Why of Mice and men ?

Steinbeck was originally going to name the book  Something that happened. But instead he changed it to Of Mice and Men right after he read the poem by Robert burns. The poem by Robert burns is about a farmer who destroys a mice's nest while plowing. Two a mouse means "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry (or astray)." This means that no one knows what is going to happen in the future or is ever fully prepared. The major event that just happened in Japan is a very good example of this, because no one really knew that an earthquake was going to happen at that exact time and place and create a tsunami. This book is also based on broken dreams. George's dream of settling on a farm, Lennie's dream of the rabbits, Crooks, Candy's dream of working on George's farm, and Curley's wife's dream of fame. However, they all didn't get that dream, just like the mouse in the poem. The mouse wanted to live in his nest but instead it got destroyed by a farmer, and now its cold and the winds are coming. The book often refers human to animals He says to the mouse: "Still thou are blest, compared wi' me! The present only toucheth thee." Steinbeck refers that Lennie is more animal than human. The character will have a good life because he doesn't remember the past or think about his future or death. 

Alternative ending to of Mice and Men

I think that this book will end at the lake. Where they started off, this is because in the book they keep on bringing it up. And emphasizing it throughout the story. Since we know that Lennie ran away I think he ran to the lake, and George has strong thoughts that that is where he is. So he will make his way there. Since Everyone is on the lookout for Lennie I think that George will escape on his own and run away from everyone else and meet Lennie at the Lake. Once they are there they will start planning how they will get their own farm and land and plan our their life. Lennie gets really cold so George gives him his sweater. Once they think everything is going just great Curley and slim and the whole gang end up at the lake. They see Lennie and George and Slim takes his gun and shoots what he thought was Lennie, although he accidentally shoots George because he thought he aimed at Lennie because the real Lennie was wearing George's sweater. Lennie doesn't know what to do so he jumps in the lake. and hinds by a bush nearby. Once they walk over to the body they notice that its George lying their dead not Lennie! Everyone freaks out not knowing what to do. They look around quickly to see if they see Lennie anywhere but he's no where to be found. They split up into two groups and head off in two different directions looking for Lennie. Both groups passed the bush where Lennie was hiding. After each group leaves the premises Lennie gets out of the lake and quickly runs over to George. He starts to cry and scream and pant. He's sweating all over and doesn't know what to do. "Im sorry. Im sorry" he screams. Lennie thinks real hard about what he should do when suddenly he saw the gun that was used to shoot George. He grabs it and puts it up by his head, and slowly pulls the trigger. Tears are falling down his face landing on George. All of a sudden Lennie falls into a puddle of his own blood. Lying right next to George. Slowly George's eyes open and he takes small breathes in and out. He looks beside him and sees Lennie. He starts to cry knowing that his true best friend his dead. He grabs the gun and points it to his head and Shoots himself again. Both George and Lennie are lying down on the hill. Their streams of blood are going directly to the lake leaving it a dark red colour. The gang comes back to the lake to report their findings when they all see George and Lennie lying on the ground. They walk away and leave them there beneath the bush.

Crooks:

Crooks is very different then all the other characters, and one main reason is that is that he black.  Steinbeck provides a vision of what it really was like in the 1930's around racism. He lives in a big room all by himself only because he is black. Crooks acts very tough on the outside and a lot of people wouldn't think he ever had a problem with the state that he is in, because he puts on a great act. For example in section 4 when Lennie and Candy come to his room he looks mad tough acting as if he doesn't want them to enter his room because they are racist to him. Although Crooks is also very racist. From Lennie's and Candy;s perspective he may seem lonely and hopeless but when they got to know him they may have thought otherwise. That is all what he seems to be like and what he provides on the outside. On the inside things may be very different. Steinbeck did a great job of showing that Crooks actually has many feelings and thoughts on the inside which he doesn't want to share with others. He is very lonely and sad that he doesn't get to spend time with the other workers. Instead he has to fend for himself. Section 4 Steinbeck mentions that he puts on an act to be tough when they are coming to his room, but actually he is very surprised and happy that he gets to spend time with someone other than himself.

My future:

What are your dreams, ambitions and hopes for the future?  What would your perfect life look like?

I have no idea where I am going to be in 10, 20 or even 30 years from now. Although there are some dreams and ideas of where I would want to end up. I would love to go to university. At the moment I have no clue what i want to be as a profession in the future but i know a few years time I will have to make that decision. I would love for me not to work and be an at home mom with three kids and be married. Though I know that would be hard to live with no work. I have dreams of having something to do with fashion, like a fashion editor and a model would be the best! I know that is very hard to get into and that many girls my age have the same dream and ambition. I think that would be the most fun job for me and I am really leaning into fashion for a career. I would love to live in a nice house and be able to travel around the world before I have kids and as well travel with my family. I cant wait to see what will happen :)

Character Foil: Curley

"By Christ? He's gotta talk when he's spoken to. What the hell are you gettin into for?"
- In this small but very powerful quote, you can imagine the ego in Curely's voice. He seems mad and nasty. This is the way he made his first impression.


... A thin young man with a brown face, with brown eyes and a head of tightly Curley hair. He wore a work glove on his left hand, and, like the boss, he wore high-heeled boots.


- This is a very good description of Curley and just from this we can already tell quite a bit about him. From the quote we can tell that he was a worker. However, the high heeled boots gives us an impression that he is higher class, because the average worker doesn't wear high heeled boots.

Secondary Characters - The Boss

The Boss:
" I got my eye on you..."

-The Boss says this to George. This means that he probably doesn't trust anyone but himself.

"He wore blue jean trousers, a flannel shirt, a black, unbuttoned vest and a black coat. His thumbs were stuck in his belt, on each side of a square steel buckle. On his head was a soiled brown Stetson hat, and he wore high-heeled boots and spurs to prove he was not a labouring man.

- This quote makes a good first impression of the boss. It describes he is a working man although he has authority and some high class.

"The Boss turned on George. Then Why don't you let him answer? What you trying to put over?"

-The Boss is very curious of George and Lennie's actions and usually knows someone by his first impression.

My Bedroom

I love my bedroom. It is pretty small but very cozy. As soon as you walk in anyone would notice my favourite colour is pink because practically everything you see is pink from my walls to my bed sheets. My room has a lot of stuff in it like a huge collection of perfume bottles and hair stylers. I do not have a carpet unfortunately because my ground is wooden. This resulted in buying two rugs a pink one and a baby blue one. On my bed I have about 9 pillows because I love pillows :). I have a white desk that is filled with picture frames and pencil holders as well as a book case and nail polish case. I also have a huge window which is above my ledge where i can sit on and look out of my window. My room is also filled with mirrors. I love to come to my room with friends and have slumber parties! Lennie and George's room is very different compared to my bedroom, because they room is very plain and barren. I assume the room isn't the big but there are up to about 8 people living there. This means no one really has much privacy and shares their room with all the others. Their room reminds me of a room I would go to for maybe a few nights camping but to live in that room my whole life I would really not like that. The description of their room though does sound very cozy and warm because it has settings like a cabin would. This proves that Lennie and George don;t really have enough money perhaps to afford the basic necessities for a room like chairs or shelves. Which means that they had to use reused objects like boxes from apples and shelves and as chairs. Their luxury also is very good because what they are sleeping on shows the state that they live in. Although their room isn't the worst room I would ever want to sleep in because It does have some basic needs like a bed and a stove and storage though it may not be the best of beds, stoves, or storage. If I was living in their situation I would feel very thank full for the room i have now and even though I complain about not having enough room people like Lennie and George had to share a room with up to 8 people.

- Susan :)