One Is A Feast For Mouse: A Thanksgiving Tale

When the turkey made impact, the laughter of the jokester, my cousin Eric, became anger. His hand smashed into the mashed potatoes with gravy. For a single moment before the he opened his hand to let the blob of mashed potatoes and dripping gravy fly across the table. His hand opened and the blob flew and crashed into Josh’s face, my brother, who was sitting next to Carrie. He also became enraged and picked up his whole plate and jolted it forwards flinging all the food onto my cousins, both age 4, and me. The rest is a kind of blur and not just because soon after I had green bean casserole in my face. The next thing I remember is Michael, the cousin sitting next to me, untouched by all the food somehow, had a microscopic strip of turkey in his glass of Coke. “MOMMY!” He had screamed. The whole house felt as if it had been moved from the foundation because of the screech. Gam Gam, grandma, rushed into the room. Her jaw dropped through the floor as Eric and Josh bolted. Pa Paw, not far behind Gam Gam, snatched both of them. “Now who did this?” Gam Gam said as nicely as a woman who was ready to strangle someone could. The rest of the time we spend not playing soccer, football, or basketball, but cleaning and scrubbing the room that we never thought would loose its

Topham, James. "Of Mice and Men ' Review." About. The New York Times Company, 2011Web. 7 Nov 2011. <http://classiclit.about.com/od/ofmiceandmensteinbeck/fr/aa_ofmice.htm>.

John Stienbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men” is about the death of the American dream. George, Lennie and Candy’s dream is to own their own piece of land to work and live independently on. This dream is destroyed by Lennie’s ignorance and Lennie’s strength, which he cannot control. Curley’s wife’s dream is to be a famous Hollywood actress. Her dream is destroyed by her marriage to Curley and the Hollywood director who promised to contact her about her acting career but never has. Crook’s dream is for equality. Racism and the attitudes of others destroy this dream.

Regardless of how intensely the characters of this novel hope and dream, their plans do not find fulfillment. Due to the lack of fulfillment of their dream, the characters face loneliness setting each apart from the other. Unlike George and Lennie, the other character of Crooks has no one to support him and be there for him as Lennie and George have each other. In the story, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck contrasts the loneliness and isolation experienced by Crooks, whom life has made abandon his dream of equality, with the closeness of Lennie and George, establishing a false sense of hope for the achievement of their dream, making the ending tragic because they lose both the dream and their unique friendship no

Although Of Mice and Men definitely teaches young students about how the setting was set up back then, the themes of abuse and death included could be found highly inappropriate or offensive to young students today. These themes arise from the multiple abusive and gory deaths of characters throughout the novel. For example, the novel included a reoccurring scene of murder of innocent animals by Lennie including mice and puppies. Some readers are not able to handle such grimness, therefore finding it repugnant or simply unacceptable. Readers with their own pets may also feel a terrible sense of guilt and repulsiveness by simply reading the novel. Another example is portrayed when Lennie violently kills Curley’s wife by shaking her to death.

The Great Depression took place in the United States in the 1930s. Northern California, Salinas Valley was affected by the Great Depression. Many farmers lost their properties and were forced to find other work. Banks were forced to foreclose on mortgages’ and had to collect debts. Hundreds of thousands of farmers packed up their families and few belongings, and headed for California. The Great Depression left many people in poverty and caused them to face unpleasant events. This is how life was like for the characters in Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. Mostly all the characters in this novel suffered from loneliness. Some of the men desired to come together in a way that would allow them to be like brothers to one

One of the major themes of John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men is that having a dream creates hope, friendship, and determination, enabling one to strive onward in life with a sense of importance. Three major examples show this idea. The first example is Candy’s loss of his dog and his joining George and Lennie 's dream of owning land. A second example is Crook’s memory of his father’s

Compare the episodes in which Candy’s dog and Lennie die. How has Steinbeck made these events effective for the reader?

You can judge a society by its treatment of the old, the weak, the helpless and the needy. Through the narrative conventions of foreshadowing and characterisation, John Steinbeck, in his novel Of Mice And Men, published in 1937, is able to effectively reveal the imperfections of America’s capitalist

John Steinbeck’s landmark novel Of Mice and Men is perhaps best known for its revolutionary telling of two characters that are very different, but have come to rely on each other to survive during the Great Depression. The two characters are men named George and Lenny. George is somewhat of an average fellow who has no real special skills or attributes. Lenny is large and abnormally strong, but unfortunately has the mind of a child. Lennie looks up to George as if he were a role model. This statement is best supported in the book; “Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees, embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had it just right. He pulled his hat down a little more over his eyes, the way George's hat was” (Steinbeck). Both characters help each other find work and save the money they earn to purchase a farm together. Their plans keep getting delayed due to Lenny’s habit of getting into serious trouble. George and Lenny are forced to flee the towns that Lenny has gotten in trouble in and continually move to other cities to find jobs. Of Mice and Men has been praised by readers everywhere and is hailed as a modern classic. Of Mice and Men’s success is usually said to be a result of the complex and emotional bond between the two main characters. Many readers forget about the supporting characters that help or hurt George and Lenny during their story. The minor characters in the story each have their own

     Of Mice and Men was written during a period of racism. In the 1960's it was important for everyone to get along with eachother because not everyone was equal. George and Lennie showed a great part in friendship throught the whole book. At the ranch in Selinas mostly everyone showed friendship in some way. Friendship was a great factor when the book was published because of all the racism going on at the time.

Of Mice And Men The novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ reveal life in the 1930’s. A time very diverse to ours. Steinback, the author of this novel wrote about various issues such as lifestyle of the travelling ranchmen, loneliness, friendship, the American dream, racism and sexism. The book is about two migrant labourers, George Milton and Lennie Small in California.

“The Mouse” is a short story written by H.H Munro. The main characters are Theodoric, the mouse, and the blind lady. The author Munro writes the story in third person and uses an omniscient view. The setting of the story takes part in the vicarage, the stable, and the ends in train compartment. The tone used by the author to engage his readers is an exciting, thrilling fast paced tone that bring the characters to life. To strengthen the thrilling exciting tone, the author uses phrases such as: “he was not even alone in his own clothes. “A warm, creeping movement over his flesh betrayed the unwelcome and highly resented presence, unseen but poignant, of a strayed mouse.” After reading the quote above, I as the reader was drawn into the

The story Of Mice and Men took place during the 1930’s. That time period was very different from today. Race and gender were very important characteristics that determined whether a person had the opportunity to make money. The 1930’s were also a time where people started questioning life and the American culture. Many people like John Steinbeck thought that life was very unfair and questioned whether if life was even worth living. In Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck demonstrates that mans dream is destined to be destroyed by a cruel reality.

In the poems Robert Burns’ “To a Mouse” and “The Mouse’s Petition” by Anna Letitia Barbauld, many feelings and emotions about mice are brought forth. While both poems were written by different authors, many of the feelings they share towards mice are common. The analysis of the two poems will help to find the comparisons and differences in theme, political and social issues, diction, and tone. Examples from the poems will help to show the similarities and differences in the two.