English outside reading blog #5

In order to write about the life and literary works of John Steinbeck, I will first need to research his inspirations and motivations for the books that he wrote. The thematic ideas of John Steinbeck focuses much on the working class during the time of the Great Depression, a time when the country's economy and government were out of money and the people were living in starvation. Since he himself lived as an adult during the time of the Depression, he experienced the poverty and struggles of many working class residents during the time. It was this experience that possibly led Steinbeck to write his novels: The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and Cannery Row, among many others. Steinbeck's works have also revolved around the events of World War II, and this leads me to believe he wrote only on the events that shrouded his life during his years as a writer. To do all this, I will need to research in depth about historical events during those periods of time, and learn about his correspondence with them and how they affected aspects of his life. Steinbeck's writing style is very unique among all the writers during his time, and I need to make sure and explain how that style stands out from his peers and fellow authors.

Outside Reading Blog #4: John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck, a great American author in his time, lived in the years 1902-1968. In his lifetime, he wrote a total of 27 books, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Grapes of Wrath and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. In the interval of his life, he experienced much poverty and death, and many of these things were what influenced him in his writing. The four major events which occurred in his time are World World I, The Great Depression, World War II, and the Vietnam War. His writings were based mostly on the time of the Depression, like the Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and Tortilla Flat, but his novel about the Norwegian resistance of the Nazis during World War II, the Moon is Down, was such a hit that it was immediately made into a movie. During the 30's and 40's, much of his work was based on biologist Ed Ricketts, a friend who he traveled with to the Californian coast in order to collect specimens. Unfortunately, this ended after Ricketts' untimely death in 1941. Ultimately, it has been said that much of Steinbeck's work was influenced by Darwin's "theory of evolution", which transfers to the idea of realism. Steinbeck's books and ideas were exclusively based off of this idea of "realism" and its outgrowth, naturalism, which had a sordid and truthful aspect to the world. Steinbeck didn't want to write about god or the miracles he can create; in its place, he wrote about the brutal, definite truth.

Outside Reading Blog #3: The Moon is Down

“Policeman and the postman could not even get to their own offices in the Town Hall and when they insisted on their rights they were taken prisoners of war and locked up in the town jail.”

In the immediate beginning of the book, Steinbeck gives us a brief note about a small French town that has been occupied by Nazi soldiers. When the invaders managed to take over the small, peaceful town, the people had simply lost all their rights, begging for the mercy at the conquering Nazi soldiers. As this quote states, normal day citizens that wished to visit the Town Hall would be whisked away by the soldiers without question, forced to work in the coal mines that the town was known for or be killed. Using this passage, Steinback encourages the readers to feel sympathy for the conquered community, and somehow persuades the reader to take a side in the story, kind of like how he persuaded the reader sympathize for Lenny in Of Mice and Men.

'I am in charge here. My job is to get coal out. To do that I must maintain order and discipline, and to do that I must know what is in the minds of these people. I must anticipate revolt. Do you understand that?'

Colonel Lanser, the head of the invading army and a war veteran, said this to one of his underlings when they were together in his office. Lanser cannot understand what the towns people are planning to do, and he fears a revolt within the city. In this story, it seems that Steinbeck tries to send a message to the audience that the invading soldiers suffer much more psychologically than the conquered, due to fatigue, homesickness, and loneliness. When the towns people began to organize themselves more in the story, the morale of the soldiers become worse and worse, and it reminds the readers that both sides of the war are merely human beings, not the flesh eating monsters that the English propaganda made them out to be. Therefore, as the commander, Lanser hopes to maintain discipline within his soldiers. The task becomes increasingly difficult as the townspeople continue to resist, and as they do, the Nazis would execute them instead of dealing with all the trouble.

“The men of the battalion came to detest the place they had conquered…and gradually a little fear began to grow in the conquerors, a fear that it would never be over.”

In the beginning, Lt. Tonder, an officer in the Nazi army, believed it was easy to conquer the small French town. He continuously forced the townspeople to mine the coal that the town was known for, and therefore raised a hatred among the residents. This quote states the fact that the invading army grows increasingly grim and unhappy at the fact that they have to stay in the town. Whereas the townspeople are able to count on each other, they have no one available for comfort or companionship. As the nagging doubt that they would never leave the town became more intense, they would become to fear the conquered townspeople, sensing the animosity within them for having conquered their home. This morale effect with the soldiers is the beginning of the end, because they start to question the leadership of their commanders and continue to despair at the isolation and homesickness they feel. In connection to Of Mice and Men, Curley terrorizes Lenny for his peculiarities, but later starts to somewhat fear him for his strength and will of mind.

'He came to make love to me.'

Molly, a young, attractive woman in the town, said this to her friend Annie when she saw Lt. Tonder in Molly's house late at night. Molly's husband had been executed days earlier for killing a Nazi Captain, and because of this, Molly was deeply saddened. Since the soldiers were lonely from days spent away from their family, Lt. Tonder came to Molly to soothe his loneliness, trying to get her to like him. This definitely proves to the readers that EVERYONE is a human being, even the "cruel, baby-killing" Nazi soldiers. Tonder personally comes to Molly's home and expresses his feelings for her, saying that he is a "man, not a conquering man." Unfortunately for him, she did not want anything to do with a Nazi, and ended up killing him with knitting needles.

"I arrested you as a hostage for the good behavior of your people. Those are my orders."

According to Colonel Lanser, by arresting and executing Mayor Orden, the leader of the townspeople, it will diminish their fighting spirit. Although Lanser knew his plan was doomed to failure, knowing that the conquered never give up without a fight, he was obliged to go through with his plan due to orders from "the Leader" a.k.a. Hitler. He spoke this quote to the mayor himself after the latter was captured, and told him that it was a ransom in return for the good behavior of the people. Mayor Orden believes that nothing is worth being enslaved for, like the situation the townspeople are in, and he believes that his people will fight on, no matter what it takes, in order to regain their freedom.

Outside Reading Blog #2

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place....With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us."

When Geoge said this quote, he was talking about him and Lenny being migrant workers, and how they always move around finding jobs, never able to stay in one place and developing a close relationship with someone. But they are different from most of the migrant workers because they have each other as company and are able to care for one another. Also, they have been traveling together for a long time, and also have plans for the future. Whereas most migrant workers work for money to drink and gamble with, George and Lenny are planning to get money to start their own farm, which translates to the whole point of the book.

"Well, you ain't bein' kind to him keepin' him alive."

Carlson said this to Candy after he saw his real old dog struggling to survive and laying down the floor, tired and hardly able to move. The old dog of Candy's smelled really bad when he entered the room they were in, and could not eat solid food. It took a lot of effort for Candy to care for him, because the dog couldn't do anything but sleep. When Carlson suggested to shoot him, Candy was reluctant because the dog had been an old friend, when they used to herd sheep together. When Candy finally agreed to let Carlson kill the old dog, it was a foreshadowing to what would happen to Lenny in the end, when George was forced to kill him.

"We could live offa the fatta the lan'."

Because of George and Lennie's dream of owning their own farm, Lennie believed that in the future they wouldn't have to starve or worry about money ever again. They had planned to grow their own crops and raise animals. Lenny said this quote because he believed he and George would live happily in the future, tending their own little home and being able to live off the food that they grow themselves. This idea is part of the American Dream, having your own place, and self sustenance, being able to maintain yourself.

"Lennie covered his face with huge paws and bleated with terror."

This moment happened when Curley attacked Lennie during one of their encounters. When both Carlson and Candy verbally attacked Curley about his wife, Lennie was smiling at the happy thought of the farm he was going to own with George in the future. Curley thought he was laughing at him, and started to attack him. Lennie, not knowing what was going on and being an extreme pacifist, cowered in fear of Curley's punches. This showed the contempt that Curley felt against Lennie, being a little mentally challenged, and depicted the ongoing conflict between the two characters.

"The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again."

Near the end of the story after Lennie accidently killed Curley's wife, it was inevitable that he would be hunted by Curley, who already had a grudge against him for breaking his hand earlier in the book. Everyone who knew Lennie well enough felt sympathy towards him, and knew he had not meant it to happen. George, knowing that he could not allow any more of this to happen anymore, decided to kill Lennie himself instead of Curley hunting him down. Therefore, in this end scene, George took Lennie back to the hiding place in the beginning of they story, and shot him in the back of the head. The dream that they both shared had disappeared without success, showing the impossibility of the American Dream.

John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men blog #1

In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are two migrating workers who try to find a job in an unforgiving world. Set in the early 20th century, they struggle to stay on a single ranch because of Lennie's "petting" problems (when he feels on the dress of a girl), forcing both he and George to constantly run away and find new work after they become fugitives in the old one. They hope to make enough money in order to build their own farm, where they will "live off of the fat of the land" and raise rabbits for Lennie to pet. Unfortunately, Lennie's problem prohibits them from completing this dream, and they are never able to stay in a single place for too long because of Lennie's problem.
The author's intent and also the theme of this novel is to show the impossibility of the American Dream. Each character expresses their own dream throughout the story. George and Lennie want to own their own farm, Curley's wife's desire to become a movie star, and Crook's desire to work on George and Lennie's land. The author shows the futile efforts of all these characters and how all of them are unfulfilled. I personally thought it was a bad depiction of the "Quest for the American Dream", because it shows the failure of the characters, which discourages readers from pursuing their own. The desired farm of George and Lennie acts as the main symbol in the book, because it gives readers hope that the characters will be able to live their free, ideal life in the end. As for all the mice and puppy that Lennie "accidentally" pet to death, it acts as a symbol for foreshadowing, leading to the death of Lennie in the end.
The motifs of Loneliness show frequently, where nearly all the characters express their lack of brotherhood and companionship. Steinbeck tries to show us here that friendship is a truly important part of everyone's lives, and to underestimate it is a mistake, showing the fates of Curley and his wife.
As I reconsider this novel, I see the two major points that are being made: The American Dream and friendship. These two points are emphasized over and over, their importance implied constantly. Steinbeck's intents are truly phenomenal , and the ideas are still held true even to this day.

The Rape of Nanking

During a horrific period in human history, the Second World War, a massacre occured that was not publicized by the media. The author of the compelling novel, The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang attempts to tell the world the true story behind the thick shroud that the Japanese created. Chang reveals the experiences and memories of surviving victims, some of which have been kept secret for four decades due to the humiliation they experienced. Li Xouyin, a young girl during the massacre, managed to escape rape and torture by the Japanese soldiers. Having her eyes nearly cut out by the bayonets of the Japanese, she was fortunate to survive when John Rabe, a Nazi doctor, helped her to escape. By reliving these first hand experiences of the survivors, Chang is able to truly portray the horrors of the Nanking Massacre, something that no one had done before her.