Leaping+Lavendar+LLamas

= Leaping Lavendar Llamas!! =

Brian Daugherty
Pearl from an oyster shell. (Google Images) Modern day oyster fishing! (Google Images)

The American Dream !
The American Dream in //Of Mice and Men,// as we have discussed, is Lennie and George's dream of saving up enough money to buy a little house on a plot of land for them to live. They wanted to live off the land. At this new place Lennie and George would own a variety of animals, such as a dog, chickens, and of course rabbits! They wanted to have a garden, and cook all their own food. Their American Dream was just having a place they could call their own.

Curley's wife causing trouble with Lennie in the barn. (Google Images) Lennie and George at the lake. (Google Images)

===="Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place....With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us." (Steinbeck 13-14).====

=Summary of Mice and Men:=

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The book // __Of Mice and Men__ // By John Steinbeck is a tale of two men named George and Lenny who have a dream. They want to save enough of the money that they earn as migrant field hands to buy their own farm and become their own bosses. George will be able to settle down without having to spend all his time and energy looking out for his huge cousin, Lenny, who is mentally challenged, and Lenny will be able to do as he pleases without causing them trouble. They are hired to help pick the crop on a farm. The pint-size foreman, Curley, a sadistic, former boxer, who works well with all kinds of equipment, but is unsure of his manhood and of his ability to satisfy his wife, doesn't like Lenny from the start, and George warns Lenny to stay clear of both Curley and his wife. Curley's wife keeps “running into” the workers on her many quests to “find Curly”.One of the other workers named slim gives Lenny a newborn puppy, which stays in the barn with its mother because it is too small to live on it's own. After Curley picks a fight with Lenny and Lenny breaks Curley's hand, all the workers make up a story that Curly got his hand stuck inside a machine, and Curley goes to the hospital. After the fight Lenny seeks to comfort himself by stroking his puppy, which he has unknowingly killed. Curley's wife then enters the barn and sees the dead puppy. She is surprised by that but not enough to stop flirting with Lenny. She lets him pet her hair, as he had petted the puppy, but he won't release her hair when she tries to pull away. Frightened, she screams, and Lenny, trying to silence her, accidentally breaks her neck. Curley returns,after the horseshoe tournament, and he and the rest of the workers hunt for Lenny. George suspects that Lenny will go to a nearby creek were he had told him to go if anything ever happened. George finds him there, and kills him quickly and mercifully so that Lenny won't fall into the hands of the sadistic Curley. ======

-Brian Daugherty = =

**PLOT OVERVIEW OF //THE PEARL://**
The Pearl, which takes place in La Paz, Mexico, begins with a description of the seemingly idyllic family life of Kino, his wife Juana and their infant son, Coyotito. Kino watches as Coyotito sleeps, but sees a scorpion crawl down the rope that holds the hanging box where Coyotito lies. Kino attempts to catch the scorpion, but Coyotito bumps the rope and the scorpion falls on him. Although Kino kills the scorpion, it still stings Coyotito. Juana and Kino, accompanied by their neighbors, go to see the local doctor, who refuses to treat Coyotito because Kino cannot pay. Kino and Juana leave the doctors and take Coyotito down near the sea, where Juana uses a seaweed poultice on Coyotito's shoulder, which is now swollen. Kino dives for oysters from his canoe, attempting to find pearls. He finds a very large oyster which, when Kino opens it, yields an immense pearl. Kino puts back his head and howls, causing the other pearl divers to look up and race toward Kino's canoe. The news that Kino has found an immense pearl travels fast through La Paz. The doctor who refused to treat Coyotito decides to visit Kino. Kino's neighbors begin to feel bitter toward him for his good fortune, but neither Kino nor Juana realize this feeling they have engendered. Juan Thomas, the brother of Kino, asks him what he will do with his money, and he envisions getting married to Juana in a church and dressing Coyotito in a yachting cap and sailor suit. He claims that he will send Coyotito to school and buy a rifle for himself. The local priest visits and tells Kino to remember to give thanks and to pray for guidance. The doctor also visits, and although Coyotito seems to be healing, the doctor insists that Coyotito still faces danger and treats him. Kino tells the doctor that he will pay him once he sells his pearl, and the doctor attempts to discern where the pearl is located (Kino has buried it in the corner of his hut). That night, a thief attempts to break into Kino's hut, but Kino drives him away. Juana tells Kino that the pearl will destroy them, but Kino insists that the pearl is their one chance and that tomorrow they will sell it. Kino's neighbors wonder what they would do if they had found the pearl, and suggest giving it as a present to the Pope, buying Masses for the souls of his family, and distributing it among the poor of La Paz. Kino goes to sell his pearl, accompanied by his neighbors, but the pearl dealer only offers a thousand pesos when Kino believes that he deserves fifty thousand. Although other dealers inspect the pearl and give similar prices, Kino refuses their offer and decides to go to the capital to sell it there. That night, Kino is attacked by more thieves, and Juana once again reminds Kino that the pearl is evil. However, Kino vows that he will not be cheated, for he is a man. Later that night, Juana attempts to take the pearl and throw it into the ocean, but Kino finds her and beats her for doing so. While outside, a group of men accost Kino and knock the pearl from his hand. Juana watches from a distance, and sees Kino approach her, limping with another man whose throat Kino has slit. Juana finds the pearl, and they decide that they must go away even if the murder was in self-defense. Kino finds that his canoe has been damaged and their house was torn up and the outside set afire. Kino and Juana stay with Juan Tomas and his wife, Apolonia, where they hide for the next day before setting out for the capital that night. Kino and Juana travel that night, and rest during the day. When Kino believes that he is being followed, the two hide and Kino sees several bighorn sheep trackers who pass by him. Kino and Juana escape into the mountains, where Juana and Coyotito hide in the cave while Kino, taking his clothes off so that no one will see his white clothing. The trackers think that they hear something when they hear Coyotito crying, but decide that it is merely a coyote pup. After a tracker shoots in the direction of the cries, Kino attacks the three trackers, killing all three of them. Kino can hear nothing but the cry of death, for he soon realizes that Coyotito is dead from that first shot. Juana and Kino return to La Paz. Kino carries a rifle stolen from the one of the trackers he killed, while Juana carries the dead Coyotito. The two approach the gulf, and Kino, who now sees the image of Coyotito with his head blown off in the pearl, throws it into the ocean. -Jon Miller