Speedway

    This year has been great in some ways and other not so great. Within this classroom I feel that I’ve learned how to pick up things in a book the author might not want you to pick up on right away exactly. I know I can write more fluently then I use to in the sense of just getting stuff written down then usually looking over what I wrote down to see if it makes sense. This class was so nice because for the last two years its been like look at this sentence correct whats wrong with it, now time to do a worksheet, then give a speech on this, then take a test on some Literary story we read, and lastly we take a test on a poem. To me this has been a way better class then those but I know there is certain thing teacher must teach.

I found out this year how hard pre-calculus and trigonometry can be. I have been good in math every year I’ve taken it. I’ve never needed any help what so ever to understand anything that relates to math. This year I don’t know if I was to lazy to get it down right or what. Mr. West has kept the room fun in the sense of not putting so much math in your brain at once so you get to the assignment and say what am I even doing here? Next year I’m taking Calculus so that is going to be a lot of fun next year.

Chemistry I’ve been taking and I’ll say one thing about it I never imagined how much I hate it. Here is thirteen worksheets six of them are due next time we meet. AAHHH! That is about all I want to do after I get out of that class everyday. Then German its about the same thing. Beginning of the year the teachers there about 1 in 20 days due to tennis and other things. Then we are skipping the first six to seven chapters in the book then we are going to do work that required you to look at those chapters but your not going to know that till the first nine weeks is up. Then you get at least two assignments a day in that class and you have a project due some time during the week every week. I think those were the two classes this year that made me want to just leave and never come back.
Enough of me ranting this year I’ll probably look back and remember all the fun I had and all the classes that were enjoyable, (and yes this was one of them). I look back and remembered how my friends acted before they got in the Navy so I can compare to how they used to act to how they will act after they get through boot camp and such. This will also be something for me to look back on and not regret anything I did but remember the things I could have done to make better.

Story of the Year that is a hard one because nothing happened that was as memorable as last year. I don’t really know but I guess one thing I’ll remember is during Red 2 there was a lock down at the end of the period or something and a friend, Cameron, and I were getting out of his car and not six steps later we heard, ” Please evacuate the building and don’t use the main hall.” So Cameron and I just turned around and walked back to his car and then when I was getting in I heard, “Please do not go to your cars.” Then we sat around and saw people come from the building and just get in their cars and drive away.

All together I would have to say this is a great year. I though it was going to be harder after going back and forth between my parents’ houses since they got divorced but it didn’t seem as bad as everyone says it is. Then I get to be an uncle for a second time and I hope this second kid is going to be more mellowed out then The Animal is otherwise I’ll feel like I’m ninety year old man having to try and keep up with them.

Simile- Comparison of two things using like or as

“The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line,and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand.”

Its a comparison on how Curley looks with his fist covered by Lennie’s hand to a fish that is reeled in.

It really shows how strong Lennie must be to just crush someones hand like it was nothing and it may help in making Curley really mad at Lennie to make him go on a hunting party at the end.

Character Foil-when a character is portrayed as opposite of another character in a particular way. By putting the two characters next to each other, the characteristic, or difference, is emphasized.

“The first man was small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: small, strong hands, slender arms, a thin bony nose. Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.”

This character foil shows the difference between the two main characters of this story by how different they are from one another in size and shape.

This helps the novel in showing the difference of these two men right away so you can keep it in mind that Lennie is a very big guy.

Metaphor- a comparison where you call one thing something when it is not

“Behind him walked his opposite, a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide, sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws.”

It compares how Lennie drags along like a bear would do so.

It helps give Imagery to how Lennie acts like through the entire story in how he acts almost animalish sometimes.

Flashback-when a character tells a story of something that happened earlier

“Jus’ wanted to feel that girl’s dress-jus’ wanted to pet it like it was a mouse— Well, how the hell did she know you jus’ wanted to feel her dress? She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse. She yells and we got to hide in a irrigation ditch all day with guys lookin’ for us, and we sneak out in the dark and get outta the country.

It talks about before the book when Lennie and George were in Weed why they ran out.

It lets us know that when Lennie gets anxious or startled he can’t think what to do and he just hangs on. So it lets us know something might happen with it in the future.

Foreshadowing- The use of clues to suggest events that have yet to occur.

“‘Gosh, she was purty.’ He smiled admiringly. George looked quickly down at him and then he took him by an ear and shook him. ‘Listen to me, you crazy bastard,’ he said fiercely. ‘Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be.’”

I think this is foreshadowing because Lennie always seems to forget things and quite a few times he said that Curley’s wife was purty. So it shows that this is probably going to be the problem that George has some what foreseen to tell Lennie to hide in the bushes.

This gets you to think on this lady might be the reason that Lennie gets in trouble then again maybe it doesn’t but then it gets you to think on what might happen later on in the story.

“‘You wasn’t big enough,’ Lennie said. “They tol’ me and tol’ me you wasn’t I di’n't know you’d get killed so easy.’”

This made me mad at George because he knows that if he leaves Lennie alone to long then something bad is going to happen just like it did. Then Lennie was ticking me off because he remembered how they told him to say away from the pup till it got bigger but yet he still went and pet the pup and played with it. Then he just smacks this pup and kills it because it looked like it was going to bite him.

“She struggled violently under Lennie’s hands.”

I was right she was the entire problem and if she would have just listened to what Lennie was saying that she shouldn’t have been here and shouldn’t have talk to him. Then as she is fighting to break free she doesn’t stop trying to scream or anything even though she knows Lennie is a nice guy then she just keeps fighting then stop and wait a little and see if Lennie would let go. Then one simple shake and then the named Curley’s wife is dead and half buried in hay.

“I’ll kill the big son-of-a-bitch myself. I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts.”

“Carlson came running in. ‘The bastard’s (Lennie) stole my Luger,’ he shouted.”

These lines gave it away for me. A little before this George told Candy to come running out and say Curley’s wife was dead and to wait a couple minutes so George could prepare. When Curley says he is going to shoot Lennie in the guts even if Lennie got away he would only live for like ten minutes or so and then have an agonizing pain the entire time. Then when Carlson came running from the bunk and said his Luger was stolen I knew Lennie would have never thought that he could go grab the gun and only George had been in there since. So I feel that George didn’t talk to him about the land and there dream just so he could plug him in the back of the head George would have rather seen him happy and go out smiling and thinking about the bunnies and such then to have Curley or someone else just shoot him in guts and fell pain and be sad. Now I say that I wouldn’t read this book again because of how it turns out plus I really hate books that start and end the same way, bad.

“‘Take a shovel,’ said Slim shortly.’Oh sure! I get you.’ He led the dog out into the darkness.”

I can feel for Candy here because I’ve had three dogs pass on and I knew two of them when they were pups. I don’t think I would be able to listen to this like Candy does though because I start feeling angry and sad at what has to happen and I probably would have had to leave and walk around and blow off some steam after hearing the words take a shovel. Their are good intentions behind the shovel and such but I wouldn’t be able to hear it. To me I consider dogs as a part of the family so it makes me sad when one from my family passes on.

“‘ I ain’t seen that much of her,’ said George. Whit laid down his cards impressively. ‘Well, stick around an’ keep your eyes open. You’ll see plenty. She ain’t concealin’ nothing. I never seen nobody like her. She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody.’”

I don’t know but ever since I read this it definitely sounds like this lady is going to do something in the near future that Curley is going to get really mad at and try and do something about it. Then I think that he is going to grab something to use against Lennie and blame it all on him “for stealin his woman.”

“Slim turned to the whimpering Lennie. ‘It ain’t your fault,’ he said. “This punk sure had it comin’ to him. But–Jesus! He ain’t hardly got no han’ left.”

I find it funny how Slim says it ain’t your fault he had it coming. Then he says he ain’t hardly got a hand left. That Lennie isn’t strong. He is like the Hulk on steroids just to grab someones hand and crush it by squeezing a little. Hopefully the puppy Lennie is going to get never bites him otherwise the dog might get something broken as well.

I wonder if Curley is going to try and pick another fight with Lennie because he wants to beat him after he got taken care of so easily.

Then after so much I’ve read it seems like everything is going to good right now for George and Lennie and now something bad is going to happen and then it will be the climax of the book.

Some friends and I were accused of something we didn’t do here in Central High School. This happened from the most racist security guard in this school. I was sitting down in the commons with my friends during lunch and I hadn’t even bought food that day so keep that in mind. We were all talking and having a good time and Norma taps me on the shoulder and says something like, “take your tray up.” Wendell came out and said something like, “we had already taken our trays up or that’s not our tray.” So Norma push the tray to the other end of the table and asked some kids if this was there tray. They happened to be Native American and they said it wasn’t their tray. So Norma pushed it down to us again and said take your tray up. Then I think Wendell said it again that it wasn’t our tray. Norma wouldn’t believe us and said that they had film they could check over and if we didn’t take it up we would get ISS or something like that. I was just breathing in and out trying not to break out and say something I would probably would get in trouble for. Then I just couldn’t take it anymore I stood up grabbed the tray from table walked right past her and took the tray up. After a minute or so when I got back Wendell said he was about to tell her to look at the tapes to prove our innocence but I knew I was about boil over and say get the something away from me you racist something. Ever sense that has happened she has never said one word to me and every time I see her that memory pops back into my head and I just feel angry until I put it out of my head or just stop worrying about it.

“last guy that had this bed was a blacksmith–hell of a nice fella and as clean a guy as you ever want to meet. Used to wash his hands even after he ate.” (18)

When George and Lennie show up on the farm and they are shown there bunks. I love how George is looks in his little storage box and it there is a yellow can that is like a vermin killer. Then as old man talks about the guy who was in the bed before George was a blacksmith who was a clean freak in a sense. That really seems pretty awkward to me. To me it seems like this guy might just be lying in order for George to drop the subject then I think he might get something later on like lice and what not.

“‘No, he ain’t but he’s sure a hell of a good worker. strong as a bull.’ Lennie smiled to himself. ‘Strong as a bull,’ he repeated.” (22)

This made me laugh to my self cause it seems like George was getting a little excited from all this praise he was receiving from George and he let it slip. I can undestand why George scolded him because if you let something like that slide then it is like to happen again from what I know. Sense Lennie did this to me it seems like he might start talking if he gets nervous or excited and then he will be off to the bushes…maybe.

“ Well, he better watch out for Lennie. Lennie ain’t no fighter but Lennie’s strong and quick and Lennie don’t know no rules.”(27)

George now said that Lennie is quick and strong so maybe he ain’t always so droopy like when he was characterized in the beginning. I can’t say I wouldn’t be happy if Mr. Vaseline Glove got his little butt kicked maybe it would do some good for everyone. So that could be some foreshadowing of what might happen to Lennie if he gets in trouble for beating the shrimp up.

“She smiled archly and twitched her body. “Nobody can’t blame a person for lookin’,” she said.” (31)

Wow is all I can say. This is probably going to be a catalyst that could spark Lennie and Mr. Vaseline Glove to fight. In my gut thats is what makes me think they are going to fight and then my gut feeling tells me something else is going to happen with her.

At first when I started reading this and it got to George and Lennie walking along made me think this is going to be a very boring book to read. Then there is a description of them and to me that George is a sly and smart man then Lennie is just like the happy go luck guy who is a big guy. Then they get to a spot to rest and all it seems like is that George can do is make Lennie feel bad by cussing at him calling him stupid. Then he just keeps talking to him on how he screwed stuff up in Weed and now they got to go miles away to start working again as ranch hands.
Lennie has the brain of a child and he don’t remember things to well so that’s why George always says Jesus Christ and then continues going on how he forgot and he would have to tell him again in five minutes then he just tells him what he forgot. Then I really though this was going to be a bad book when Lennie says he likes ketchup with his beans and then George just explodes and goes on and on how he could be better off with out George and yada yada yada. Then Lennie just kind of slow moves toward George and says it would be okay if George didn’t want him around anymore he would go find a cave up in some hills and get a mouse and live by himself and George could have all the ketchup on his beans and Lennie wouldn’t eat any ketchup on his beans. This part after all the yelling was making the book way better because to me it seemed like George would give himself a smile in a sense because Lennie might not be that smart and might cause George a bunch of problems but to George he is family and I don’t think he could stay mad at him for to long.
It is kind of sad I think that George and Lennie got kicked off the farm in Weed because Lennie went over to a girl in a dress and he grabbed it so he could feel it but he held on to hard and the girl thought Lennie would try to rape her. Then there was a part that talked about there dream and I kind of laugh at how they are going to have a ranch with a garden and different colored rabbits.

My emotions effect a great deal of my thoughts. Like if I get ticked off there is no way I can calm myself enough to make a right decision so I simply try to leave and go off by myself and try to relax myself enough not to explode on anything. Its kind of like when the Proctor explodes in front of the law when they try to take Elizabeth. That’s what I try to keep myself from doing stupid things like that. When I end up getting angry I don’t like the feeing or anything of the sort cause it drives me crazy if I think about it and then I will just get more angry so I try to steer away from it. I can’t tell how many times I’ve come so close to screaming at the top of my lungs at my parents. I try to be nice and I don’t think I’ve exploded on anyone like I feel like doing sometimes. I have come so close to letting my anger cloud my judgment and I guess it has, because I’m ticked off and I make the bad decision and skip out on homework and what not. So my anger I guess has really affected my decisions in doing my homework but not really in real life. I never have just done something that I would regret later because even if my mind is clouded with some emotion I still know how to shut up and just try and walk away no matter how bad it is. The Proctor when hears Elizabeth is going to be taken away instead of just letting it go and try to relax he gets to the point to where he explodes. Then this entire book is starting to anger me because of the fact that all these people are so stupid they would believe a group of some girls that were supposedly doing “witchcraft” and now are saints and they are doing work of God when they are doing nothing by getting farther ahead in there own lives to make themselves feel better. If these ladies believe in God then they should now by committing the sin of kill others then from the religion from what I know states they are actually going to hell.

Arthur Miller was born in 1915 and he plays and such for over 60 years. Arthur Miller was a Jewish-American. He lived in Manhattan until the great depression then his family moved to Brooklyn. He Then graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School and then worked for two years to get enough money to go to college. All my Sons was a play that came out immediately on Broadway. Two years after 1947 he won two Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman, “Which critics hailed as a modern American tragedy”(1230 Kinsella). The next play he did was The Crucible was not as cared for because it talked about the Salem witch craft trails in Puritan New England. During the time The Crucible was being published and produced he was being investigated for possible associations with the Communist Party. In 1956 he was to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He did testify but he refused to talk about colleagues and associates so he was found guilty and got his passport taken away. This was soon later overturned. Artur ended up marrying Marilyn Monroe for five years. She would later be in his play a The Misfits. After he divorce Marilyn he wrote a few other plays and died at the age of 89.

Work Cited
“Arthur Miller.” Wikipedia. 7 Apr. 2008. 9 Apr. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller>.

Kinsella, Kate, Kevin Feldman, Colleen S. Stump, Joyce A. Carroll, and Edward E. Wilson. Prentice Hall Literature. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005. 1230.

This story starts off with two women sitting on a porch, Lucynell Crater and Lucynell Crater. One is the mother and the other is her daughter who is mentally handicapped. Then a man named Tom Shiftlett comes walking up and just starts talking. Mrs. Crater tries to ask Tom who he is and some other things and Tom just jumps off subject by talking about other things like he says that some doctors have been inspecting the hearts of dead people and they don’t know about it anymore then you or me do. Then Mrs. Crater asks where he is from and Tom goes into a big speech saying that he could anybody and you still wouldn’t know if he was telling the truth or not. Then looks over and sees a car that is sitting there. Mrs. Crater says it hasn’t run since her husband died. Mrs. Crater just wants someone to marry her daughter and then she can basically have a slave taking care of the work cause this place is kind of old and run down and she don’t want to anything. Mrs. Crater then decides to let Tom work there and then she will give him three meals a day instead of money. So Tom goes and fixes this and that then he also teaches young Lucynell to say bird so Lucynell goes around saying bird a bunch now. Then Mrs. Crater gives a smirk and says he should teach her to say “sugerpie”. Then Tom starts working on the car and figures out what he needs to get it running again. Mrs. Crater gets what he needs to fix the car then he gets it running again and then Mrs. Crater says that they should go in to town and get him married to young Lucynell. He says that he need to make the wedding nice and he wants to take her to a hotel to have something to eat and such. Mrs. Crater gets upset kind of and says that he is just a wandering man who no one would want she would give some money and that was the end of that. I felt that Tom was an ok kind of guy. Then he ends up going into town and get married and he didn’t like it cause it was just some blood test and then some signed paper. He takes old Lucynell back home and then leaves with Lucynell then she doesn’t know what was going on and she was just pulling cherries off her hat and throws them out the window. Then they stop at a greasy spoon and Lucynell falls asleep on the counter and Tom just leaves her gets in his car and starts driving off. He then gets lonely and finds a runaway kid at the side of the road. He starts preaching to the kid that his mother is an angel of Gawd. This is about the time I was completely fed up with Tom. The kid gets fed up and pretty much says your mother and my mother suck and you should go to devil. Then he drives into the town of Mobile as he raced against a storm with two tornadoes.