CRazY’s Words

The first man…(to the end of the paragraph) his arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely.”(2)  

To start my use of literary terms I must use the best and first device of analogy. Steinbeck uses great description and an anology of two opposites, George is a short guy with a quick temper and smart. Lennie is the opposite. He is tall and strong but very stupid and forgetful of things. This is an analogy because it is a great comparison of the two being opposites. Steinbeck wants this opposite to show how people can be different but friends.

foreshadowing in the book happens a ton in the book. 
        “Shes purty,” Lennie said(32)
You can only guess that with Lennie not having common sense that something between the two will eventually happen. lennie likes her and she seems to be very outgoing and interested in him. This is good foreshadowing considering how Lennie likes her and has a fettish with touching things. Early in the book we are told how Lennie had ripped a womans dress because he liked velvet.

metaphor-”He stood crying, his fist lost in lennies paw.” (64)

 This is a great metaphor. It doesn’t use like or as, but earlier in the book it does i just cant find it. Lennie has a huge hand and just crushes Curly’s in a matter of seconds. That is one strong hand that I would consider a bears paw. Steinbeck uses around 5 or 6 animal metaphors for characters in the book. He describes Curly flopping around like a fish during this scene in the book.

theme, “The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.”(106)

 The end of the book shows a major theme of true friendship. George could have let the others kill him or maybe made a run for it. Instead George stood up and killed Lennie to have the least pain as possible. This theme is ran throughout the book with George looking out for Lennie most of his life. George had basically adopted Lennie when his Aunt Clara passed away. The two have been together for years and worked in several places together. They seem to always have eachother’s back. They even have a little song for their future, which Lennie LOVES.

repitition-  “The next minute Curly was flopping like a fish on a line.”(63) “He stood crying, his fist lost in lennies paw.”(64)

Steinbeck uses all kinds of comparisons with animals. He compares Lennie to a bear and Curly as a fish. This to me says that Lennie is like a bear getting a fish who is Curly. I can see it in my mind. It sets a very good visual for how strong Lennie is compared to Curly.This is repitition though because of how Steinbeck always reminds his readers about how characters are related to animals. I see it as another shorter version of what happened. Every time a comparison was made i could visualize a bit farther seeing it. Lennies paw a I can see along with Curly flopping like a fish in Lennie’s fist.

the final part of the book….huh?

page 86- lennie says, “no sir. i aint gon talk to you”

lennie and curly’s wife are talkin and lennie doesnt want to being afraid he will do somethin bad or somethin bad will happen. it is sad how she brings him into touching her saying her hair is like velvet.

page 90- just feel right around here and feel how soft it is.

curly’s wife had asked lennie to feel her hair. and with lennie not having common sense he was pulled into her act. lennie was a sucker for good soft feeling things. he loved mice and rabbits fur. velvet was his most favorite texture.

page 106- the hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. he pulled the trigger

george was so sad to pull the trigger on lennie. but he wanted to make lennie’s death as easy as possible and save as much pain for lennie as possible. it takes a ton of strength to make a choice like this. i would be shaking quite as bad. i have respect for george to pull the trigger to ease the pain of his dear friend. after years of putting up with lennie i think if anyone had to kill lennie it should be george for taking care of him and keepin him outta trouble as much as possible

i have learned more about books this year than any other year of my life. i dont like to read but i had no choice. i read books that seemed to have no meaning and found a meaning after studying them. it took a while to understand some of them. i just dont like reading so i dont have a favorite book. i liked being in your class and i like how you speak up in the class and have common sense. you get to the point and have fun. i like it.  the most challenging part of class would be the reading of the short stories back to back and having the blog articles. i like the fact of how everything is computerized. i love technology and have a passion for it. i have learned this year mostly new vocabulary and how to understand stories better. for future i think the most important will be digging out clues in text to understand a story better. in college i am sure there will be plenty of reading and research. i dont think anythin has really changed in me. i hope the best for you in the following years. and have fun with your kids… im having a kid sometime in december so it will bring me new challenges along with harder classes and more challenging education.

My favorite thing would have been the crucible or poetry. i like poetry and have wrote some songs. if you dont know i am now adding to my blog to you. i know you like reading things your students write. well i like talking to people with a mind and understand where im coming from. i liked the crucible best because of how ironic it turns out. It is also somewhat based on a true story, but of another story. i liked writing blog article because it was quick and effective. it helps students remember what they read. the only bad thing is the last week when you had us pick lines from the text. its easy to just pick out lines and describe them. i would of rather explained whats happening in the book. although then other students would look off of others and retype it. This class was fun though and i enjoyed it about as much as math. math is my favorite subject and this is the first year i have had to work hard to get a decent grade. i have never had a C in any class untill this year. this tells me i need to work harder for next year and the years coming. While its on my mind, The Reaping is a movie that is sort of like the crucible but more religious. i have watched it a few times. it has many points of foreshadowing that are stamped out right on the screen. although this is not a very suitable movie for kids it is for adults. i saw many points in the movie that i have never seen after being in this class. i picked up on them right away and noticed what was happening. your teaching helped me figure out the end of the movie. if you get bored its a good movie. Great having you as a teacher Mr. Sheehy. good luck with them red sox.

Your student
Zach Ashlin

chapt 3 was an interesting chapt.

page 39- just tell lennie what to do and he’ll do it if it don’t take no figuring. he can’t think of nothing to do hiself but he sure can take orders.

this text shows that george likes being in charge. he likes to tell others wat to do and be the big boss. he and lennie seem to get along well cuz george just tells lennie what to do all the time. lennie seems to be smart enough though to realize what is good and what is bad.

curly sat down on the floor, looking in wonder at his crushed hand page 64

this shows lennies true strength. how many people can jus crush a guys hand with one squeeze. it is amazing how much strength he has. i would defintely not want to pick a fight with him.

page 59, candy said, i aint much good with only one hand…how’d that be

candy has asked to go live with the two men. george thinks about it and candy convinces him witha bribe of his will. candy offered to put in his pay check of 350 to move in and tend what he can with his one hand. george gets a little excited cuz his dreams were actually coming true. im curious to know if it will really happen in the book. and if george will let candy come or if he is just playin candy for money.

my only oter question is if curley will agree and stay true to not saying a work when lennie crushed his hand and george and lennie get canned or not.

chapt 2

page 17, near one wall there was a black cast iron stove, its stovepipe going straight up through the ceiling.

the description of the bunk house seem weird. why would there be a stove if they are served food. i think the stove has another purpose in the book

page 22,  then why dont you let him answer? what you trying to put over?

the boss questions george why lennie dont speak. and george does a ton of lying. he tells the boss that lennie dont talk much and how great of a worker he is but how dumb he is.  george defends lennie also quite a bit through the text on down the page. the boss thinks george is tryna hide something from him.

page 22, well, i never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.

This is another question the boss asks george. george defends it by sayin lennie is his cousin and he was asked to look out for him. i think it might be true that george is his cousin since he calls lennie’s aunt, aunt, also. and lennie asks him later if it is true and george right away denies it and says it was a good damn thing they were not cousins.

page 25, at that moment a young man came into the house; a thin young man witha brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly curled hair.

when curly comes into the book he is told to be a mean little guy. he is kinda like george and quick fused. he starts to pick up that lennie is stupid and possibly an easy target to show how tough he is. he says how he hates tall lean guys and lennie fits that description. george tells him that he is dumb but is sure strong and would kick curly’s butt easily. he tells lennie not to pick a fight with him because he is the boss’s son and he would probably get away with what ever he wants. i think in the end curly will end up being a reason why curly and lennie leave the ranch.

page 31, lennies eyes moved down over her body, and though she did not seem to be looking at lennie she bridled a little.

lennie is in awe at this young lady. he likes her and she is curly’s wife. i think a fight will hapen and i hope lennie kicks his butt. the only bad thing is that if they fight the two george and lennie will probably get kicked out of the ranch.

• “In front of the low horizontal limb of a giant sycamore there is an ash pile made by many fires; the limb is worn smooth by men who have sat on it” (2).
  

  This line of text tells me that many people have taken the same road they are on to get to the ranch or somewhere else near it. the ash pile signifies many have had fires and the limbs being worn smooth with plenty of men on it.

• “The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin and bony nose. Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws. His arms did not swing at his sides, but hung loosely” (2).
  

  this text describes each man. the two men are total opposites from each other. one works hard as you can tell by being well defined with a slender body. the other is tall and lanky with problems. he has less self esteem and is not a leader.

• “You remember about us goin’ into Murray and Ready’s, and they give us work cards and bus tickets?” (5) this tells the reader that the two men are going for a new job on a ranch. the bus dropped them off a while away though so they had to walk.  this also is saying how lennie cannot remember hardly anything. he has a very short memory span.
• “Awright. You got that. But we’re gonna sleep here because I got a reason” (7). georges reason to stay out that night is to enjoy the freedom of no work one last night. also he is tired of lennie and repeating everythin to him
• “I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead – because they was so little” (10). lennie is trying to understand why george doesnt want him to have a mouse in his pocket. lennie continually kills the mice. he picks them and starts petting the fur and eventually the mouse doesnt like it so it bites him and he kills it by pinching the mouses head.

• “When I think of the swell time I could have without you, I go nuts. I never get no peace” (12).
  george is losing his patience with lennie more and more every day and is tired of repeating his self over and over. he goes on about how life would be better without lennie following him and causing trouble at every job so they have to find another job.

• “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. . . . because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why” (14).
  

  georges song is simply sayin that even though they are bums who work on ranches and all they have each other at least which most other people who work on ranches dont. they have each other to talk with and look after.

• “Well, look. Lennie – if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush” (15). george is already preparing for the worst for the new job at the ranch. he thinks lennie will screw up so he plans out where he want lennie to go to if he does get in trouble or kicked out. he also tries to make lennie remember this more and more along with other things and helps appreciate it when he does remember