Dear Mr. Sheehy,
Another year went over really fast, too fast. For me it was not just a year it was a life time experience. I came to the
United States as a European; I will leave as a “global player”. I learned English and I learned about another culture. I learned and I enjoyed. And while I was enjoying and learning I became more mature and open minded towards other countries but also towards people and their ways of life. I will always remember this year with its hey days and its hard times. I will never forget the friends a made and the people I met but I will also never forget stupid things I experienced and intolerant persons who declare themselves to what they want to be but not are at all.
I really enjoyed your English class Mr. Sheehy because it is a class or better a way of learning that is not related to the “read and don’t understand” principle. I appreciate that you tried to teach us in a multiple and interesting way with discussions, movies and blogs and other attention evoking methods. I think this class was pretty easy but it gave a good base for new and own thinking. I didn’t learn much about me as a student but I learned that the American education system (high school concerning) is far behind other nations of the world in the level and the challenge of the classes. That doesn’t mean it is totally messed up, it just means that students have more time for hobbies, more leisure time, more time for own projects.
If somebody would ask me what lesson was most important for me for my future I would answer this one right now.
At this point somebody might ask if I have an example for what I am writing in this letter or if it’s just a big phrase. No it’s not a big phrase. I want to tell one of thing that really impressed me. When I arrived here in the Rapid and went to central high school for the first time a got an ID. Something that was completely new to me because it is very uncommon to wear IDs on German schools out of the reason that the education system over there aims for “anitsecurity” or better it wants the students to feel free, it doesn’t want unilateralism. When I got my ID over here I felt like a number for the first couple weeks then I didn’t think about it anymore and now I don’t care anymore. I have changed and I think this particular change was not good
Not every change is good but change is necessary.
Sincerely,
Sebastian
Of Mice and Men final project
Finally- the final project. In this blog I list some literature elements that are used by Steinbeck in his novel “Of mice and men”:1. Irony, situational irony is when the audience knows something a character does not know. In this case its Lennie thinking about a better future and a nice place to go, George means heaven and the reader knows that Lennie is going to die. “Le’s do it. Le’s get that place now”. p.106. This is a good example how different Lennie’s and George’s ways of thinking are they are in contrasts to each other. Steinbeck never said directly that they are so full of contrasts, he jsut gives us examples for it and this example here is ironic at the same time.2. Round character is when characters are many sided and complex or we see that they have virtues and faults. I think George is a round character because he cares for Lennie on the one side and wants a job (chapter 1,2), on the other side he shoots Lennie (p.106). Steinbeck is trying to give a realistic picture of George. I think Steinbeck is doing a good job at this point picturing his characters for the reader. But there is one question open: what is the reason that George shoots Lennie? Did he want to kill him or did he do it because he was afraid of his own life? I think its the second option because he told the people on the farm that Lennie didn’t mean to but if he hadn’t shoot Lennie the people and especially Curley would have gotten mad on him because he was Lennie’s buddie.
3. Pun is a play on words, where one word means more than one thing and its often used to create humor. On page 106 we find a pun used by George:” Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta.” responding to Lennies:” Le’s do it. Le’s get that place now”. I think it is a good example for a pun because Lennie doesn’t know what kind of place George is talking about, he takes “place“ literally, George thinks of whatever comes after life. For me this is a really important line of the novel because it expresses again the difference in the ability of thinking between George and Lennie. Lennie is not able to think abstract or even to remember the easiest things so that George looks next to him like a genius. I think this is passage on page 106 is the climax of the novel and Steinbeck is trying to use a lot of stilistic elements, like this pun.
4. Flashback is most often, when a character tells a story of something that happened earlier. Steinbeck uses this element to explain why George and Lennie are traveling: :”Jus’ wanted to feel that girls dress……” p.11. I think that this flashback was really important because so the reader gets a better idea of who George and Lennie are. I think a novel without flashbacks does not satisfy every reader because everybody wants to make himself a picture of the characters, where they come from and where they go to.
5. Foreshadowing is the use of clues to suggest events that have yet to occur. When George and Lennie are sitting on the fire the day before they arrive on the farm George tells Lennie:” ‘Course you did. 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.” This line gives us a hint that something is going to happen and it creates tension. Steinbeck wants to get attention and first thoughts or/and evoke predictions. How wants to build the bridge between the “introduction” of his novel to what is actually going to happen and every reader, who is paying attetion,is going to step in this trap.
Finale of Mice and men
I think this book is quite boring if you just read it but if you think about the story it is getting more interesting.
I like especially the way Steinbeck describes his characters or better he creates an image around the characters without directly saying that they are a certain. For example when I read the book George was suspicious to me all book long but Steinbeck didn’t say that George is very egocentric and selfish, just in the end of the book we see Georges true nature when he shoots Lennie. Of course Lennie made a mistake but George knows that Lennie didn’t mean to: “Lennie never done it in meanness”. George decided to take care of Lennie why did he change his opinion?
I think the book is also interesting in the way that it describes the life of two men who are basically outsiders and nobody in real life would care for them I believe. They ran from the people of their old town and get in trouble again. Trouble seems to be their only friend but George really wants a future and a job. Is that why he is killing Lennie to start new again?
But at the same moment George is the one who gets Lennie into trouble by telling the other men that Lennie is making out with Curley’s wife.
I think it is incredible how much Lennie trusts George, he even trusts him when George is going to kill him:” Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now”.
I enjoyed reading Steinbeck’s descriptions of the countryside on the beginning of each chapter, too.
“He can’t think of nothing to do himself, but he can sure take orders”.
I think this statement of George concerning Lennie is basically right. Lennie is more animal without own thoughts and big muscles than human. I think that is an obliviously fact. Why is George saying it? I also wonder how the relationship George-Lennie is changing during this story. Will it change at all?
George spoke proudly. “Jus’ tell Lennie what to do an’ he’ll do it if it don’t take no figuring. He can’t think of nothing to do himself, but he sure can take orders.”
This is another statement how George is talking bad things about Lennie. I think George knows that everything that you say should be true but not everything that is true has to be said. So what is George aiming for? If he has some kind of plans does he just want to make Lennie unreliable so that Lennie can’t destroy this plans?
“Christ awmighty, I hate to have you mad at me”
Lennie impressed and Slim is kind of scared or afraid even if he is not very bright he is strong and that’s what matters on a ranch or farm. I think Lennie will gain respect by all the others. What will George think about this?
George lifted his tick and looked underneath it. He leaned over and inspected the sacking closely. Immediately Lennie got up and did the same with his bed.
This passage shows to me that Lennie respects that George is smarter than him and he respects George as something like a personal leader. Lennie looks up to George, maybe he tries to be like him. For Lennie George is the man with the plan.
I don’t like nobody to get nosey.
Is George just afraid for his privacy or does he have a secret? Is he a criminal with the face of an honest man?
“So you wasn’t gonna say a word. You was gonna leave your big flapper shut and leave me to do the talkin’. Damn near lost us the job”
This line is typical for the manner in which George treats Lennie. It is actually specific for on contrast of the story: George is dominant, while his buddy Lennie is absolutely devote against George.
“She smiled archly and twitched her body. “Nobody can’t blame a person for lookin’,” she said.”
Is this woman suspicious against George? Suspicious as the reader should be? What is going to happen respective what the role of this woman in the book?
Chapter one response
“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” this descriptive line gives us an idea of the land and its history and events. Many fires and many people have been here.
In the second line (“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”) we can find a descriptive element too but this time not about the country side and people in general but about two specified men, George and Lennie. This line is like a closer explanation to the first line and leads the reader to the actual plot and characters of the book.
Another for chapter one quite important line (“Awright. You got that. But we’re gonna sleep here because I got a reason”) gives us a hint how the characters George and Lennie are related to each other. George is the thinker and boss, Lennie is his buddy.
“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” this pretty stupid statement explains why George is the “boss” of Lennie. Lennie seems to be mentally challenged and is having a hard time remembering things.
“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”. An intriguing question to this statement of George is if they both have a secret or are they criminals?
Act three:
When me and some friends threw a tennis ball around in the classroom and one of us got caught he was asked who else had thrown the ball. He didn’t tell any names to protect the others.In Arthur Millers the Crucible John Proctor and Mr. Giles are the ones who don’t betray other innocent people just to get spoken free by the court. Giles doesn’t even reveal anybody when he is tortured by the court, he dies for his principle.
Act four:
Once I gave I friendship up because this friend was disappointing and she started to become selfish and egocentric. When all her old friends were gone she noticed that she did something wrong and “got better”. In the Crucible it is just the other way around. John Proctor gives up his principle not to lie and tells the court members what they want to hear. The irony is that he died for nothing and even the lie could not help him.
Sebastian Walter
W4 Mr. Sheehy
Journal Assignments: The Crucible
Act one:
I made a good choice when I decided to come to the
US as an exchange student for one year to get to know this language and culture better. Arthur Miller made a good choice saying that his play may not be historical accurate because so he avoids attacks on his work by people who don’t understand the sense of art and literature.
Act two:
There was one moment in my life and only one when I regretted to be honest because I had found quite an amount of money and I knew who lost it. I gave it back and got nothing else than a unfriendly “thanks”. In “the Crucible” Abigail is in conflict with the truth when is talking to Reverend Parris she tells some true facts but not the truth and she knows that because she wants to rescue herself.
Act three:
When me and some friends threw a tennis ball around in the classroom and one of us got caught he was asked who else had thrown the ball. He didn’t tell any names to protect the others. In “the Crucible” the accused persons tried to make themselves innocent by telling stories about others which are just lies.
Act four:
Once I gave I friendship up because this friend was disappointing and she started to become selfish and egocentric. When all her old friends were gone she noticed that she did something wrong and “got better”. In “the Crucible” the accused persons give up the general principle of honesty and blame randomly other people.
Who was Arthur Miller?
One of the greatest writers of the 20th century, husband of Marilyn Monroe
What made him so famous?
Plays like: The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, All My Sons, and Death of a Salesman
Why in a row with Brecht, Satre and Pirandello?
His work and name because he won many important prices for literature
Coward or unable to fight?
He got a serious injury playing high school football, so he was exempt fromthe draft.
Why did he become a writer?
He was inspired by dostoevsky’s novel “The brothers Karamazov”
Marilyn Monroe, really?
Yes he was married to Monroe from 1956 to 1961.
What are the main themes of his work?
Families destroyed by false values, the true nature of tragedy,
For what work did he earn the Pulitzer price?
Death of a salesman
When did he die?
2005 which is not too long ago.
Was he a player?
Maybe because he married 3 times.
Where was he born?
Harlem N.Y.
First play:
”Honors at dawn” with the age of 21
Sources:
http://www.imagi-nation.com
http://www.theatredatabase.com
.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller
www.ibiblio.org/miller
www.kirjasto.sci
I tried to make the story naturalistic by using a character who underestimates nature as a harmless thing, which is perfect beautiful and free of errors in contrast to society. When he gets in distress by the winter he notices that he was wrong with his ideal thinking and nature pays him his mistake back
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