Perspectives in Literature

I’ve read majority of the book so far, somewhere in the 70’s-80’s I left off. If your not around there I suggest not reading my post any  further. (*spoilers*)

Anyway books awesome so far, I guess for me, I couldn’t put the book down after the introduction of all the ranch hands.  Lennie and George’s plan was also reveled and I can can only feel this dream of theirs will most likely not be fulfilled.   As this “secret” plan is slowly being leaked out.  I’d also liked to say that those photos from 1943 where absolutely amazing. I really didn’t know that high of a quality color film existed back then.  It was honestly weird seeing all these people and things, that you would normally see in a black and white photo, in full color! Just plain awesome.

I’m no stranger to Steinbeck having read  The Pearl and Grapes of Wrath. With my own brand of confidence I felt like I knew what to expect until I read Mcitowicki’s post and the ending was revealed. Now, I’m in a frantic rush to get to the ending. Instead of wondering where this story is going, I’m wondering how it got to that point.

1. What happened in the middle?
2. How could things have turned out so badly?
3. What could Lennie have done to deserve that?

These are the primary questions I want answered. Steinbeck’s characters always seem to have the best intentions but nothing ever goes to plan which brings back the point of the title and the poem To A Mouse, Burn.

“The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often awry,”Burns.

I had some lingering dislike of Steinbeck in general (and Of Mice and Men in
particular) in the back of my mind, but couldn’t quite remember why… Well, now I
can: it’s the !@#$% ambivalence.

On the one hand, I love how he wrote. It’s not prolific or anything (not even faux-prolific,
in my opinion): the writing’s simple, the subject matter’s simple and everything just
flows together. The whole book took me a few hours to finish and, save for the
fact that I hated it, I enjoyed it very much.

On the other hand, I never understand why, given the breadth of things they could
write about, so many writers focus on the negative. I mean, I get why: I just
don’t understand it.

I guess the short of it is that I loved Lennie and Lennie got his brains blown out
by his best friend. It’s not that I expected them to actually get their little farm
together, or run into the sunset or something, but considering how lovingly Steinbeck
crafted his characters, how he treated them simply hurt.

…

Which I guess was sorta the point…

Oh my god!  This is such a heart breaking story!

As Desiree found out and questioned Armand about their child, Armand accused Desiree that she is not white.  At that point I was thinking that how much can Armand love Desiree that he treats her like that after knowing their child is not white?  When Desiree was trying to defend herself pointing out that she has gray eyes, brown hair, and light skin, I was screaming “Armand, really?  How about saying you are not white?” inside of my head.  At the end, when the story revealed that Armand’s mother “belongs to the race that is crused with the brand of slavery” I was shock!

The ending makes me wonder, when did Armand read his mother’s letter?  Why can’t he still love Desiree and their child the way he used to love them regardless what had happened?  For Armand, this might be a decision between love and family pride.  In that case, Armand had chosen the path of keeping the name of his family.