Theme Analysis

In last week's blog response, I asked you to select a theme that "hit home" with you the most.  Now that you have set your sights on a theme you would most like work with some more, it is time to test your skills of analysis.  Scan through the last chapter (6) in Of Mice and Men and see if you can pull out a moment from the text that, upon close reading, says something about your selected theme.  Next, try to analyze how this moment is somehow connected to the theme you have chosen.

In "The American Dream"everybody wants to live a successful life and the picture shows that it is very hard to accomplish this aspect and it's beyond people's grasp during the Great Depression.

The topic I was interested was The American Dream and when reading the last chapter (6) on pg. 99 it said, "A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallow.  A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically."

In this moment of the text I think Steinbeck is trying to say that one's American Dream will not come true due to enemies or circumstance that come in people's way.  The heron is I think symbolizes the upper class and more powerful over the water snake.  The water snake is trying to stay alive and pursue its American dream.  It says, "A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side (1st obstacle); and it swam the length of the pool (2nd obstacle) and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallow (hardworking American Dream is beyond the grasp of the bird).  Where the American dream appears into place is when it says, "The beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically." The heron was in more power, but the water snake was not in power and weak so the American Dream for the water snake to was vanished because of it's enemies actions.  


"The American Dream" is what everybody wants to live a happy life and in this youtube video it says that "The American Dream" is color blind meaning that it cannot be reached/visible upon circumstances and that it's just beyond our minds in which we try to work really hard in accomplishing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aZ1Zlo4P0w