Of Mice And Men 4/27/15

Prompt - From your brainstorming session, choose at least two conflicts to explore more in depth in this blog. Be sure to include textual evidence and support and also identify the effect that the conflict has had on the plot so far. 

*Spoilers*

Conflict #1 - Lennie gets into too much trouble: man vs self

Conflict #2 - Lennie and Curley: man vs man

     The first conflict that I think was that Lennie always gets into trouble. The problem is that hue doesn't know what he is capable of. There are so many times that he had gotten in trouble from not letting go of things. He likes to touch soft things (mice, rabbits, puppies, silk, etc.), so that's how he always is getting in trouble. One of the things that he did was touch a girl's dress and not let go of it. Then, he always killed mice because they were too small. Also, in the ranch, he had killed a puppy because it was very small. Lastly, one major thing that he did that was very bad was snapping Curley's wife's neck and killing her on accident; and it could start as simple as touching her hair, then he doesn't know what he is doing.

     One of the conflicts that I also thought had a big effect on the novela was Lennie and Curley's relationship with each other. Curley obviously doesn't like Lennie, and Lennie had done bad things to Curley. Curley was always rude to Lennie from the fist day that they met; and he also started a fight with him. On the other hand, Lennie crushed Curley's hand during their fight, and he killed his wife! Even though Lennie killed his wife on accident, it's still the same thing. Finally, that's why I think that these two events are big conflicts in this book and have effects on the plot.

I commented on Justin, Jared, and Rebecca's blog.

Of Mice And Men 4/20/15

Prompts - 


Describe the atmosphere of the ranch and bunkhouse. Be sure to include characteristics of different characters that were formally or informally introduced to us in this chapter. Support your choice with textual evidence and interpretation.

Why doesn't Curley's wife have a name? What message, if anything, is John Steinbeck  trying to send by not giving her a first name?  Support your choice with textual evidence and interpretation.

     The atmosphere of the ranch and bunkhouse are kind of mixed. What I mean about mixed is that some people give off a positive vibe, and the others, a negative one. Some of the positive or neutral characters were Candy, the boss, and Slim. The characters that didn't make the atmosphere feel as favorable were Curley and Carlson. The reason that Candy gave the bunkhouse and ranch a positive feeling was just because he was just nice to George and Lennie, the boss was also nice to them. In the text, it said,  (about the boss) "Well he's a pretty nice fella. Gets pretty mad sometimes, but he's pretty nice." Lastly, for Slim, in the book it is said a lot that he is calm and easy to talk to. The reason that Carlson gave a negative vibe was because he was constantly talking about the bad things about Candy's dog. Curley; was certainly giving a negative atmosphere vibe because he would get mad easily and be very mean and rude; especially toward Lennie. 

      I think that their can be many reasons that Curley's wife doesn't have a name. One of the reasons is probably that John Steinbeck was probably trying to show that women weren't important at the time set in the book. Although, it could also have meant that she wasn't really an important character. Lastly, it could have simply meant that he couldn't think of a name for her, and he wanted to show that her being referred to as "Curley's Wife" to represent that she isn't that important. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events 6 (book 11) 4/16/15

Prompt -  List at least three problems the characters faced? Which was the most life
changing? Explain

     One problem that the characters face in book 11; The Grim Grotto, was when they lost touch with their new friend Quigley Quagmire. They finally figured out where he was when they reached a cave by the Stricken Stream, while on their way to find their sister Sunny. It was believed that he died in his house fire, but he managed to survive. He is one of the Quagmire triplets, two of the triplets had known the Baudelaires for some time and the were friends. So, they lost touch with him after they rescued their sister and were trying to escape from Count Olaf, when all of a sudden a waterfall carried Quigley away and the Baudelaires from each other while heading down the slippery slope.

    A second problem that the Baudelaires faced in this book was that Sunny nearly died from a deadly fungus. This happened after the children found a submarine that helped them and let them in. After being in there for a day with other V.F.D members, they were searching for the secret sugar bowl (that hasn't been revealed why it's important) when the submarine was too big to fit in the cave that held the sugar bowl. So, the Baudelaires had to get out so they can search for it in diving helmets, and when they got to the cave, they realized there was deadly mushrooms growing. They managed to escape, but a mushroom somehow got into Sunny's helmet making her become trapped in the helmet. If the helmet was opened, the poison would spread, and she had an hour to live. Violet and Klaus had to do a lot of research before finally curing their sister.

 
The third and final major problem that they faced was when Count Olaf and his troupe found them, on their much bigger submarine. They captured them, but, a good thing was that, like always, they managed to escape by convincing one of Count Olaf's associates. He turned out to be the brother of Fiona (the daughter of the captain of the submarine). The children convinced the associate to let them escape while he was watching them for Count Olaf, and they said they would take him with them.  He agreed, but, Count Olaf caught them, but of course, the Baudelaires escaped without Fiona or her brother; and were off on their own again.




                                         I commented on Rebecca, Saul, and Sebastian's blog.