Reading and Writing Assignment for 6/30/16 18th class

Here is Alice's writing assignment:

 

In OF Mice and Men, there are two characters, George and Lennie. From this book, we can clearly see that although Lennie is a tall man, but he doesn’t have initiative, maybe because his head can’t run so fast. Lennie came with George, who is short but know a thing or two. They came to find a job on the farm, but they wanted to own an acre of land. They had been working in Weed before, and in farm too. I think Lennie is a little strange, he likes to touch the mouse with his hand and always forget what George says. They met Slim, Curley, Carlson and an old man, I’m glad to see what happens next.

Hi Alice, Nicely done. I am especially fond of this sentence:"From this book, we can clearly see that although Lennie is a tall man, but he doesn’t have initiative, maybe because his head can’t run so fast." We would say " "because he can't think very quickly" or "because he is slow-witted." However, I like your phrasing better.

I am interested, though, in what adjectives Steinbeck used to describe the two men as the model I gave shows. Perhaps we can talk about this in class on Thursday. 

I was impressed with your use of the word "initiative" and the very common expression "to know a thing or two." Your grasp of English vocabulary is so-o-o impressive. 

In the book Of Mice and Men, the relationship between Lennie and George is like a kind of control. Lennie always ask George to do something and George always do. Also, we know Lennie is a amentia, he has physical strength but no IQ. That makes George control him. Lennie always follow George 's advice, even George always ask him to do something worse.

In John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, it's easy to see that ostensibly, George is just like Lennie's smart brain (because Lennie isn't so smart but George is), and he saves Lennie when he gets in troubles. But Lennie, which is not so clever, controls George's behavior. If Lennie hadn't been there, George would probably be a rich, great farmer and controls a lot of people like himself in the real life. But Lennie fetters him in the real life, and that made him can't do many great things. And the worst thing is, George can't discard Lennie because they are brothers. So I guess the end of the book won't be very happy.

Hi Cindy, You certainly nailed the relationship ( idiom meaning "described it in exactly the right terms") between the two men. It is all about George controlling Lennie because of the bigger man's low IQ (I'm impressed you knew that acronym--a word formed by the initials of other words). I will send you some comments via e-mail. But you did a great job on describing the relationship.

@ Mark  Wow, that is a very sophisticated understanding of the relationship. You are exactly right in saying that George "ostensibly" controls Lennie. But it's true that indirectly, Lennie controls George's behavior as well because George feels he has to help Lennie when he gets in trouble and he can't "discard" him.  As word choices, ostensibly, fetters and discard;  are exactly right for the context. I especially like "fetters" with its suggestion that the two men are chained together, if not literally, definitely figuratively. Very impressive. 

@ Cindy  Wowie, zowie, you taught me a new word. I didn't know what "amentia" was so I looked it up, and yes, Lennie has a mental handicap.