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Sunday, February 20, 2011
Life Lessons from Steinbeck
Readers have always found Steinbeck’s novels to be meaningful in that they teach us life lessons. What social message or lesson did you find laced throughout this novel and what incident, character or quote helped generate this message in your mind?
If you haven’t finish the book, don’t read the response...
Life seems to be a cluster of random events- nothing truly making sense, unless you examine it for patterns and lessons experienced after actions taken place. Of Mice And Men, the novel in which events could be seen as more random than the plot of Napolean Dynomite, author John Steinbeck cleverly set out lessons for the readers to find, but not in the case where it would be overwhelmingly obvious. As sad and depressing as it may sound, John Steinbeck may have tried to tell (or even warn) the reader on the dangers of trying to be ignorant of problems surrounding the reader, and to be vigilant of said issues, for if a problem is ignored, over a period of time the issue will eventually manifest into a situation that is so out of hand, it would have been better to have dealt with it from the very beginning. Throughout the novel, George repeats over and over how “if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble”(Steinbeck, 11). He knew the trouble Lennie caused, and he knew he should’ve left him to fend for himself, but instead, he stuck by him, ignoring the fact he DID have issues (yet another thing he ignored) until the problems Lennie had grew larger by the day until Lennie made the mistake that ultimately cost him his life (first he crushed mice, moving onto the death of the puppy, then finally taking the life of another human being- his issues growing rapidly with time ignored). George was in such deep denial of Lennie’s mental health issues, saying “He ain’t no cuckoo. He’s dumb as hell, but he ain’t crazy”(Steinbeck, 39), that he eventually believed it himself and felt such remorse when he realized the danger Lennie was, which, by then, was too late.
I've learned a lot of lessons throughout "Of Mice & Men". The thing I enjoy the most out of this novel is that George will ALWAYS defend his best friend Lennie. That takes a lot of courage and guts. Many people of today's society feel as if it's stupid to defend people because its the un-cool thing to do. I defend many people if I feel they're doing wrong. We as people need to change this world, to make it a better and more peaceful place. One step at a time
@OHagerty: I think that is a very good observation of modern society in relation to the lessons in the novel. Just recently I had a conversation about the "right" things to do in certain situations, such as defending and protecting those who cannot for themselves. Some could argue that "It's none of their business to interfere." While I believe that we, as human beings, serve an obligation to one another to defend our own kind. It's our society that makes us this way, our culture. We are taught to believe to "mind our own" in situations like that. How would someone act if they were to see a small child getting abused by others, especially defenseless? A good lesson to absorb from this novel IS to defend our friends and loved ones. Why, without George; Lennie would be even more clueless than he is portrayed on the pages. One might make an inference that George may have, at times, had regrets about protecting Lennie, but it was a lesson that the reader can take with them...
The lesson learned from this novel is that helping other people is an honorable thing to do. In this case, George chose to help Lennie out. Now in days, it's very hard to find somebody that will do what Lennie did. Although George took Lennie's life away at the end, he did it for a good cause. He just didn't want to see somebody else kill his friend for something Lennie did not mean to do. Lennie had put George through enough and it was time for him to go, George managed to kill Lennie in a calm mind set, with the image of their dream house instead of having Lennie scared with a gun pointed to his face. Lennie didn't feel a thing.
Life lessons take a major part in the novel's plot and severity of the ending. Steinbeck's writing nearly over expresses Lennie's dependency on George. In doing this it under-minded George's dependency on Lennie. George tended to keep to himself, and a majority of the times he did speak, he was defending Lennie or comforting him. Although Lennie was George's major setback in life, he was his only friend through all his life's little journeys. The life lesson was expressed in the ending of the book. *******SPOILER ALERT******* When George stole Carlson's pistol he at that point knew if he found Lennie first or not. His friend was going to die today. By the simple gesture of George lowering his hat over his eyes expressed his feelings. The lesson in the story was his dependency on his friend, weather the time was good or bad, it effects and changes your life in many ways. Even the people who you feel hold you back the most you need to get through the day,and when it came down to it George learned that when he killed his "setback"
@OHagerty I agree with you..it does take some guts to stand up for your best friend when they need help. There are alot of fake people now & you have to watch out who you hang out with. You gotta choose people who you trust & have your back through thick & thin...just like George & Lennie
Reading Of mice and men offered many life lessons, the biggest I would say is the life lesson you see George go through in having to take care of another person who isn’t all there in the mind. It shows how responsible someone would have to be in order to take care of a person. George was responsible for not only his own actions but Lennie’s actions as well which in the end catches up with him because he’s forced to do something he doesn’t want to do. While reading of mice and men it’s noticed that there are a lot of people who are just plain mean Curley, Curley’s wife, Crook, they are all mean but in time the reasons why they are so mean are explained. The explanation as to why these people are so mean are all preventable, Curley is mad because his wife is always around the guy so he’s mean to everyone. Curley’s wife is mean because Curley gives her no attention. Crook is mean because everyone is mean to him because he’s black. All preventable things yet no one tries to stop them or fix them so more people it causes just a domino effect with people having their feelings hurt and becoming angry. The life lesson in that would be treat other respectfully and give them the attention they need as well as practice equality and things wouldn’t get so bad amongst people.
A social message I got from this novel is that everyone should take care of their own business. This came to me when the old guy regretted that he let someone else put down his dog.
If you haven’t finish the book, don’t read the response...
ReplyDeleteLife seems to be a cluster of random events- nothing truly making sense, unless you examine it for patterns and lessons experienced after actions taken place. Of Mice And Men, the novel in which events could be seen as more random than the plot of Napolean Dynomite, author John Steinbeck cleverly set out lessons for the readers to find, but not in the case where it would be overwhelmingly obvious. As sad and depressing as it may sound, John Steinbeck may have tried to tell (or even warn) the reader on the dangers of trying to be ignorant of problems surrounding the reader, and to be vigilant of said issues, for if a problem is ignored, over a period of time the issue will eventually manifest into a situation that is so out of hand, it would have been better to have dealt with it from the very beginning.
Throughout the novel, George repeats over and over how “if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble”(Steinbeck, 11). He knew the trouble Lennie caused, and he knew he should’ve left him to fend for himself, but instead, he stuck by him, ignoring the fact he DID have issues (yet another thing he ignored) until the problems Lennie had grew larger by the day until Lennie made the mistake that ultimately cost him his life (first he crushed mice, moving onto the death of the puppy, then finally taking the life of another human being- his issues growing rapidly with time ignored). George was in such deep denial of Lennie’s mental health issues, saying “He ain’t no cuckoo. He’s dumb as hell, but he ain’t crazy”(Steinbeck, 39), that he eventually believed it himself and felt such remorse when he realized the danger Lennie was, which, by then, was too late.
I've learned a lot of lessons throughout "Of Mice & Men". The thing I enjoy the most out of this novel is that George will ALWAYS defend his best friend Lennie. That takes a lot of courage and guts. Many people of today's society feel as if it's stupid to defend people because its the un-cool thing to do. I defend many people if I feel they're doing wrong. We as people need to change this world, to make it a better and more peaceful place. One step at a time
ReplyDelete@OHagerty: I think that is a very good observation of modern society in relation to the lessons in the novel. Just recently I had a conversation about the "right" things to do in certain situations, such as defending and protecting those who cannot for themselves. Some could argue that "It's none of their business to interfere." While I believe that we, as human beings, serve an obligation to one another to defend our own kind. It's our society that makes us this way, our culture. We are taught to believe to "mind our own" in situations like that. How would someone act if they were to see a small child getting abused by others, especially defenseless? A good lesson to absorb from this novel IS to defend our friends and loved ones. Why, without George; Lennie would be even more clueless than he is portrayed on the pages. One might make an inference that George may have, at times, had regrets about protecting Lennie, but it was a lesson that the reader can take with them...
ReplyDeleteThe lesson learned from this novel is that helping other people is an honorable thing to do. In this case, George chose to help Lennie out. Now in days, it's very hard to find somebody that will do what Lennie did. Although George took Lennie's life away at the end, he did it for a good cause. He just didn't want to see somebody else kill his friend for something Lennie did not mean to do. Lennie had put George through enough and it was time for him to go, George managed to kill Lennie in a calm mind set, with the image of their dream house instead of having Lennie scared with a gun pointed to his face. Lennie didn't feel a thing.
ReplyDeleteLife lessons take a major part in the novel's plot and severity of the ending. Steinbeck's writing nearly over expresses Lennie's dependency on George. In doing this it under-minded George's dependency on Lennie. George tended to keep to himself, and a majority of the times he did speak, he was defending Lennie or comforting him. Although Lennie was George's major setback in life, he was his only friend through all his life's little journeys. The life lesson was expressed in the ending of the book. *******SPOILER ALERT*******
ReplyDeleteWhen George stole Carlson's pistol he at that point knew if he found Lennie first or not. His friend was going to die today. By the simple gesture of George lowering his hat over his eyes expressed his feelings. The lesson in the story was his dependency on his friend, weather the time was good or bad, it effects and changes your life in many ways. Even the people who you feel hold you back the most you need to get through the day,and when it came down to it George learned that when he killed his "setback"
@OHagerty I agree with you..it does take some guts to stand up for your best friend when they need help. There are alot of fake people now & you have to watch out who you hang out with. You gotta choose people who you trust & have your back through thick & thin...just like George & Lennie
ReplyDeleteReading Of mice and men offered many life lessons, the biggest I would say is the life lesson you see George go through in having to take care of another person who isn’t all there in the mind. It shows how responsible someone would have to be in order to take care of a person. George was responsible for not only his own actions but Lennie’s actions as well which in the end catches up with him because he’s forced to do something he doesn’t want to do. While reading of mice and men it’s noticed that there are a lot of people who are just plain mean Curley, Curley’s wife, Crook, they are all mean but in time the reasons why they are so mean are explained. The explanation as to why these people are so mean are all preventable, Curley is mad because his wife is always around the guy so he’s mean to everyone. Curley’s wife is mean because Curley gives her no attention. Crook is mean because everyone is mean to him because he’s black. All preventable things yet no one tries to stop them or fix them so more people it causes just a domino effect with people having their feelings hurt and becoming angry. The life lesson in that would be treat other respectfully and give them the attention they need as well as practice equality and things wouldn’t get so bad amongst people.
ReplyDeleteA social message I got from this novel is that everyone should take care of their own business. This came to me when the old guy regretted that he let someone else put down his dog.
ReplyDeleteScored 3/15/11
ReplyDelete