Group 2 should post their group thesis statements as comments to this blog post. You may add as much detail as you would like, and post any additional thesis statements you'd like. Groups 2 & 6, I took pictures of the board and will add those to the blog post when I get home tonight.
Ultimately, the activity asked you to give serious consideration to the central friendships of these novels. To help frame the discussion for groups 4 and 6, I asked you to identify (perhaps in a macabre manner) the traits for which you would like to be remembered when you die. You noted such things as:
- Loyalty
- Kindness
- Decency
- Accomplishments/Smarts
- Contribution-minded
- Athleticism
- Humor
- Honesty
- Generosity
- Fairness
- Dedication
These are all noble traits, of course, and it speaks quite well of you that you prize these. Continue to do so. I then asked you how many of you had friends of whom your parents do not approve. A majority of hands went up. I asked that majority if they demonstrated the traits for which they would like to be remembered around those friends, and a majority of the majority said no, they didn't. Not by a long shot. Some friendships, no matter how much fun they are, are not healthy because they lead us away from the goals we have set for ourselves. It is for this reason that our parents and sometimes even our other friends disapprove, not because they're giant kill-joys who want to suck the fun out of everything. They want us to reach the noble aspirations we have set for ourselves. (So remember that when your parents freak out on you because you're hanging out with that troublesome Smedley again. They really DO have your best interests in mind, and Smedley really isn't as fabulous as you'd like to believe.)
We then discussed Huck's goal: to be loyal to his good friend Jim by helping him escape to freedom. Tom's goal is to honor the tradition of his favorite literature and have an adventure. Does their friendship with one another help them reach those goals or not? If there are problems, why? What is preventing success? How exactly is this a reflection of society's failings? (Erica C., you summed all of this up with glorious clarity that escapes me utterly at the moment. Could you work some of your mental magic in your comment to this post? Thank you!)
Lennie and George hope to "get a stake" where they can take care of each other and their own responsibilities. Does their friendship help or hurt that? If societal interference is the greatest obstacle to that mission, what does that tell us about that society?
These friendships do not exist in a vacuum, and they are shaped--for good or ill--by the world around them. You are to write an arguable thesis about the power of these friendships--for good or ill-- and/or about what they reveal about society, and post that thesis as a comment to this blog. If there are supporting data (yes, data is plural) you'd like to include, go for it. These thesis statements will help you prepare for the exam.
Remember the traits of a good thesis (Group 2, Jake, Nick, Henry and Jack--you'll want to especially review features 2 and 3):
- Is the thesis arguable? In other words, could anyone who read the same texts reasonably take a different view?
- Is the thesis focused? Does the writer direct attention to a specific, concrete idea and take a clear perspective on it, or are the terms the writer uses too broad, vague, and open to interpretation?
- Is the thesis strictly based in the text? Does the claim ask the reader to think about the texts or about ideas that exist independently of the texts? If a meaningful discussion could be had about the idea without ever referring to the texts, the claim is not well-directed.
- Is the thesis provable? Can the thesis be backed up with analysis of scenes or ideas from the text and avoid hypotheticals?
- Does the claim answer “how” or “why”? Does the claim simply state the way things are, or does it seek to explain how or why they are that way? For example, if the author claims that we are meant to pity Mrs. Miller, does the author also suggest how we could know this or why she’s deserving of our pity?
Remember, these Thesis Statements MUST be focused and text-based. The trouble with trying to compare two novels is that you need to be broad enough to encompass ideas in both, but not so broad that your ideas become meaningless.
HOMEWORK
- Read the above, carefully and completely. Really.
- Write a thesis statement that summarizes your insights into the novels thus far.
- Read up through chapter 39 in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMichael, Drew, and Daniel's groups thesis for they all have unhealthy realtionships:
ReplyDeleteDespite the fact that both parties of each relationship seem to benefit, the goals of the parties in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn nad John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men are entirely different due to a lack of communication, a blatant superiority of one party, and the apathy one party shows in making group decisions.
Other comments:
Both Huck and Geroge use logic while Tom and Lennie act on their impulses. Both relationships don't have give and take and therefore an imbalance of power is created because George control Lennie while Tom controls Huck. George has an unhealthy relationship with Lennie because he lies to Lennie, he used to play tricks on Lennie, he bosses Lennie around because Lennie is a troublemaker, he knows that Lennie can't think for himself so he talks on Lennie's behalf, and ultimatley he kills Lennie (very unhealthy thing for a realtionship). Lennie also hinders Goerge's potential Huck has an unhealthy relationship with Tom because he conforms to Tom's impractiable ideas, Tom doesn't listen to his ideas and Tom calls Huck foolish and silly.
The "both" group's thesis statement:
ReplyDeleteWhile both friend groups have common goals, there is a domicant character in both which leads to a lack of mutual respect and somewhat flawed communication.
These are unhealthy relationships because in both pairs there is a leader and a follower, decision making is not done unitedly, and there is one person that is seen as superior to the other.
ReplyDeleteThese relationships are partially healthy, because although Lennie and Tom are undeniably helpful to the collective cause, they cause so many problems that could be avoided by George and Huck working alone.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it may seem as both friendships are beneficial in the novels Huck Finn and Of Mice and Men, because they provide each boy/man with a companion they can rely on, these relationships end up hurting all four characters in the long run due to incompatability in thought and ability.
ReplyDelete-Wil Gibb
The relationships between Twain’s Tom and Huck and Steinbeck’s Lennie and George are essentially opposites, Lennie and George are in a healthy relationship in which George protects someone he truly cares about from the unjust and cruel societal views, while Tom is the societal norm, pursuing an adventure at the expense of a supposedly inferior human being and distracting Huck from his goal of freeing his friend. Wil Gehl
ReplyDeleteGeorge and Lennie's friendship, like Tom and Huck's, is unhealthy because it ends up only benefitting one member, while greatly detracting from the other's ability to achieve his goals.
ReplyDeleteMichael W
Huck and Tom share a relationship that is potentially detrimental to their values because of their unhealthy balance of authroity, while on the other hand, Lennie and George have a friendship with respect and endearment which tends to steer, rather than deviate, each person towards their collective goal.
ReplyDeleteBoth the friendship in "Of Mice and Men" and the one in "the Adventures of Huck Finn" may appear to be healthy because the partners in each have similar goals, they are also unhealthy because one partner often makes achieving those goals harder.
ReplyDelete-Basir
The relationship between the two sets of friends show an unhealthy friendship because there is one power house that is controlling each set.
ReplyDeleteNick SEgel
These are not healthy relationships because both have one person infringing on the others goals preventing them from accomplishing what they want. Grant C.
ReplyDeleteThe friendships in "Of Mice and Men" and "Huck Finn" are unhealthy relationships because a dominant character in displayed in each friendship, who makes the majority of the decisions without consulting the other character leaving the other character less significant in the relationship.
ReplyDeleteKatie J.
The relationships between Tom and Huck in "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and Lennie & George in "Of Mice and Men" are both partially healthy because although Tom and Lennie mean the best when trying to help their counterparts, they make life a lot more difficult for their friends.
ReplyDeleteEventhough Huck & Tom from "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and George & Lannie from "Of Mice and Men" are a long-time campanions, their relationship is unhealthy because one keeps the other away from reaching his goal.
ReplyDelete-J. Han
The friendship of Huck and Tom in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" reflects that of George and Lenny in "Of Mice and Men" in that they are unhealthy relationships where one individual prevents the other from reaching certain desirable goals.
ReplyDelete-Ben T.
The friendships displayed in John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, between the characters, Lennie and George, and in Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, between Tom and Huck, present examples of only partially healthy friendships, as both portray a positive and negative aspect, such as the one sided relationships seen in both friendships in which one character makes all the decisions, which is counteracted by the fact that the decision maker always has the good of the two at heart.
ReplyDelete- Erica C
Comment from class: Society often puts its own desires ahead of concern for others causing us to ignore the well being of those outside of society.
The relationships between Huck and Tom in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men are only partially healthy because while both parties have good intentions for each other, their progress towards their common goal is stunted by their faulty communication and their lack of equality.
ReplyDelete-Meredith
The friendships between Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men are only partially healthy relationships because although in both cases the two people balance one another’s personalities, one person dominates the decision-making, they don’t always work together well enough to reach a common goal, and their disagreements can be detrimental to one another’s self esteem and sense of self worth.
ReplyDeleteA healthy relationship is one that each person helps one another; Lennie is more of a burden on Gorge, but Tom and Huck helpeach other out. - Ian P.
ReplyDeleteThe relationships held by Huck and Tom in Twains novel, and George and Lennie in Steinbecks novel, are only healthy to a certain degree because although in both friendships there seems to be no intention of the characters getting in each others way, they still do get in the way, becoming a detriment to their causes.
ReplyDeleteNeither the relationship between Huck and Tom nor that between Gorge and Lennie in in healthy development. Huck and tom seemed to have good cooperation, but they are always arguing about basic ways to do things. Gorge tended to be tired of a intellgently disabled man and finally shot him. A good relationship needs inter-understanding at any time(I am not sure if there is such a word in English), but unfortunately neigher of them did well in this. -LTZ
ReplyDeleteAlthough Lennie and Tom both provide a sense of adventure for their companions, their relationships are only partially healthy because they also jeopardize the safety and the morality of Huck and George.
ReplyDeleteCostakos
these relationships are unhealthy because, in the case of Lennie and George, they put the friends in physical danger, and both relationships are dominated by someone who shouldn't be in power.
ReplyDeleteWho is Booster5515?
ReplyDeleteAlthough Geroge and Lennie provide and sense of stabilty and mutual support for each other, Tom jeopardizes Huck's morality and puts him in dangerous situations. Erin H.
ReplyDeleteNick, Henry, Jack, Lebo
ReplyDeleteIn the cases of George and Lennie's friendship as well as Tom and Huck's, they are healthy relationships when it is a mutually beneficial relationship.
Tom does not have the same drive and desire to save Jim, as George feels the need to protect Lennie, and his influence is detrimental to Huck's development.
ReplyDelete-AL
my bad. its billy o.
ReplyDelete"While sometimes the friendship of Lennie/George and Huck/Tom can mislead our protagonists, they are ultimately healthy relationships because both sets of friends demonstrate a deep caring for one another by unnecessarily sticking their respective necks out when times get tough for our protagonists." Lilly W.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship beteen Huck and Tom and George and Lennie is partially healthy because it's clear in both cases that they care for one another; however in both situations there's a leader who instructs the other, and that's not a healthy friendship. Shannon C.
ReplyDeleteThe relationships between George and lenny and Huck and Tom are healthy because all four of them are outcasts of society and without each other they wouldn't really have much interactions with any other people. Simon Q
ReplyDelete