Sitting in class taking this final, I realize that I only have 4 left in a period of 2 days, and then I am done. After my final well, final, on Friday, I will go to Class Day, and then graduation rehearsal. After that, all that is left is the big day on Sunday. Sunday will be the last time all of my class will be together as one whole, celebrating a common accomplishment. It’s all really quite sad, actually. It is something I’ve been looking forward to all year, and now I look at Sunday as a day of dread. I’m not quite sure I want to be done with it all. I like coming somewhere where I know the people, the teachers, and other random faces. I like the little bit of structure there is, and most of all, I just like how comfortable it feels.

Over my 4 years here at Central High School, and this year especially, I have learned and grown a lot. Not only in the terms of knowledge, but also as a person. I’ve grown from a 14-year-old that lives with her parents and has no idea what she wants to do, to an 18-year-old living on her own, preparing to move away from all she knows, to start a “new life” so to speak. I now know what I want to do with my life, and the first step that I am taking to achieve it. In August I will leave to Minnesota to begin my journey that will eventually lead me to a career. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I have made this year. I will be leaving behind my family, my friends, and everything I know. I have already begun to feel the homesickness and loneliness it will bring.

I used to think that Central was just a horrendous place to be, and couldn’t wait to leave. I was so excited and well..excited. Now that the day is coming, I don’t think it’s such a bad place. I have a comfy niche here, and a widespread group of friends. I know a lot of people, and I know a lot of things. I know the rules here, I know how things work. I know the teachers, and what they expect. It’s kind of a nice feeling to know how things work. *Sigh*

So, as I move towards Sunday, I take a lot of memories with me. I have met a lot of great people, especially this year, and had a few exceptionally great teachers, 2 of which I met this year. One inspired my love for science, and understanding how things worked, and actually helped me to pick out what I wanted to go to school for. This year was filled with many fun times, and a few not so fun times. There are a few things that will stick out in my mind forever. I’ll always remember cheerleading and the fun..and well..not fun times we had. But no matter what, we did it together, and we did it well. I’ll remember my years of chorus at Central, and it is one of the things I’ll miss the most. I already miss it.

But on Sunday, I hope that the Class of 2008 has one great last go around. We’re a fun class, and it is coming to an end. I hope the underclassmen keep the spirit of Central alive, and not too many things change. It’s a good place to be afterall.

“The boss was expectin’ you last night,” the old man said. “He was sore as hell when you wasn’t here this morning” (18).

My first thought was, “Did George know that they were supposed to be there the night before when they camped out in the woods?” If George did know, what was his reasoning for staying in the forest? He obviously knew that they would get in trouble, or at the very least, displease their new boss by showing up late. When they did show up they had already missed part of the day’s work, so the boss was mad. So, does George have an ulterior motive, or was this just a simple mistake?

“So you wasn’t gonna say a word. You was gonna leave your big flapper shut and leave me to do the talkin’. Damn near lost us the job” (23).

Why is George so hard on Lennie? It seemed like the boss was already getting a bit agitated and suspicious when George was always speaking for Lennie rather than letting him answer, so why is he coming down on Lennie like that? Lennie didn’t say anything damaging, simply just made a comment, which seemed to be what the boss was searching for anyway.

“Well—she got the eye” (28).

This line made me think that Curley’s wife might just be the cause of some problems that come up in the book. They are talking about Curley and his wife only having been married for two weeks and her already looking around at the other men on the ranch. Then reading on when she visits the bunk, the way she presents herself really shows that she does have “the eye.” I think this could turn out bad for Lennie, because he is vulnerable and thinks she is pretty, which will cause more strife between Curley and Lennie.

“Lennie was watching George excitedly. George rumpled his cards into a messy pile. ‘Yeah!’ George said, ‘I heard him, Lennie. I’ll ask him” (36).

Lennie obviously does remember SOME things, because at this point he has remembered that George said that maybe he should have a puppy instead of a mouse. Well, they were just talking about Slim having some pups, so Lennie is excited. I don’t know how good of an idea it would be to get Lennie a puppy though. It seems like it might make him more sad if he ended up hurting the dog.

“You remember about us goin’ into Murray and Ready’s, and they give us work cards and bus tickets?” (5)

My first thought when reading this line was, “Why would they need bus tickets and work cards?” At this point in the book nothing has really been explained as to who the characters are. The only thing we really have is their physical appearances, which doesn’t tell us much about where they come from or why they would be leaving there. It becomes apparent after reading a little bit more that they had to leave Weed, where they come from, because they were on the run because of Lennie touching a girls dress.

“Awright. You got that. But we’re gonna sleep here because I got a reason” (7).

Why were they going to sleep there? What WAS George’s reason? It made no sense to me, as it apparently didn’t to Lennie either. Why sleep in the forest/wilderness, when the ranch was only “about a quarter mile down”? It makes me wonder if George might have something up his sleeve, or maybe really does just want to enjoy a peaceful night in the wilderness, and “look up,” before he starts work the next day.

“I’d pet ‘em, and pretty soon they bit my fingers and I pinched their heads a little and then they was dead – because they was so little” (10).

This line kind of made me sad. To me it resembled something a small child would say. He sounds sad because he doesn’t realize his own force, and it is obvious that he really likes mice. He has no intent of harming the mice, he just wants to pet them, and he accidentally ends up killing them.

“When I think of the swell time I could have without you, I go nuts. I never get no peace” (12).

If George thinks that he could have such a “swell” time without Lennie, then why doesn’t he do it? I’m not sure exactly why he keeps Lennie under his watch, but I’m sure it isn’t forcefully. If he wants to go have a “peaceful” time then maybe he should, because the way he is talking to Lennie is probably just going to hurt his feelings. From what I have read so far in the book it doesn’t seem to be Lennie’s fault that he doesn’t remember things, because he doesn’t remember an awful lot. Most people wouldn’t just choose to “forget” basically everything they are told.

“Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. . . . With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. . . . because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that’s why” (14).

It is obvious by this line that the two care a lot about each other, and their well being. No matter how frustrated they may get with each other at times, it kind of seems like they’re the only people they have. They aren’t lonely because they always have the company of each other, and they’ve fallen into this pattern, and are used to it. I’m not sure if George just reassures Lennie with this, but it’s obvious that it isn’t the first time he has heard this.

I think the Act 4 blog was probably the hardest of them all. Although I know I’ve been in all of the situations in my life, I couldn’t think of a concrete event to write about. It took a lot of thinking, but I think I finally figured something out that just might be a little bit deeper than what I thought it would be.

This year I’ve missed a lot of school. I’m supposed to graduate in somewhere around 3-4 weeks, and right now I don’t even know if I’ll be doing that. Don’t get me wrong, this is no one’s fault except mine. This year I’ve lost four people close to me. I’ve never lost a loved one before this year. I’ve also had a lot of issues in my house that started in July that have been pushed off onto me, when it really doesn’t have anything to do with me at all. It has made it really hard to go to school somedays. This Christmas when I sat with my grandmother at the hospice house, I missed about 8 days of school. The entire year when I’ve missed school I just thought “I have time to catch up. I can do it later. I’ll be fine.” It’s starting to finally hit me. Now I’m like, “Shoot. I DON’T have that much time.” And now, everything else is starting to catch up too.

I think all along this year, no matter how excited I am to move on to college, to a new state, a new city, just everything entirely new, I am deathly scared to leave at the same time. I’m scared to leave my house, my parents, my family, my town I live in, and even Central High School. It’s all I’ve ever known, and that is a scary thought. I’ll have to start over with new friends, new classes, a new school, a new job..everything. I’ve been scared to admit that I was wrong, I’m not as excited to leave as I say I am. It’s not going to be this great..well..everything I thought it was going to be. Not to say it isn’t going to be good, because it’s only going to be what I make of it. And I plan on making it worthwhile, and worth my money.

I realize that maybe my “wrong” is waaaaay different and off base than the “wrongs” in The Crucible. The girls were afraid to admit that maybe they were wrongly accusing people, the judges were scared to admit that they too might have been wrong, and Mr. Hale was probably scared to admit he was wrong, but he did. There were a lot of “wrongs” in the book, and very few of them got admitted. However different mine and those in the book were, they still have a common point. It takes a lot to admit when you are wrong, and sometimes it’s very hard, but it still needs to be done, otherwise a lot more damage could result from it.

Sometime in life everyone may have a little bit of a “power trip.” Maybe you get that promotion to supervisor at work, or you’re babysitting your little brother or sister. These are nothing compared to the “trips” in The Crucible. I remember when I first started at I-Hop. The waitress training me had been kind of rude all day, and I just dealt with it. Then when I started doing what my actual boss instructed me to do, the trainer came in and got a little bit snappy, telling me she had been there longer, I needed to listen to her, blah blah, etc. etc. It bothered me a bit but I just carried on. A little while later, it happened again. She wanted me to go get her drinks for her tables, run her food, basically do her job, let her have her money. And, of course, I had to because “she was the trainer.” Power trip big time.

This reminded me of the court in the story. I think they took their titles just a bit too seriously, refusing to postpone executions, and basically being the ultimate judge of innocent or guilty. That was their job, but still. They didn’t really look for REAL facts, they simply took what young girls said, which was a pretty good acting job on their part, and condemned innocent people for it, costing lives.

The American playwright and essayist Arthur Miller was born October 17, 1915 to parents Isidore and Augusta Miller. For over 61 years after Miller graduated from The University of Michigan, he penned numerous plays, including The Crucible. During his life Miller received the Pulitzer Prize and was married to Marilyn Monroe for a period of time.

Miller was known for combining social awareness with deep insight into personal weaknesses of his characters’, often depicting how families are destroyed by false values. Miller also had a strong admiration for Greek dramatists, which was reflected in his plays. He once said, “When I began to write, one assumed inevitably that one was in the mainstream that began with Aeschylus and went through about twenty-five hundred years of playwriting.” Miller is best known for his play Death of a Salesman.

Arthur’s career began in 1938, in New York. He had graduated college with a degree in journalism, and had joined the Federal Theatre Project. It was here that he began writing scripts for radio shows such as CBS and NBC. New York was also the place where he met his first wife Mary Slattery, with whom he had two children. In 1949 Miller was named “Outstanding Father of the Year.” However, this didn’t stop the divorce of the couple. He later married Marilyn Monroe and was with her for 5 years.

After Marilyn Monroe, Miller was called before the House Committee of Un-American Activities. He was accused of being a communist, and admitted to having attended certain meetings. Despite this fact, he denied actually being a communist. He was later cited for contempt of Congress, which was eventually overturned.

A politically-active playwright, Miller died in 2005 being known as one of the greatest American playwrights. In March 2007, the University of Michigan opened the Arthur Miller Theatre in his honor. Granted at his wish, this theatre is the only theatre in the world that bears his name, or ever will.

Works Cited

“A Brief Chronology of Arthur Miller’s Life and Works.” Arthur Miller Society. 28 Apr. 2008 http://www.ibiblio.org/miller/.

“Arthur Miller.” Wikipedia. 28 Apr. 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller.

Liukkonen, Petri. “Arthur Miller.” Books and Writers. 28 Apr. 2008 <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm>.

Jealousy. What an ugly word. In the context of The Crucible it was especially ugly, causing many their freedom, and some their lives. In most of our lives now we don’t experience a jealousy this strong. However, in many senses it is just the same. Last year an ex-girlfriend of my boyfriend at the time decided to start meddling about in our relationship. We had been dating for about 4 months, and friends for a much longer time than that. It was prom night, and we were having a great time. And then she showed up. She was extremely rude to me, but I blew it off. The next day she added me on MySpace (oh boy, imagine that). I didn’t think much of it until the next day when I received a message in my inbox from her. I saw it and instantly felt a little splash of dread, because I didn’t want to deal with any confrontation whatsoever. I opened it anyway, and here she is telling me how my boyfriend cheated on me with her on my birthday, and I should be jealous of her because he still really loved her, etc. etc. I knew these things weren’t true, but, nonetheless they still bothered me. It caused a problem between her and I, obviously, and between the guy and me as well.

The situation between Abigail and Elizabeth was much the same. Abigail was jealous of Elizabeth because she was the wife of the man she had had an affair of sorts with. She wanted to be the wife. All of a sudden she got this great opportunity to push Elizabeth out of John’s life, and push herself right on in. She caused a very large problem for Elizabeth and John with her jealousy.

In over your head..ever heard that? Probably. And unfortunately, you’ve probably experienced it first hand too. Take last year. My boyfriend at the time lived in Whitewood, SD. It was a beautiful day when I embarked on my little “journey” of sorts. No rain, no wind, and definitely no snow in site. Later on that night, after making a run to Spearfish for some dinner, and a hair-dying fiasco, it appears that is a light snow coming down. In my head I’m like, “Are you kidding me? Where did this cruddy weather come from?” Other than that, it didn’t look bad. Just a few flakes. I leave to come home at about 8:30, thinking that I would be able to get home early, get a few things done,  and tuck in for the night. Not so, not so. As I get off the exit, heading toward Sturgis, the snow begins to come down much harder, and faster. I slow my speed a bit, and once again in my head, I’m like “Greaaaat.” As I pass the Sturgis exit, the snow is coming down REALLY bad, it’s blowing everywhere, and it just wasn’t a good situation. At this point I’m too far to turn around, because I’m right in the middle. Either go to Rapid, where MY house is, or go back to Whitewood, and probably be in trouble. I decide to carry on, driving about 45 miles an hour on the interstate. As I approach the Stagebarn exit, I see a huge truck speeding up behind me. He flies by me, and a white sheet of snow is now in my eyesight. I feel my car begin to start sliding, and Whoop! It’s done. I’m spinning, spin again, and bam. Impact. I hit the concrete guardrail. A massive crunch is heard, a funny noise is coming from my car, and my heart is in my throat. When I finally am able to pry the door open, I survey the damage. I feel like crying, because of the damage, but, I am safe.

Leaving Whitewood was probably a bad choice, because I knew I shouldn’t because the road conditions probably weren’t that great. Much like the girls who knew they shouldn’t be dancing in the forest, I left anyway, knowing I was making a bad decision. The most important difference between our stories, though, is that I wasn’t going to cause massive mayhem.

In my opinion, the story A Good Man is Hard to Find, is very good. It provides a great example of irony. A seemingly “normal” family of 2 children, a mom, dad, and grandma are all discussing taking a family vacation. Right away in the first sentence you can tell that the grandma is a bit mischievous and worried about herself.

The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee and was seizing every chance to change Bailey’s mind.

Bailey was her son. She lived in his home, with his family. It was apparent that they didn’t get along, and really no one in the house got along with her very well at all. One of the reasons the grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida was because of an escaped criminal, The Misfit, who had just broken out of jail and was on the run. The disrespect for the grandmother was apparent soon after she voiced her peace.

She wouldn’t stay at home for a million bucks. Afraid she’d miss something. She has to go everywhere we go.

I’m not sure why there was this disrespect towards the grandmother, but it was quite apparent throughout the whole story. It might have something to do with her concern for herself, but who knows. In the end, the family ends up heading off towards Florida. Her mischieviousness once again shows through, as the family loads the car.

She had her big black valise that looked like the head of a hippopotamus in one corner, and underneath it she was hiding a basket with Pitty Sing, the cat, in it. She didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush against one of her gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself.

So maybe it wasn’t a completely selfish decision. She was just trying to look out for the well-being of the cat? Who knows. The rest of the family sure wouldn’t be happy when they found out. Yet another thing for them to harass grandma about. The trip wears on, the family harasses the other members incessantly, a little bit more than your typical family trip. During the ride, grandmother sees a turnoff that sparks a memory. She tells an elaborate story, fibbing a bit, so that the kids will join in wanting to go with her, and the dad, her son, won’t be able to argue. Yet again, manipulative, and mischievous.

Outside of Toombsboro she woke up and recalled an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady. She said the house had six white columns across the front and that there was an avenue of oaks leading up to it and two little wooden trellis arbors on either side in front where you sat down with your suitor after a stroll in the garden…

The kids pitch a fit, the father ends up giving in, etc., typical travel story. This is where the fate of the story lands. The family ends up crashing, and grandma remembers they aren’t even in the right state. Oops, guess she just had a little brain fart. A car sees them from above, and 3 men emerge. As fate would have it, it is The Misfit and his crew. The family ends up being killed. However, the grandmother did have a “heart-to-heart” with him, which might have been part of the problem. She just got in too deep.