TKAM Blog Post #1: Chapters 1-3

How does Scout learn to be more compassionate towards Walter Cunningham?

Scout learns to be more compassionate towards Walter Cunningham by learning to consider the world from his perspective. This is taught to Scout when Atticus tells her, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (30). Scout also learns about Walter Cunningham's life through other experiences. For example, when Mr. Cunningham  came over to Atticus's house as one of his clients, she learned that the Cunninghams never too k anything they couldn't pay back. This is evident when Harper Lee writes, "'Why does he pay you like that?' I asked. // 'Because that's the only way he can pay me. He has no money.' [Atticus said.]" (21). This helps Scout see the world from Walter Cunningham's point of view, and this also teaches her how to empathize  with Walter Cunningham and other people.

Identity and Expectations

One of the biggest expectations in my life is being the eldest brother. I am expected to be a good role model for my two younger brothers, so this makes way for many other expectations, like having the best grades, as well as excelling at other areas that are not necessarily educational, like music. These expectations greatly influence my life. To get good grades, I have to spend a lot of time studying for tests and other summatives. Since my parents are both engineers, I am expected to be good at math and science. For my musical expectations, I play two instruments: the drums and the cello.

English Goals

I am most proud of creating a theme statement and backing it up with evidence from the text. Something I found challenging during the assessment was making unique inferences. One of my inferences somewhat repeated a previous inference. My strongest inference was finding a part of the text that supported how strong George and Lennie's relationship was. My theme statement for my written response was that it is important to set goals in your life in order to move on/persevere through life and that life is much easier to get through when you are not alone. It was effective because they were not cliches, so the reader could understand it in a different view and not immediately dismiss it. My text integration techniques were not that good. I could improve on inserting them in the middle of a sentence instead of stating them before analyzing them. Something I want to work on to prepare for the summative before October break is making unique inferences. While I could also improve on text integration, I think that unique inferences that are not repetitive are more important.

Reflection on the Conclusion of "Of Mice and Men"

While I was surprised by how Steinbeck chose to end the story, in hindsight, there were many events foreshadowing Lennie's death. In chapter 1, Lennie had accidentally killed a mouse. Near the end of the book, he accidentally killed his new puppy and Curley's wife. This foreshadowed how Lennie would eventually get into trouble that he could not get out of. However, an event that more clearly foreshadowed Lennie's death was Carlson shooting Candy's dog. Candy raised his dog since he was a pup, so he formed a strong bond with him. However, Candy has to make a choice between letting his dog suffer for the rest of his life or just putting him out of his misery. This foreshadows Lennie's death because Lennie's mental disability made life very hard for him, and as shown with Candy's dog, those who were weak and needed to depend on another person to survive were most likely to be put down. These events support the theme of perseverance. Given the time period, the 1930s, or the Great Depression, perseverance was a very important trait, because, without it, a person could easily not survive the Great Depression. Overall, Lennie's death and the death of Candy's dog support the theme of perseverance in "Of Mice and Men."

Belief: Being Human

What are belief systems?

Belief systems are abstract concepts created by humans to make sense of the world around us. They define who we are and help us come to terms with big ideas like the existence of gods or God, death, afterlife, etc.

What do you value and/or believe in? Explain in detail with at least 1 example.

One of the biggest things I believe in is equality amongst everyone. In the world we live in today, racism, inequality, and many other conflicts can be found nearly everywhere. Trump, ISIS, and Duterte are just a portion of the conflicts that result from clashing beliefs thinking that one is better than the other. Instead of sitting down and peacefully talking about it, the world we live in today is prone to attacking beliefs that don't go with what they believe in.

Provide an image of a symbol/artifact/icon that is representative of what you value or your belief. Explain its significance.

I chose the simple equal sign that is often used in math because I believe that equality is a simple concept, and if humans were not so quick to defend their beliefs instead of understanding one another, equality could be achieved quickly.

Where have your values or beliefs come from?

My beliefs have come from hearing about what is happening around the world, as it is important to know about the world around you before forming an opinion.