Symbolism

Have you ever had something or someone in your life that meant so much to you, but people didnt realize how important they were? In the story Of mice and Men by John Steinbeck this was actually close to whata character Candy wasfeeling when a friend of his, Curley told him that his dog was worthless and old and should be killed.

Many people say that Candys dog was not a character in the book but he actually was a character who had a meaning not to us as readers but maybe to Candy. Candys old dog could be a symbol of what people will grow to be, old,tired,beat up, no longer able to stand and work. In this book i think that John Steinbeck used the dog to make Candy and the rest of the gang think wow is this how u guys are gonna treat me when i get old and wont be able to move anymore, will they just think of them as useless and take them out and shoot and that's why i think that Candy was so upset when no one understood why the dog meant so much to him.

Another important symbol in the story would be the puppy. In this novel the puppy was a symbol of hope because Lennie is a big strong amn who is not known for handled small objects with much care (mice, opuppy, candys wife...lol) So for George to allow him to have the chance to have the puppy lennie can now show that he can take care of an animal without killing it.

The final symbol inn the book was the farm. The farm was a symbol of success and responsibility to george and Lenny. For Lenny and george to have a farm of their own they would not have to worry about going out and working for someone else because they will finally have something that they can call their own and take the responsibility of raising their own crops and cattle.

From reading This novel i have learned that the littlest things that people take for granted can have a more heartfelt meaning to someone else. I have also learned that life is too short to just worry about working and having the best life possible jus take time to " smell the roses"

Reflection May 28, 2008

This week fr service learning i actually feel like my group really got something done. We brokeup into two small groups. one group went over to K-mart, which consisted of group leader Juliene, Tabitha, Veasna, Gribbin, Jessica and John. Their job was to just go and price things out and see how much we will need to supply the store. Th other group which consisted of myself, Morgan, Arlette, Brandon stayed behind to do some finishing touches on the bill. We also went downto the lunch and we realized that the room we wanted the first time was way to small for a school store so we went over to another and we really liked it because we had a lot of space and we all could fit in there at once. We swept the floors mopped it up and the room looked and smelled way better.

Independent Service Learning: Dragon Boat Races

Part of my independent service was at the annual Philadelphia Dragon Boat Race, which is an annual boat race held every year at a different location. Me and several of my fellow students went out to the waterfront to volunteer in this activity.

-What have I learned about myself through this experience?
From this experience i have learned that i am a very impatient person and i get annoyed easy. for instance, I had to work on the docks and we had to hold this long boat by the tail with at leats 300 pounds of weight in it and litereally be dragged across the dock until the starting bell went off and in my mind while im doing this im thinkin,' If they dont ring that m-effin bell", lol...

-What would you change about this situation if you were in charge?
if there was one thing i would change it would be the fact that i was out on the dock all day and when we finally got off the park was empty and i had nothing to eat, so i stayed up there for 7 hours while everyone else was home.

-How will service learning change your future behaviors/attitudes/and career?
i think that service learning willl help me not be so rude and ignorant to people and at least try and help them out. (sike)

Service learning Reflection 5-9-08

What have i learned about my groups topic?

     - I have learned that the steps to creating a school store is harder than i thought. We have to do research right grants and letters just to even get an approval on our project first.

What i have learned about myself?

     - I learned that i am very impatient and that if i actually focus on doing something and stop playing around it comes out 100 percent.

If i were to change one thing in the group?

     - if there was one thing i would change, honestly i don't know what i would change

Of Mice and Men

1. Do you know another instance where an African American male killed a Caucasian woman?

- Another instance where an African American male killed a Caucasian woman was in Native Son. Bigger Thomas killed Marie Dalton.

2. What were some of the motives behind killing the dog?

- Carlsons motives behind killing the dog was the fact that the dog was old and useless and he could not move.

3. What questions would you ask of George?

- The questions i would ask f George would be was he just using Lennie and his size for work or did he really care about Lennie?

4. What factors would you change if you could rewrite the story?

- The factors i would change would be Lennie didn't kill the lady because then he wouldn't have had to get shot.

5. If you could describe George in one word what would it be? why?

- If i could describe George in one word it would be smart, because he figured that if he hung with Lennie he would actually get work because of Lennie size.

6. What would you consider to be the turning point in the book?

- I would consider the turning point to be when Lennie killed Curleys wife because when he killed her then the whole game plan switched up and Lennie realized that George would not let him tend to the rabbits and that they wouldn't be able to get a place of their own because he did a bad thing.

7. Could any events in the book really happen?

- I think that mostly anything in this book could happen in 2008. Except for the fact that if Lennie was to kill Candys wife he would probably be in jail instead of shot dead near a lake.

8. What do you think was going through Georges head when he walked into the barn and saw Curleys wife dead?

- George maybe was thinking "OMG wheres Lennie??, they're gonna kill him"

9. What would George tell Lennie every night before they went to bed?

- George would tell Lennie about their dreams to have a house of their own and not have to depend on anyone but themselves and how he would let Lennie tend to the rabbits.

10. If you were told to compare yourself to one character who would it be?why?

-I honestly do not know which character i would compare myself with in this story.

Service Learning

  What was successful about the meeting?

         - We got our letters done and we were on task.

What problems didi you encounter?

        -  The one problem that i think we encountered was the fact that we need to have something to present to Dr.Davidson really soon.

What needs to be worked on for the coming weeks?

     - We need to present our letters and get them approved.

What role will you play in the group?

      - I along with jessica, Arlette, and Gribbin are writing the letter to Dr. Davidson asking for permission to open up a school store.

Service learning Reflection

 Yesterday at our service learning meeting we got into our small groups again and we went over what we did last week and we got back into our small groups and prepared for next week. 

    My group is the group that is writing the letter to Dr. Davidson asking him for permission to make a school store and also asking him to approve of our grant letters. We plan on presenting him the letter and the grant no later than next week. Hopefully he will approve of both and we can continue our plans for the school store.

            In the film Empire of The Sun chronicalizes the childhood of Jamie " Jim" Graham, a young english schoolboy living with his wealthy parents in suburban Shanghai suburbs during the beginning of a war. Throughout the movie Jim went through some drastical changes that took place before the war, during the war and after the war.

          Before the war Jim was a typical rich, british boy. playing with his rich friends, going to private parties bossing the maids around. Until one day the japan empire invades their suburban neighborhood and they are evacuated. While Jim and his parents are getting evacuated, Jim is seperated from his parents. So he goes back home and spends some time there before going to Shanghai. There u can see that Jim is a scared little boy. He runs from everything and everybody thinking they will help him because he is British which was not the case. now that the war has begun Jim is scared, alone and vunerable.