Today we highlighted on the board how the major characters are all outcasts from society due to physical or mental infirmity, poverty, and/or race.. We further noted how each character is pathologically lonely and carries a broken dream in his/her psyche. Joshua located textual passages from the novel that supported these characterizations, and we then tied the characters' personal broken dreams to the novel's theme of the broken promise of the American Dream at least for society's outcasts. We began a character analysis of Curley's wife and will study how this broken character becomes somewhat sympathetic to the reader. We further noted the role of race as an external force that predestines Crooks to a life of isolation and societal disdain.
We studied how Steinbeck combines the Naturalist genre and biblical allegory , focusing on the character of Slim. Joshua studied the textual descriptions of Slim as "authoritative , and having an understanding beyond knowledge and words" and aptly concluded that allegorically Slim was deistic emphasized by his refusal to intervene in the euthanizing of Candy's dog. We discussed how within the Naturalist genre the external forces that "kill" do so without sentiment or reason. Joshua continues to make incisive comparisons to " A Farewell to Arms" also a Naturalistic novel. We further explored how the euthanizing of Candy's aged dog represents society's discarding of the weak and the old after it has no further use for them.
Expanding our analysis ,we today examined the novel as an allegory. I placed the names of certain characters on the board, and we discussed what each character might represent. In this regard, we noted how the name of Curley's wife is never disclosed thereby suggesting a more universal or allegorical significance. Joshua did well in suggesting that Curley's flirtatious wife represents temptation which we were then able to connect to other biblical allusions in the novel, such as the appearance of a snake. Likewise, we noted the characterization of Slim as "royal ,majestic, and God-like". I noted how Slim plays a role similar to a Greek chorus in ancient tragedies. Last, we reviewed Joshua's study guide homework and his analysis of various examples of foreshadowing . Joshua astutely commented how foreshadowing is a literary device well suited for a Narturaliist novel that depicts the role of predestination.
As Joshua has commented that he feels no emotional connection to the characters in the novel, we used this observation to highlight a critical element of Naturalism: a detached third person point of view that comments empirically on what he sees with no emotion or sympathy . In this regard, we examined the opening paragraph of the novel that focuses on natural elements , the external, not the characters' inner thoughts. Further, I again addressed the biblical allusions in the first chapters-The Garden of Eden and the snake. We then reviewed all of the characters introduced in rapid succession in chapter 2 and studied Steinbeck's characterization of each. We specifically addressed Steinbeck's harsh and negative view of women as evidenced in his description of Curley's flirtatious wife.
After studying additional biographical information about John Steinbeck, I provided instruction on the literary relationship between the American Dream and the biblical Garden of Eden. We then examined passages in the first chapter that explore this connection with snake imagery and the character's dreams of a future of plenty on a farm, life as an Edenic cornucopia .We continued to explore the concept of the American Dream and its achievability today and offered ideas of what Steinbeck might say of America in 2023. Last, I introduced a second theme in the novel-loneliness. I discussed Steinbeck's view expressed in his Naturalist writings that it is class and poverty that isolate and trap people inextricably regardless of their efforts and the constant allure of the American Dream.
We reviewed and edited Joshua's final essay on a" Farewell to Arms" in furtherance of our essay writing development lessons . Joshua has significantly improved his essay writing skills and employed some very impressive sentences and paragraph conclusions. We,however, continue to develop his skill at forming a clearer thesis statement that directly responds to the prompt. After I provided some suggestions for the essay's first sentence , we worked on rewriting some wordy sentences and on removing generalizations that don't advance the argument. I further noted where more explanation would be helpful and how to form a transition sentence to join paragraphs. During this session, we also continued our introduction to our next novel, "Of Mice and Men" by analyzing what is meant by "The American Dream" and discussing the myth of its universal achievability .
In order to continue our essay writing development , I today distributed an exercise that required Joshua to edit and rewrite a paragraph that contained fragments, improper diction, and superfluous words and sentences. Through this exercise, I provided additional instruction on the use of commas and colons. After Joshua made the needed revisions , we discussed what would constitute a proper topic sentence for the paragraph and why. As Joshua encountered some challenges with this aspect of the exercise, I provided models and examples and explained how to construct a topic sentence inductively ie. how to draw a general statement from the specific examples in the paragraph itself. Last, I reviewed the distributed material on our next book, "Of Mice and Men" . I addressed the historical context of the novel, and some biographical information about the author.
We analyzed the significance of Lt Henry's escape from Italy in the thematic context of whether escape from external forces is possible. We contrasted the characters' internal efforts at free will ( the escape from Italy and their intimate relationship)with the intrusion of external forces / reality :the war, the soon to be born baby, and the inevitability of death symbolized by the persistent rain. Last, we addressed the comic scene at the end of the chapter wherein two Swiss officials argue between themselves as to the best place in Switzerland for winter sports instead of interrogating Lt Henry, a wanted criminal, who is a deserter from the Italian army.
As a passage from last night's reading encapsulates the novel's theme and Hemingway's bleak philosophical outlook, today Joshua impressively located the specific passage and discussed its significance. We explored Hemingway's "Naturalist" view that external forces always crush the individual will in the context of the passage and the novel. I further noted how notwithstanding Hemingway's fatalism, he yet believed that in the moment of crisis or death Man could and should display the redeeming qualities of courage and grace. I further elaborated on the famous quote from the novel ,"I had made a separate peace" , which became the title of John Knowles famous book,"A Separate Peace." We discussed the apparent contradiction between Lt Henry's assertion that he could create or establish a coexistence or "separate peace " with a world that he believed would inevitably crush him.
