Reading Assignment: Pages 37-84
Writing Assignment: These are the opening sentences, "At first glance, George in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men seems to be the one in control of his hulking* sidekick Lennie. But on closer inspection,* it's clear that there's is a symbiotic relationship between the two men in which each needs the other to survive." Your job is to use quotes from the text and descriptions of events to support this idea. But you have to weave those quotes and descriptions smoothly into a paragraph (or two). You can't just list them.
Please note the opening. The writer, in this case me, makes a statement about how things appear. Then she challenges that appearance to say if you look more closely, you will see something else. THIS IS A CLASSIC WRITER'S OPENING. IT'S USED ALL THE TIME in English. I call it the "I know what it looks like if you are not paying close attention, but if you paid attention you would see this" opening. Get comfortable with it, and you will always have an introduction to use if you can't come up with something you like better.
Quick Review of Symbiotic
We discussed symbiotic in class. But just to review, its a two-part relationship in which each side needs the other in order to survive, at least when the term is applied to humans. When it's applied to other forms of life, there can be some variety in the relationship.However, if someone says to you in English, "Those two have a very symbiotic relationship," the person is saying that two people, in different ways, help each other survive and would probably be in trouble if they didn't have each other.
To help you remember, I have attached a drawing of a real symbiotic relationship. The bird cleans the hippo's mouth of bugs and god knows what in order to get his dinner. The hippo lets the bird do it because it makes him feel better, and he leaves his mouth open. While his mouth is open, the bird can get dinner without being attacked by his enemies. Each helps the other survive.
If you think this is hard, blame Mark. He wrote about how one man chains or fetters the other to him. And that made me think, this would be a good assignment for you to flesh out, or fill in with details.
*hulking: big and clumsy
*inspection: the act of looking closely