Literature Analysis #2

1.    1. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck tells the story of two migrant workers named George and Lennie.  Lennie is a little slow and acts as though he was a child, but is very large and strong; so George does all of the talking and tries to get opportunities for them. George and Lennie’s dream is to get enough money to buy a ranch, full of rabbits as far as the eye can see. This hope is sort of what keeps them going.  In the beginning of the book they are on the way to another ranch for a new job after they were forced to leave their last job because Lennie was accused of raping a girl in the town. They find new work and hope that this place will work out better. But Lennie’s strength and mental boundaries cause him to kill his puppy, crush a man’s hand, and eventually kill the ranch owner’s son’s wife. After George learns that Lennie killed Curley’s wife he finds him at the clearing that he told him to run to if anything went wrong, and while telling him about the ranch they’ll get full of rabbits, he kills his best friend in order to save him from the things that would’ve happened had he not done that.

2.    2.The theme of the story is about the American dream. All of the characters in the story in one way or another dream that one day their hard work will pay off and they can live their dreams, but they all have something holding them back. They look at the dream as a means to keep going, even though they all in the back of their minds know they won’t get it.

3.  3. The tone seems to be a tragic one. They have dreams and aspirations, but they are stuck working on a ranch, and have things holding them back from that dream.

“Well, we aint got any,’ George exploded. ‘Whatever we aint got, that’s what you want. God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want.”

Here we see George’s dilemma, his tragedy. Lennie is his best friend but he is also what is holding him back. He can’t have his friend and what he wants, he can only have one.

“I remember the rabbits, George.”

The hell with the rabbits that’s all you can ever remember is them rabbits.”

Here we see a bit of the dream that George and Lennie dream of that they cannot get. They work and dream but they know they cannot get their dream.

“Lennie said, ‘George.”

“Yeah?”

“I done another bad thing.”

“It don’t make no difference,’  George said, and he fell silent again.”

Here we see George give up, after the thing that Lennie has done he realizes that their dream is now all but gone and there is no way for them to get it back, a really tragic quote.

4.   4. Of Mice and Men uses many literary elements and techniques to create the tragic tone and theme; among them are symbolism, setting, imagery, syntax and similes.

“OK Someday—were gonna get the jack together and were gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and—“

“An’ live off the fatta the lan’,”

Here we see the symbol of the American dream that keeps George and Lennie going. Their dream of owning a ranch, the imagery and similes that they use throughout the story really make the reader envision and understand why they want what they want, but also understand why it’s unattainable.

“I tell you I aint used to livin’ like this. I coulda made somethin’ of myself.” She said darkly, “Maybe I will yet.” And then her words tumbled out in a passion of sommunication, as though she hurried before her listener could be taken away. “I lived in Salinas,” she said. “Come there when I was a kid. Well, a show came though, an’ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’t let me. She says because I was on’y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I’d went, I couldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet.”

Here we see Curley’s wife tell about her shot at living her dream and how she missed it. It shows how she could’ve attained her goal, but her mother held her back, and now she is stuck in Salinas, living on her husband’s family ranch. She could’ve been the actress she dreamed of but lost out. I also chose this because I chose this because it mentions the setting. During the 1930’s in the Central Valley of California many people worked as migrant workers, dreaming of something more and many failed, just as George and Lennie did.

“A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically.”

Here we see an example of Steinbeck’s great syntax, imagery and symbolism. Lennie just floats along and doesn’t really know or understand the dangers of the world, and eventually the evils of the world catch up to him, and Lennie has to kill him so he can die peacefully. Like the snake being plucked from the water, Lennie is killed without having a chance to think about what is happening. 

Tools That Change the Way We Think

Answer this not-so-simple question: How does extensive Internet/media/technology use change the way you think? Focus on your memory, your ability to concentrate, your sense of time and priorities, and the subjects/topics that interest you most. If you find "thinking about your thinking" difficult to assess, try the following strategies: compare yourself with older people who did most of their formal learning before smart phones and 2.0 existed; compare yourself with contemporaries who don't use those tools much today; read up on what education leaders and thinkers have to say about generational differences in thinking (and remember to cite your sources).


Extensive use of technology in my mind doesn’t make you lazier. It’s more of a matter of convenience than a matter of interest. It would be illogical to skim through an encyclopedia when you can open the internet and after a search find the exact information if not more. This can make it more difficult to concentrate on something just because of the fact that in the back of your mind you see it as a waste of time to do it another way. It’s all a matter of how you use the tools that are given to you; people who get sidetracked whilst using the internet and technology probably would get more distracted if they had to do the same task at the library. The role of technology is to take something and refine it so that is becomes easier or more convenient and that is exactly what is happening here. While it may not always be the best information it is quick and easy to get. Now instead of having to look through the archives of a library to find obscure information about topics we don’t know much about, you can use your phone and the information you need, easier and faster. The only negative I can think of is that on the internet there are lots of articles where people interpret and give their opinion; instead of you reading the information and creating an opinion of your own. In that sense the internet does create an environment where thinking isn’t necessary, but also gives you an opportunity to look at something and understand where and when someone has put their opinions and ideas into the facts.

In Search Of

 The video doesn't really make me think different about the information, when you read something you should think about who put it there and why. Anyone anywhere can write anything that they want and if you blindly accept it you're only hurting yourself.


I tried to be specific so that there wasn't as much for it to filter. If I just said Shakespeare is could show me anything, but I thought if I narrowed it down it would have to show me the more specific result. Other than that it didn't seem like there was much else you could change, my "bubble" has already been magically formulated around my computer and I don't know how to pop it...

Notes on Hamlet

At the beginning of the play I looked at Hamlet differently. I thought he was just crazy, but now I see him more as an intelligent crazy. He's crazy about getting revenge, but how he goes about it is smart and he wants to make sure it is done precisely as he envisions it. I see Hamlet's plans going as planned, but that the repercussions of his actions may not turn out as well.

Who Was Shakespeare?

Shakespeare wasn't a nobleman, but seemed to have been more of a normal guy. He established himself as a good actor, poet and screen write and today we look at him as the best. When students think of Shakespeare they think of English that isn't English. His writings can be very confusing when you try and interpret his dialect and all you know if that which we speak now. You just have to approach his writings different, because sometimes they're very abstract and almost always have more meaning than you give them credit for. Sometimes it is just too different to comprehend, but you can normally think out what he probably would've said.

To Facebook or Not to Facebook

At first glance Facebook appeared to be harmless and a little intimidating because of the face that EVERYONE can see it. This was one aspect that I never was fond of, that anyone who wants to see what you've said can. You can talk to your friends for what appears to be free. But you are in a way paying with your personal information. This doesn't seem like a very bad thing though; they have to make money and selling information about what kind of ads to show to a certain consumer doesn't seem very bad to me. The ads would be there anyway and you can ignore these just as easy as any others. It was interesting to me how many young people were on the site, under the age of 12, all the other information really seemed kind of obvious, they're a business.

Don't Be Hamlet

                In this soliloquy from the play, we see Hamlet’s mental struggle about whether or not he should continue on, or just end his life. He sees all the bad things happening to him and wonders why he should even go on living, and not just give up. That it was cowardly to fear death, but fails to ignore the cowardice that is present is he does decide to end his life.

                Hamlet has lots of problems, so much so that he sees life as hopeless and pointless, but killing himself isn’t a solution to them. Someone who really wasn’t a coward would fix the problems that were in front of them rather than kill themselves and hope that they will fix themselves. Avenging his father and taking the throne back would fix all the problems, which suicide would fix none of.

                Hamlet is an emotional wreck in this play. He sees all the wrong around him and thinks that there is no way for him to fix it. Instead of trying the stop all that is going on wrong around him from taking place, he just contemplates whether to kill himself, which accomplishes nothing. Suicide never really solves anything, and it wouldn’t make sense for it to here.