Blog #5: Lennie's hallucination

Lennie's hallucination was one of the most significant events in Of Mice and Men. When Lennie first came to take a drink at the Salinas River, he suddenly started having a hallucination of her Aunt Clara. Aunt Clara was the first woman he ever saw, and was a very important person to Lennie. She describes how George has always taken care of Lennie such as giving "half or more'n half" (101) of a pie to him. Aunt Clara also says about George, "if they was any ketchup, why he'd give it all to you (101). Aunt Clara's message to Lennie in his hallucination shows that George does so much to take care of Lennie, but all he does is do bad things. Lennie's last hallucination was a gigantic rabbit. This gigantic rabbit represents Lennie's main dream of tending the rabbits. This rabbit told Lennie how George would never let Lennie tend the rabbits, and how George would beat Lennie and leave him. This hallucination represents how Lennie's dream of tending the rabbits cannot come true because of all the bad things he did. This event was very significant for showing how Lennie has faced many conflicts with himself and others, and yet cannot make his dream come true.

OMAM ending Explanation

           Hey guys. I'm happy to have finished Of Mice and Men and I really enjoyed reading the book. Today I am here to talk about the ending of the story. After Lennie commits grievous actions throughout his life and on the ranch, his actions catch up to him. After killing Curley's wife and running away, he has a hallucination. In it, there is a huge rabbit scolding him for all he has done. The rabbit persecutes, "Tend rabbits. You crazy bastard. You ain't fit to lick the boots of no rabbit. You'd forget 'em and let 'em go hungry. That's what you'd do. And then what would George think." I think this rabbit symbolizes all Lennie's mistakes and regrets and is trying to make Lennie feel more bad about it. Lennie still believes that George will forgive him for what he has done, but this is the last straw. After the hallucination George confronts Lennie. I believe George loves Lennie but has to let him go after killing Curley's wife. George soothingly states, "We'll have a cow. An' we'll have maybe a pig an' chickens...an' down the flat we'll have a... little piece alfalfa-." I believe the reason why George says this is because he wants to be at peace of mind after taking Lennie's life. It is obviously difficult for George to kill Lennie, but Even with Lennie gone, their dream will still be alive. Thank you for your time on my final blog for Of Mice and Men.

OMAM Part 5/6 Blog

Hello, today I'm going to be talking about how George had to kill Lennie because of Lennie killing Curley's wife and killing the pup. He killed the pup by smacking it too hard. Lennie kills Curley's wife when he was stroking her hair. Curley's wife shouted saying let go of her hair and Lennie panicked and had a very tight grip on her hair. He then puts a hand on her mouth. She tries to break free and yell for help, which causes Lennie to get angry. You can tell from this dialogue, "I don't want you to yell. You gonna get me in trouble jus' like George says  you will."  He starts getting more aggressive and  puts her in a choke hold which then snaps her neck. And in Part 6, George has to find Lennie and kill him for what he did. 

Blog 5 - last one [sad violin music] the American Dream

I think that the American Dream was an extremely prevalent theme in the book Of Mice and Men because many of the scenes have the American Dream in it. A big scene was when Candy, Lenny, and George talk about how they are going to own their own property and grow their own food and have rabbits. Lenny said that "[He] gonna take[his] pups." What they were dreaming about was the American Dream. It is the 2,660 square foot house, the 2.1 cats and the neatly mowed lawn that with enough work and effort, everyone could achieve. The American Dream was a big part of the story from when George and Lennie talked about it with Candy, and when they talked about it with Crooks. The American Dream is the idea that hard work can bring happiness in life. Basically the idea of Capitalism, the idea that property is privately owned and people can start businesses to achieve their American Dream. George, Candy, and Lenny were trying to work for money to buy their private plot of land and achieve their American Dream especially in hard times such as the Great Depression. During this time, people lost hope and didn't dream to do anything. This is portrayed in the story as George, a realistic person who had little hope for the future. Lennie is the character who is always looking towards the future as is seen when he always would think about rabbits. Today, the American Dream still exists, prompting immigrants to work hard to achieve their goals like the many immigrants who left their home countries to go to college in America. People such as Hillary Clinton back in 2008 proposed an American Dream plan for the country when she was running for primaries and Barack Obama further helped people achieve their american dream by creating the Affordable Care Act which provides poor people with healthcare (Obamacare). Also, our current president, Donald Trump is another symbol of how the American Dream is still prevalent today; anything can happen if you work hard enough and are determined enough. Donald Trump worked incredibly hard to build up his real-estate empire he now owns today and he had worked hard enough to even become president (not supporting sides or anything). The author of the book portrayed the American Dream extremely well because many people were working towards a goal of prosperity through hard work such as George and Lennie, despite their odds, kept working towards their goal until, unfortunately, George had to kill Lennie.

Lennie's Death

At the end of the book, two significant deaths happened. One was Curley's wife. The other was Lennie. At first when read, one might think that George killed Lennie to get him over with. Lennie died because of "the trap". Had Curley's wife not been so snooty and nosey, both of them would still be alive, living somewhat happy lives. But, she was selfish, and she cost herself and Lennie their lives. Once Curley found out about his wife, he was furious. He was going to go kill Lennie, painfully. On the other hand, George wanted to save Lennie. He could have done so many other things, but this was the safest for both of them. He had to kill Lennie. Lennie had done nothing wrong, this whole thing was all Curley's wife's fault.

Overall I think that his hallucination is all of his built up guilt and inner turmoil. His Aunt Clara says, "I tol you, "Min" George because he's such a nice fella an good to you. But you don't never take no care. You do bad things". Lennie then replies by saying, "I tried, Aunt Clara, ma'am. I tried and tried. I couldn help it". This is showing how Lennie is full of guilt. Because is own self conscious is scolding himself about his actions this proves how he feels guilty. He feels the need to scold himself on things that he did. The turmoil is represented in the way the he says he tried. There are two sides to his own argument.

mudawwana raqm khms

For my last blog I'll be talking about how Curley's wife chose Lennie to confess her life secret to. The major reason she chose Lennie is because he doesn't pay attention. With Lennie you are judgement free because the only thing he really cares about is the rabbits and how he's going to pet them until content. As Curleys wife literally spills herself to Lennie he interrupts her saying "We gonna have a little place-an' rabbits" (88). This shows how wound up in a dream he is and how innocent he can be. All he cares about is petting nice things.

part 5 and 6

It this quote " She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly. The curls, tiny little sausages, were spread on the hay behind her head, and her lips were parted." I think the ironic part was that curly killing her made it so she was out of her life and how lonely she was. Lennie killing her got rid or her problem of being lonely.

Part 5 and 6

In these last two sections of the book, Lennie is a big deal. At first, he killed his puppy (because he slapped it too hard when it tried to bite him) then he killed Curley's wife after he stroked her hair too hard and she tried to escape.  After that George and everybody else at the farm set out to kill Lennie. While they were looking for him, Lennie found his like to a creek and drank from it. After that, he started having wild hallucinations. He started talking to a giant rabbit that could talk in his head but in real life, he was talking to him self. Lennie says "He ain't! I tell you he ain't" (102) after the rabbit tells him that George is gonna leave him. This shows how big of an affect Lennie's disabilities has on him.

George's Decision

In parts 5 & 6 Of Mice and Men, we reached, in my opinion, the saddest part of the book. George has to make a tough decision.  Lennie kills his puppy and then Curly's wife -- both by accident.  He smacked the pup too hard, and then shook Curly's wife, snapping her neck.  Realizing he had done a "really bad thing", Lennie runs off to hide in the brush (which George had instructed him to do). It almost seems as though George had anticipated something bad happening.  Realizing that Curly was going to kill Lennie, and having Slim point out that life in a cage would not be a life for Lennie, George secretly takes Carlson's Luger and joins the party to "hunt" for Lennie. (This part of the book fits perfectly with the foreshadowing of Candy wishing he had shot his old dog himself, an event that occurred much earlier.)  Of course, George "finds" Lennie quicker then the rest of the search party.  He pretends to give Lennie hell, as Lennie requests, and then has Lennie look across the water as he outlines their dream to raise rabbits and live off the "fatta the lan'.  "'No, Lennie. Look down there acrost the river, like you can almost see the place.'"  George is so kind in this moment. You can tell he really loves Lennie. "'No,' said George. 'No, Lennie.  I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now.  That's a thing I want you to know.'" He shoots Lennie in the back of the head. Decision made.  On a 1 - 10 scale of depressing, with one being low sadness factor and ten being supremely depressing, I give this book a 9.99.

OMAM Part 5

In part 5 Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife and after finding out Curley gets riled up and wants to kill Lennie himself. I believe that he wants to kill Lennie so badly is because Lennie was the one who broke his hand and killed his wife. He knows Lennie did it because he was the only one strong enough, "That big son-of-a-b*tch done it". One can't blame Curley for wanting to kill Lennie after what happened. You can tell that Curley is desperate to have his revenge and wants justice.

Part 5/6 OPTIONAL PROMPTS

Part 5:

(REMEMBER: These questions are OPTIONAL; you can respond to them in a post, or just used them as direction for what to focus on while you read)

1. Lennie and Curley’s wife both confided in each other. What did she tell Lennie and why do you think she chose him to confess this too? What did he tell her and what event did this lead to? Elaborate on the significance of these confessions.

2. Describe what Curley’s wife looked like once she died (p. 92-93). What is ironic about this description?

3. What question does Candy ask George, and what is his response? (address two important quotes here… one on p. 94 and the other on p. 95) WHY do you think George plans to become just like every other rancher, rather than live out the dream with Candy?

4. What is Curley’s motivation for going after Lennie? Use quotes to support your answer and elaborate on the significance of this.

5. What lie does George tell Slim? Before reading part 6, what did this lie make you think about George’s plan? After reading part 6… what was his actual plan? Elaborate on the significance of the lie and the reality.

Part 6:

1. Analyze Lennie’s hallucination. Use some quotes to support what you think it all means.

2. WHY DID GEORGE DO WHAT HE DID (to Lennie) IN THE END????

(Use previous events, info, quotes to prove the foreshadowing AND the explanation for WHY he did it.)

3. Why did Steinbeck choose to have Carlson, of all characters, be the last one to speak in the novel? What significance do his words have? OR What theme do his words support? à “Now what the hell do ya suppose is eatin’ them two guys?”

Shaan Ansari- Blog number five

In part five in OMAM, Lennie "Does a bad thing" when he accidently kills Curley's wife. Lennie is alone in the barn after accidently killing his puppy, while the other men were outside playing horseshoes. A little later, Curley's wife came in and tried to talk to Lennie. However, Lennie was able to remember that George didn't want him to talk to Curley's wife because she might get him in trouble. Curley's wife, however, was able to persuade Lennie that it was OK to talk to her and Lennie believed her.  After talking for a while, Lennie mentions about how he likes to pet soft things and Curley's wife says, "'Why when I'm doing my hair sometimes, I jus' set an' stroke it cus' it's so soft'... 'Here-feel right here'. 'Feel aroun' right here an' feel how soft it is."' Lennie then starts to stroke it and after a few runs through, Curley's wife tells him to stop and Lennie panicked and grabbed on to her hair. She started to scream and Lennie covered her mouth with his hand. She squirms and tries to break free and Lennie stands up with her in a choke hold and in all the chaos, he snaps her neck, therefore killing her. I think this symbolizes the idea of the weak preying on the weaker. Lennie didn't mean to kill her, but since he is so inept, his strength worked against him. I also feel like when Curley finds out what happens, he will prey on Lennie by literally killing him.   

Aariz M part 4.

Hello, I'm going to talk about how Crooks is plotting on separating Lennie and  George. He does this ever so slightly by making Lennie question if George is coming back and going to help Lennie in this quote. S'pose George don't come back no more. S'pose he took a powder and just ain't coming back. What'll you do then?" It would make sense because, in the social food chain, it seems that Crooks is at the same level as Lennie at the barn and to perhaps drag him even further down, Crooks would have to separate Lennie and George from each other.

5/6

I want to talk about foreshadowing in OMAM. Lennie accidentally kills Curly's Wife and earlier in the story we are told that Lennie also grabbed the dress of a girl in Weed. This is foreshadowing because in Weed he wanted to touch something soft but when the girl noticed she started screaming and Lennie would not let go. The same thing happened in the barn when he would not let go of Curly's Wife's hair.

Blog 4

Spencer Kolman
Blues


                                                                         Crooks scene


           In chapter four of ,of Mice and Men, Crooks was finally revealed in the first time of the book.  Crooks is an old African American male who has been isolated from the others at the ranch.  Crooks is not often talked to until "Lennie came in noiselessly."  Crooks was not to happy about Lennie but after a little while Crooks started to like having company especially Lennie.  Then Lennie started talking about the dream that he had with George and Candy.  Candy later then came into Crooks bunkhouse for the first time ever.  That is the descriptions of Crooks.

blog 4

In part 4 I think it is very ironic that Curley's wife says "They left all the weak ones here"- Pg. 77. I think its ironic because she was also left here which makes her a "weak one" as well. They could have brought her along but instead they decided to leave the week ones at the ranch. She is just trying to say this because she knows that she is one of the weak ones and she wants to make fun of them to make her feel confident. The last reason why this is ironic is because she fits in with them. Candy, Lennie, Crooks, and her are all pretty much even when it comes to the social rankings on the ranch. I think that this was a bad thing to say because she is also one of the "weak ones".

Blog 4 option 4

In section four Curly's Wife shows different pieces of evidence that she is lonely. One of these pieces of evidence is when she says "Think I don't like to talk to someone every once in a while?" This shows she is lonely because she is saying that she wants someone to talk to but she has no one but her husband who is always trying to act tough.

Lennie description part 4

In this chapter, Lennie stumbles upon Crooks the black stable buck. Crooks get mad at Lennie because he has stumbled into his house, and asks him to leave. Lennie acts very innocently. "' Nothing-I seen your light. I thought I could jus' come in an' set'". Crooks sees how Lennie is and invites him in to talk. After a talk Lennie interrupts  Crooks like he wasn't listening "' Goerge says we're gonna have alfalfa for the rabbits." This shows how Lennie can just zone out in the middle of a conversation and not even know what happening.

Crooks' Scene Discussion

Hello Guys! Today I am here to blog about the Crooks' room scene. In the scene, we meet Crooks and he reveals his true personality. We see that he likes company even though he let on that he does not enjoy it. Crooks hides, "It was difficult for Crooks to conceal his pleasure with anger."To him, this is one of the first times he has company in his room. I think after this experience, Crooks might try to be more outgoing because Candy and Lennie accept him. After Curley's wife comes in and starts threatening the workers, I come to the conclusion that foreshadowing is in play. Candy argues, "Maybe there was a time when we was scared of gettin' canned, but we ain't no more. We got our own lan', and it's ours an' we c'n go to it." I believe that Curley will catch one of the workers arguing with his wife and, he will tell the boss. They might get canned or restricted with their job, but will still be dreamers. Part four was very interesting and I am excited for Part 5. Thanks for your time today.

Blogo quatro

For my blog today I will be talking about how defensive Crooks was about his room. Crooks is an African-American stable buck working on the ranch. From my knowledge Crooks doesn't have much respect for anybody but Slim until he meets Lennie. When we finally meet Crooks in person in the book Steinbeck shows us how small his room is and how tidy it is. I think Crooks is so protective over his room because African-Americans at that time didn't have many rights and anything to show for it. Crook's room is one way to show people he has rights to. When Lennie walked into Crooks, Crooks turned and snapped at him "You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me"(68). From this quote you can tell how Crooks will obey any rights he has to follow, but in return you have to respect his.

Blog 4 Shaan Ansari

In part for in Of Mice And Men, we get introduced to Crooks, an African American man who works on the ranch and is seperated from the rest of the men due to his skin color. He has his own room away from the men and Lennie tries to enter it during chapter four. At first, he was mad about it becuase he wanted his own space, but after Lennie presses, Crooks gives in and is more happy to have someone to talk to. In the quote- "Crooks could not hide his pleasure with anger" (75), it shows how happy Crooks was to have people to talk too. Even though Candy and Lennie were both white, Crooks needed to interact with another human.

Blog 4 Option 3

When Curley's wife says, "'they left all the weak ones here'" it represents situational irony, which is when what actually happens is the the opposite of what you would think. This is because if she's saying that Crooks, Candy, and especially Lennie are weak then you would assume that she is stronger, which she is not. Also, calling Lennie weak is really dumb because he is by far the strongest man on the entire ranch.

Crooks's Opinion About Living off the fatta the Land

In Of Mice and Men section four we get to know Crooks better, and at first he seems lonely (because he is African-American and doesn't  (is not welcome to) bunk with the rest of the men.  In fact I felt a little bit sorry for him. ... at first, that is.  He asks Lennie what he would do if one day George didn't come back for him.  He asks this in a "suppose" scenario, but seems to enjoy Lennie's distress. In fact, Crooks seems down right cruel and I decided he is NOT a character I like. "His voice grew soft and persuasive, 'S'pose George don't come back no more. S'pose he took a powder and just ain't coming back. What'll you do then?'" Then later, "I said s'pose George went into town tonight and you never heard of him no more.' Crooks pressed forward some kind  of private victory. 'Just s'pose that," he repeated.
'He won't do it,' Lennie cried. 'George wouldn't do nothing like that.  I been with George a long time.  He'll come back tonight -----' But the doubt was too much for him. 'Don't you think he will?
Crooks' face lighted with pleasure in his torture. 'Nobody can't tell what a guy'll do,' he observed calmly.'"  Crooks was mean and baiting.  I hope we don't have to read much about him in the future.

OMAM Blog 4

When I was reading part 4 of Of Mice and Men, I noticed that Lennie and Crooks' conversation really was normally something that would not occur in the time period of this book. Of Mice and Men may have taken place when African Americans were free, but they were still discriminated. The reason for this was because of their skin color. Crooks was first introduced as a African american who lived apart from Slim and the others, but had many more belongings than them since he was at the ranch for a long time. When Crooks was sitting on his bunk, "Noiselessly Lennie appeared in the open doorway and stood there looking in..."(67-68). Normally, I thought that Crooks would politely welcome Lennie to his little home, but instead sharply told him, "You got no right to come in my room. this here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me" (68). After I read this quote, I suddenly realized that this time period was a time in which blacks and whites stayed apart, and could not communicate or become friends with each other. But instead of Lennie leaving, he said "I ain't doing nothing...Just come to look at my puppy. And I seen your light" (68). This quote made me feel deepened about how Lennie had such innocence, and was speaking the truth, even to Crooks. Also, this quote shows how if Lennie finds a light, he feels like he is welcome to come into that area. He eventually asks why Crooks ain't wanted, and he responded by saying " 'Cause I'm black. They play cards in there, but I can't play because I'm black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you, all of you stink to me" (68). Since Crooks was black, the others (George, Slim, etc.) did not let him play with them, which lead to him wanting to stay away from them. This clears up why Crooks stayed apart from the others. After this, Crooks and Lennie continue the conversation. But suddenly, Lennie starts talking about the plans Candy, him and George had for the huge amount of land they were going to get. Lennie did not realize it, but he was not suppose to reveal the plans to other people (OH NO!!) The conversation continues for a longer period of time that does not support this topic, which concludes the reason why I feel that this conversation between Lennie and Crooks was originally not suppose to occur naturally in this time period.

OMAM blog 4

One thing that surprised me about crooks is that he let Lennie into his room when all the other guys don't want to be around their bunk house. When Crooks said "Well, go see your pup, then. don't come where you're not wanted." in this crooks sounded very defensive and when he realized how innocent Lennie has he let him in at they talked. another thing that surprised me was the mutual respect that the others had for him and the respect he had for them, and that even though he is crippled he will be the person to work at the ranch the longest because of his job.

Blog 4 OMAM

Curley's wife's statement: "They left all the weak ones here." was ironic because the people that were left there were not the weak ones but the strongest people here. They were the lowest on the social ladder though. According to the previous chapter, Lennie proved that he was very strong, stronger than other people because he crushed Curley's hand. The other people in the room were also pretty strong. Curley's wife might have thought that they were the weak ones because they all had one disability or another. Lenny had a mental disease, Candy lost his hand and Crooks was black. They were all outcasts of the ranch and Curley's wife might be referring to this.

OMAM Blog 4

In part 4 we meet Crooks, the stable buck who is a black man with quite a personality. While reading we read that “Crooks’ face lighted with pleasure in his torture [of Lennie]” – p. 71. At first one may be upset, but Crooks is only hoping to have his own friend when he tortures Lennie with thoughts of life without George. We also must realize he is an outcast on the ranch and it probably causes him joy to see those who reject him suffer. Also he in a way is teaching him that it isn't always a guarantee that he (Lennie) will have a friend by his side.

Part 4 (OPTIONAL prompts)

Part 4:

(REMEMBER: These topics are OPTIONAL; you can respond to them in a post, or just used them as direction for what to focus on while you read)

1. We finally get to know Crooks. What stood out to you or surprised you about him? With what intentions do you think Steinbeck deliberately characterized him?

2. “Crooks’ face lighted with pleasure in his torture [of Lennie]” – p. 71

At first this made me strongly dislike Crooks! BUT, after reading on, Steinbeck made it clear WHY Crooks was toying with Lennie about George not returning. Discuss your interpretations of this…

3. What is ironic about Curley’s wife’s statement: “They left all the weak ones here.” – p. 77

4. Curley’s wife reveals several times throughout her appearance in Section 4 that she is in the same exact state of mind as these men (i.e. LONELY) – where did we see evidence of this?

5. Some thoughts to discuss on the ending scene:

 - Why does Crooks change his mind about wanting in on their dream?

 - Why do you think Curley’s wife intends to get herself some rabbits?

 - How did Curley’s wife ultimately “win” the argument?