John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men made its appearance on Lost in “Every Man for Himself,” the episode in which Sawyer gets conned and the Others demonstrate the truth of Jack’s season one admonition to “live together or die alone.”

Considering I’ve read it many times, taught it, and the fact that there really isn’t any mystery as to why it was included, it seems to be relatively low hanging fruit for a blog post, and yet, I’m only now getting around to it several months after its appearance. So here it is, the latest addition to my Lost book club.

Of Mice and Men is about two Depression era migrant farmhands. George is small and smart; Lennie is huge, strong, and intellectually a child. They exist in an every-man-for-himself world where no one watches out for anyone and everyone is lonely. George and Lennie are different, though, because “they got each other” and they have a dream to earn enough to buy a small place and live “offa the fat of the land.” This is something that neither can do alone, but Lennie’s strength earns them money, and George’s concern for Lennie protects him. Things go bad when Lennie accidentally kills the boss’s daughter-in-law, leaving George to shoot Lennie, at that point the only merciful option left to him.

It’s a quick and grim read, a meditation on loneliness and the practical impossibility of achieving the American dream in a society that refuses to protect the weak. It’s also one of those books that kids will read willingly since it’s short, the writing is easy, and there’s lots of profanity. Good stuff.

On to Lost. We first see Of Mice and Men in Sawyer’s flashback. He’s shown reading it in prison, a lonely every-man-for-himself kind of place if ever there was one. The prison story plays out in such a way that Sawyer gets an early release and a bunch of money, which he asks to have put in an account for his daughter whom he’s never met and may not even exist. In a way Sawyer is setting her up so that she can find her dream unlike George and Lennie.

It’s referenced on the island as well. Sawyer refers to Ben’s bunny killing and says that he might like Of Mice and Men since a puppy gets killed. Ben feigns ignorance of the novel until they reach the summit of the island where Ben shows Sawyer that he is being held on a different island, that there’s nowhere to go, and that he does need Kate. Ben then throws Of Mice and Men back in Sawyer’s face with this quote:

A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. It don’t make any difference who the guy is, so long as he’s with you. I tell ya, I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely, and he gets sick.

Sawyer doesn’t recognize the quote and Ben explains it to him, thus revealing that he has a better understanding of both literature and human nature than Sawyer, which is of course how he is able to so effectively con Sawyer throughout the episode.

Of Mice and Men doesn’t provide any clues to the great mysteries of Lost, but it serves as a nice literary allusion in an episode that revisits one of Lost’s central issues, namely the live together or die alone calculation.

Click here for the rest of my Lost book reviews

silent

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I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Koontz’s Life Expectancy. It’s the only Koontz novel I’ve ever read, and it was so wonderfully engaging that I hated for it to be over.

On the night of Jimmy Tock’s birth, his dying grandfather predicts that he will experience five terrible days between his twentieth and thirtieth years. The grandfather gives the dates and then dies, leaving Jimmy to grow up in anticipation of these five terrible days.

Jimmy follows in his father’s footsteps, becoming a baker in a seemingly idyllic Colorado resort town. Raised in a loving family, Jimmy’s life seems almost too ideal, but then all that is about to change, when the first of the five begins.

He faces his five days with cautious hope, but as each one passes and the truth of his grandfather’s prophecy becomes clear, he grows increasingly determined, but never loses his humor and basic faith in himself and his family. These are, naturally, the very things he needs to survive as well as the things that are threatened.

For my money, the most exciting was the second, which had Jimmy and his pregnant wife fighting to survive a harsh winter night in the Colorado Rockies after having been run off the road by revenge seeking psycho, but it was the fourth that really made the book, as it was so surprising and contrary to everything I had come to expect after the previous three days.

Koontz’s book is a fun and often surprising tale of the power of love to hold evil at bay, and it’s a reminder that even our most terrible days often pave the way to bring us our greatest blessings. I found it difficult to put down, and by the end I was wishing that Jimmy had had ten terrible days. But that’s just mean.

If you shoot a black-and-white dog in black-and-white, is it a color shot?

Phoebe cut her leg on Friday. Nothing major, but it gave me the chance to break out the dog first aid kit. I put some hydrogen peroxide on it, and then went back inside to get a towel to dry her leg before putting some antibacterial ointment on the wound. When I came back out she was standing on the porch waiting, but the H2O2 that had run off her leg was gone. Down in the yard I could hear Joey throwing up.

Phoebe is fine, and Joey has now learned what happens to dogs who drink H2O2.

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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.

If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.

Guest blogging at In the Pink Texas: More Ways to Save Public Education

This one is surrounded by the kind of country music that makes country cool. It’s hard to not like a song in which Kristofferson enjoys his breakfast beer so much he “has one more for dessert.”

1. “Sunday Morning Coming Down” - Kris Kristofferson - KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 14
2. “Space Is Gonna Do Me Good” - Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
3. “Walkin’” - Miles Davis - Miles in Berlin (Live)
4. “Takin’ the ‘A’ Train” - Jimmy McGriff - The Worm
5. “Rhythm in Blue Suite: Love in 5″ - Danilo Perez - Central Avenue
6. “Grab ‘Hole A Dis” - Charles Earland - Funk Fantastique
7. “The Man Comes Around” - Johnny Cash - American IV
8. “Wishful Thinking” - Wilco - A Ghost is Born
9. “Sloop John B” - Dick Dale - Dick Dale & His Del-Tones
10. “Private Conversations” - Lyle Lovett - The Road to Ensendada

Throw Earland and McGriff in there, and this is one weird little set. Of course, Cash can hang with anyone anywhere.

Damn American IV was a fine record.

It’s not uncommon for students to protest that they aren’t used to “old English,” that it’s too hard. I frequently hear this while teaching Shakespeare, Poe, Lord of the Flies, or anything else written prior to 1985. I try to explain that everything I’ve taught is modern English, but today, I thought it would be fun to show them.

When I was student teaching, I learned how to read the prologue to The Canterbury Tales in Middle English, and I had an overhead with some side-by-side comparisons, but I thought it would more powerful to use something the students would likely be familiar with. While browsing Wikipedia, I found the Lord’s Prayer in Old English:

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum,
Si þin nama gehalgod.
To becume þin rice,
gewurþe ðin willa, on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg,
and forgyf us ure gyltas,
swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum.
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge, ac alys us of yfele. soþlice.

I figured most of them would be familiar with the modern version of this, so I hunted it down in Middle English to show the transition, first finding a version here, and then discovering Words in English, which had already done my work for me:

Oure fadir that art in heuenes,
halewid be thi name;
thi kyndoom come to;
be thi wille don in erthe as in heuene:
gyue to us this dai oure breed ouer othir substaunce;
and forgyue to us oure dettis, as we forgyuen to oure gettouris;
and lede us not in to temptacioun, but delyuere us fro yuel. Amen.

The modern version comes from my memory:

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
They Kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

I spent a lot of time staring at this, comparing words and lines, fascinated by the evolution of this wonderful living language and wondering where it would go next. I often joke that I’m teaching a dying language, but it’s probably just evolving. Though, hopefully, not into something as utilitarian and artless as this:

dad@hvn
ur spshl.
we want wot u want
&urth2b like hvn
giv us food
&4giv us
lyk we 4giv uvaz.
don’t test us! save us! ok

I shared all this with my kids, attempting to pronounce the Middle English as best I could based on what I learned from Canterbury Tales, and they thought that was cool. They enjoyed seeing the Old English, and sadly, the text message version made perfect sense.

And, now that I think about it, I realize I’ve written about the texting of literature and its effect on language before.

The other day I walked across the dam at our neighborhood’s little retention pond. I stepped right over these rocks, but only noticed them when I was walking back across with the sun at my back illuminating the rocks.

Sometimes you have to look twice to see once.

Today, I spent a bit of time doing something I haven’t done in years - wander around downtown taking pictures.

This one of the Frost Tower is my favorite from today. I spent a good amount of time trying to find an interesting shot, when I got the idea to go inside and see if there is an observation deck in this newest of Austin’s buildings.

I walked into a mostly deserted lobby and the security guy behind the desk jumped, half-shouting across the cavernous space, “Can I help you?”

“I was wondering if there’s an observation level here.”

“No sir. This is a private executive office building and closed to the public.”

I marveled at his ability to italicize so many words in one sentence, but I took the hint and read enough of his mind to make out, “…hit your ass on the way…,” and so off I went.

After crossing the street, I noticed this shot. I had to wait for a red so as not to get run over, and I had some help from a fellow photographer who was scouting places to shoot a parade next month. He shaded my lens for me and watched for oncoming cars while I took the picture.

Walking along I couldn’t help but marvel. Most people you see walking along the street on an ordinary day remain a mystery, but in the space of five minutes, unnecessary hostility had been erased by simple kindness.

Looking back at the Frost Tower, I thought about the way old gothic buildings were decorated with angels and devils, but today we build them steely clean with lines like highways to the heavens. Meanwhile, plenty of angels and devils can be found at street level.

My wife has updated her blog and even has some pictures of our new floors.