone and judging by he flirtatious appearance and Lennies stunned expression when she leaves I think that she is going to come on to Lennie and then Curly is going to see that and then come after Lennie. Another problem we see in rising in the story already is that Lennie is already having troubles remembering what he is supposed to do when he gets in to trouble “ If I get in any trouble, you aint gonna let me tend the rabbits”. I think this is foreshadowing showing that there is going to be trouble and that Lennie wont remember what to do, however I think that this will be ok because I think that because he doesn’t leave he is going to end up saving Georges life. The last of the four quotes that I think bears mentioning is by Carlson “ got five pups huh, gonna keep all of em”. I think that the opportunity has aroused for Lennie to get in trouble by sneaking around playing with puppies instead of doing his work and I think that this will eventually affect the outcome of the story.

“Id find things George I don’t need no nice food with ketchup…”- Lennie Pg 12

This quote caught me in the reading I’m not sure why… I think that it has something to do with the fact that George is having troubles supporting the both of them and looking after Lennie like he’s five. I think that George has had to take care of Lennie for a long time and he is stressed out about that and that coupled with the fact that they were on the run puts a lot of stress on him. I think that he really does like Lennie and I think that that is gonna show more later on in the book. I think later on in the book that Lennie will end up having to help and provide for George.

“No-look I was jus’ foolin’, Lennie ‘cause I want you to stay with me the trouble with mice is that you always kill ‘em.”- George Pg 13

I don’t know that George is completely aware of what he is saying to Lennie. I think that Lennie is hurt by George and he is also hurt by the truth in the fact that he cannot provide for himself. I think that George takes advantage of this when Lennie gets out of hand and I think that this is going to be the start of an escaladed feud because Lennie realizes that he can stand up to George by bluffing him out.

“Tell me like you done before “ –Lennie Pg 13

I think that this shows some of Georges character when Lennie says this because Lennie still trusts him and wants to dream of a future life where everything is taken care of and he is with what I think could possibly be his best and only friend. I think that the fact that George tells Lennie stories about the future is a tactic to help them get through the present.

In the story right now there is a part when Mary Warren switches sides on John Proctor saying ” I will not hang with you”. When she does this she goes against John Proctor because she found a way out of trouble and seized an opportunity. In the 7th grade me and one of my freinds were riding by south middle school on our bikes and we were yelling things at a group of 8th graders who were playing basketball there obviously we knew that they could not catch us since we were on our bikes…. Unfortunatly for us they also had bikes and as soon as they heard us they got on them and started chasing us, when they caught up to my freind (he was not as fast on his bike as I was) they asked him which one of us were yelling things at them and he found an opportunity to save himself and he took it. “he did” my freind said and they came after me. fortunatly for me they were far enough behind me that when I reached my freinds house I got into the backyard put my bike down and took off inside headed upstairs and watched them through the window as they passed. My freind found an opportunity to save himself despite the fact that it caused me more trouble than it would have if he would have told the truth we could have stuck together but instead i was left alone on his hopes that I was fast enough to get away. That is marry warrens stance…. She hopes that Proctor is “fast enough to get away”.

Arthur Miller was born in New York in 1915. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1932, but was delayed going to college due to lack of tuition money. He worked many random jobs like singing at a local radio station, or driving a truck, and he even worked as a stock clerk in an automobile parts warehouse. He was enrolled and attended the University of Michigan in 1934. During his college years he married a woman named Marry Slattery and had two kids. In 1944 towards the end of his college years one of his plays The Man Who Had All the Luck premeired, and the soon after in 1947 his play All My Sons opened on Broadway. Then in 1949 his play The Death of a Salesman made him internationally known as an outstanding playwrite and later that year he was named outstanding father of the year. Then four years later he had another premeire play called The Crucible. Soon after his wife died and he got remarried to actress Marilyn Monoroe in 1956. Not even a full year after Arthur Miller was cited for contempt of congress when he refused to give up a group of communist conspirators who were attempting to misuse American passports. His reasoning behind this was that he would not bring “exposure for exposure sake”. However the very next year the citing was reversed and his record cleared. Three years later he and Marilyn Monoroe divorced because of their differing lives and she died a year later. Soon after she died he got remarried to an Austrian photographer named Inge Morath. They wrote two books together on the status of Russia and China and they had a daughter named Rebecca who currently lives in conneticutt. Two years after she died he planned to remarried again and for the final time to a woman named  Agnes Barley whom was a 34 year old artist. He was chosen to be a delegate for Eugene McCarthy at the 1968 democratic convention a few years later, and was elected president of P.E.N. The international literacy organization in 1965. Arthur Miller remained politcally active throughout his life until he died of heart failure in his home in Roxbury Connecticut on Feb. 10, 2005. Before his death he had earned two honorary doctorate degrees one from Oxfor and the other from Harvard University. He was the first United States citizen to ever receive the Principe De Asturias prize for literature, and he also received the The Gold Medal for Drama In 1959 from the National Institue of Arts and Letters.

Centola, Steve. “The Arthur Miller Society Official Website.” The Arthur Miller Society Official Website. 2 Mar.-Apr. 2008. Stanford. 9 Apr. 2008 http://www.ibiblio.org/miller/.

 Galvin, Rachel. “Arthur Miller Biography.” 9 Apr. 2008 http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/miller/biography.html.

 Gottfried, Martin. “Arthur Miller.” Jan.-Feb. 2003. 9 Apr. 2008 <httpi.fi/amiller.htm://www.kirjasto.sc>.

I have had times where my emotions (such as anger) will cloud my judgement. I had an instance where I heard that my girlfreind was hanging out with a guy that she used to date and she knew i hated. I however knew thaqt they were going to try to be freinds and that they were just talking it out but i got extremely jelous and mad and told her that she couldnt hang out with him because he treated her poorly when they were dating and now the guy turned out to be on eof my close freinds. 

One time i had ran into a guard rail and i didnt tell my parents so they just knew that I the tire allignment was off and then they looked in the morning and they looked at the car and saw that there was a big dent in it. I told them the night before that it was just acting weird and i didnt know why….

This story was about a family going on a trip on their way the grandmother was telling a story and figured out that there was an old house that she wanted to see because of its rumored secret passageways and the gold it held. So reluctantly her son (father of the 3 children in the car) turned off and went on a side road. Well the grandmother soon found out that the place she was thinking of was in a whole nother state but it was too late the car spun out into the ditch. A felon whom had been on the run had happened to be crossing by with a few other guys and they came across the family. they soon started taking members of the family into the forest and killing them but all the while the grandmother was talking to him trying to get him to feel sympathy or and remorse at all what so ever but in the end he killed her to and the story ended with the felons emerging victorious. This story was overall lacking i thought that it was an okay book but the end was dumb. I think that it is strange how the felon was making a connection with the grandmother i think that after a while he started to like and respect her however i think he knew what he had to do in the end becuase he knew that leaving a witness was to risky… I also think that this connection was felt from the grandmother. Her family was being taken one by one and shot however she did not seem to worry about it to much i think that at first her goal was to save her own life and if possible some one elses “however she didnt seem to worried about it”. I think after a while, probably after they killed the mother and child I think that she was genuinly interested in what was going on in this guys head. I also thought that it was weird how he couldnt remember what he was sent to jail for in the first place and how he had so much faith in society that he trusted that it was something bad and he deserved it.