Welcome to English III. This is our blog spot. Here we will share our feelings and ideas about the works we are studying. I encourage you to be honest, but I EXPECT you to be mature and respectful.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
LAND OF MISFIT TOYS
Consider the scene in Crooks' room. How and what does the conversation of the "misfits" in the chapter reveal about society? In what ways does each character dominate/control? (This post closes on Sunday, April 26 at midnight.)
The "misfits" include Lennie, Crooks, and Candy. Crooks knows that a black man does not associate with a white man. He does not want Lennie to enter into his room. Crooks tells Lennie, "You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me." Lennie with the mind of a child did not understand the difference of skin color. Lennie is finally invited in by Crooks. Crooks tells Lennie, "Come on in and set a while." Crooks then begins to pound the idea into Lennie's head that George may not come back from the whore house. Crooks scares Lennie, but he is only in a dominating position for a small amount of time. Lennie suddenly becomes enraged; he "...walked dangerously toward Crooks."(72).Crooks is terrified and says, "I was just supposin'."(72). Crooks then talks of how Lennie has George as a friend, and he does not have a friend. This shows Crooks' jealousy of Lennie. Next, Crooks' doubts the idea of the rabbits and the "dream ranch." He thinks that Lennie and George are the same ranch hands that come through with the hope of buying a little bit of land.
The conversation in Crooks's rooms reveals the themes of alienation, loneliness, and survival of the fittest. Lennie, Crooks, and Candy are left behind by the others because they do not fit it in, and are therefore alienated. They all try to be better than the others to make themselves feel better, since they can only do that to other misfits. Crooks is mean to Lennie, because he is mentally challenged. Candy is mean to Crooks because he is black. Lennie uses his size to intimidate Crooks. It reveals how each one attempts to be better than the other since they can not do it to the normal people like George, Slim, etc.
During the scene inside Crooks room, Steinbeck shows us that each character that was left behind are the "misfits". Crooks is black and has to be seperated from the others. This shows that society seperates people because of their color. This is wrong. Crooks has always been on the lower level of the ranch. Since Lennie has shown up, Crooks feels he can overpower Lennie. Crooks starts making fun of Lennie and basically being cruel to him. Crooks gets pleasure out of this. Lennie is not a smart guy so he uses his size to get in Crooks face and make him stop. Candy, on the other hand, has always been known to not like Crooks because he is black. This makes Candy be over Crooks. Every misfit shows his control in the scene inside Crooks' room.
The gathering of the left-behind characters in Crooks’s room captures the nature of lonely people to gravitate towards others, no matter how strange or socially ostracized they may be. Often the misfits are the ones most in need of another’s attention. Each of the characters in this scene attempts to fit in with society and rise above the rest by using his/her strength to prey on another character’s weaknesses: Crooks plays his wit against Lennie’s immaturity and dependency on George to squash his spirit and tries to deter Candy’s hopes; Lennie threatens the use of his great physical strength over Crooks’s disability; Candy believes so much in the dream of the ranch that he overcomes Crooks’s pessimistic standpoint; Curley’s wife tempts Lennie with her looks and uses racism to attack Crooks. However they compete against one another, these misfits are all put back in their places when the ranch hands return and George breaks up the scene.
5 comments:
The "misfits" include Lennie, Crooks, and Candy. Crooks knows that a black man does not associate with a white man. He does not want Lennie to enter into his room. Crooks tells Lennie, "You got no right to come in my room. This here's my room. Nobody got any right in here but me." Lennie with the mind of a child did not understand the difference of skin color. Lennie is finally invited in by Crooks. Crooks tells Lennie, "Come on in and set a while." Crooks then begins to pound the idea into Lennie's head that George may not come back from the whore house. Crooks scares Lennie, but he is only in a dominating position for a small amount of time. Lennie suddenly becomes enraged; he "...walked dangerously toward Crooks."(72).Crooks is terrified and says, "I was just supposin'."(72). Crooks then talks of how Lennie has George as a friend, and he does not have a friend. This shows Crooks' jealousy of Lennie. Next, Crooks' doubts the idea of the rabbits and the "dream ranch." He thinks that Lennie and George are the same ranch hands that come through with the hope of buying a little bit of land.
The conversation in Crooks's rooms reveals the themes of alienation, loneliness, and survival of the fittest. Lennie, Crooks, and Candy are left behind by the others because they do not fit it in, and are therefore alienated. They all try to be better than the others to make themselves feel better, since they can only do that to other misfits. Crooks is mean to Lennie, because he is mentally challenged. Candy is mean to Crooks because he is black. Lennie uses his size to intimidate Crooks. It reveals how each one attempts to be better than the other since they can not do it to the normal people like George, Slim, etc.
Sorry, -RH4
During the scene inside Crooks room, Steinbeck shows us that each character that was left behind are the "misfits". Crooks is black and has to be seperated from the others. This shows that society seperates people because of their color. This is wrong. Crooks has always been on the lower level of the ranch. Since Lennie has shown up, Crooks feels he can overpower Lennie. Crooks starts making fun of Lennie and basically being cruel to him. Crooks gets pleasure out of this. Lennie is not a smart guy so he uses his size to get in Crooks face and make him stop. Candy, on the other hand, has always been known to not like Crooks because he is black. This makes Candy be over Crooks. Every misfit shows his control in the scene inside Crooks' room.
HH-4
The gathering of the left-behind characters in Crooks’s room captures the nature of lonely people to gravitate towards others, no matter how strange or socially ostracized they may be. Often the misfits are the ones most in need of another’s attention. Each of the characters in this scene attempts to fit in with society and rise above the rest by using his/her strength to prey on another character’s weaknesses: Crooks plays his wit against Lennie’s immaturity and dependency on George to squash his spirit and tries to deter Candy’s hopes; Lennie threatens the use of his great physical strength over Crooks’s disability; Candy believes so much in the dream of the ranch that he overcomes Crooks’s pessimistic standpoint; Curley’s wife tempts Lennie with her looks and uses racism to attack Crooks. However they compete against one another, these misfits are all put back in their places when the ranch hands return and George breaks up the scene.
JJ-3
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