Of Mice and Men

[Mushi]

I studied this book for my English Standard Grade (GCSE) most people I know have read it or no about it!

It was the book we seen Sawyer reading in Prison, For those of you not so (un)lucky to know the story a quick overview:

Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck that Sawyer reads while in prison in Every Man For Himself. Both him and Ben quote the book to each other on the way to the Hydra Island Lookout.
The story is the tale of a dimwitted, childish but physically powerful man named Lenny who is friends with a feeble bodied man with quick wit named George. The ideal situation for both men, who are struggling to find work, is to save up enough money to get a farm and live off the "fatta the lan'". Lenny dreams of owning a farm with a few rabbits, and loves soft things.
However, the dream falls apart as Lenny accidently breaks the neck of their bosses' son's wife, while she was talking to him about her own failed dreams in the barn. To spare Lenny what will be a long and painful death, George shoots Lenny, and distracts him by talking about the bunny farm he dreamed about.
The book is critical of the American Dream, and all dreams in general, suggesting that they are ultimately futile.

Similarities:

Lenny, reminds me of Leonard from Hurleys backstory. The Numbers surely still have a part to play in Lost.

Lenny also (accidently) broke the neck of his bosses wife, Ethan (we presume) broke Scott/Steve's neck in S1

One of the central themes in the novel, is isolation and finding a place to fit in in the world when you are different. Ben emphasizes this point across when he shows Sawyer they are on a smaller isolated island, talks about his suppressed emotions towards Kate, and then quotes the book: "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."

In the novel, the character Lenny has frequent dreams and visions of rabbits. The episode seems to reference this in Sawyer's torture scene after the fake (or not so fake) op.

I do apologise if this has been mentioned I havent had time to read through everything, I am a poor soul I know

I am loving the littererly references this season, and again its Sawyer we see with a book in his hand

[Lauren [is Lost]]

Hey, i read Of Mice And Men for english GCSE too. When Benry started quoting "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." at first i thought, omg he reminds me of George! (from the book), then when it got to the last line i realised he was quoting George. lol

[lost_815]

Yup, I did it for GCSE too. I can't say it's my favourite book ever. It may well be my least favourite book ever. But I did like the references made to it in EMFH. The rabbit link was cool, and when Henry started quoting George (or was in Candy? Meh, shows how much I listened in English) I got to feel all smug because I knew what he was going on about.

Also, cool little connection: in the film adaptation of "Of Mice and Men", Slim was played by John Terry a.k.a. Christian Shephard. We had to watch the film at school earlier this year, and when Slim came on-screen I went "THAT'S JACK'S DAD!" and everyone turned round and looked at me. It was comedy, they were all like "what are you on about?", but a couple of fellow Lost-fans got as excited as I did. Ah, the geekiness.

[Lauren [is Lost]]

Originally Posted by lost_815,December 05, 2006 06:50 pm

The rabbit link was cool, and when Henry started quoting George (or was in Candy? Meh, shows how much I listened in English) I got to feel all smug because I knew what he was going on about.

Also, cool little connection: in the film adaptation of "Of Mice and Men", Slim was played by John Terry a.k.a. Christian Shephard.

Ohh yeah i didnt think of the rabbit link! Lol i felt all intelligent too haha

REALLY? I didnt know that! I did watch Of Mice And Men at GCSE but that was before Lost started.

[Mushi]

It is an amazing book, I wasnt lucky enough to have an English Teacher who let us watch videos but I must dig out that film someday!

[daviePOSEIDON]

Yeah it's a great book. I really enjoyed studying it last year. It was all about a dream that George and Lenny had. You could look at it as in a dream for the better place (the farm, getting off the island) or it can also be a refference to the amount of dreams in hte programme. Also every character in the book had their own dream, much like every character has their own flashbacks.

[Orson]

Love that book so much, the ending is so sad...

[Him]

Originally Posted by Mushi,December 05, 2006 07:34 pm

I studied this book for my English Standard Grade (GCSE) most people I know have read it or no about it!

I'm sorry.

[Lauren [is Lost]]

I THOUGHT OF SOMETHING LAST NIGHT.

In episode 4 Benry was basically being compared to George - Sawyer asked him something as if he was him. Also i think we are supposed to think that Benry IS like George, he's quite clever, etc etc. BUT i noticed something when i re-watched the episode last night. Benry does something that made me think of Lennie...you know Lennie always puts animals in his pockets and stuff?? Well Benry puts the rabbit in his bag! I always thought it was strange that he put it in a bag like he did, but last night i suddenly thought 'thats exactly something Lennie would do!' Also Benry is the one who 'killed' the rabbit, like Lennie does. Significant or not? A clue that Benry isnt as clever as we are led to think, perhaps? Or am i looking into it too much? lol

[The_other_other]

well, seeing as he didnt actually kill the rabbit, it was all a con, i think you are looking at it too much. (also benry, stupid? lol)

I tend to think the producers often give us these little titbits of information to send us down the wrong path, so i would say that of mice and men has no real significance (apart from benry quoting it) in lost. Any links you find are probably coincidence.

[Lauren [is Lost]]

Originally Posted by The_other_other,December 06, 2006 03:40 pm

well, seeing as he didnt actually kill the rabbit, it was all a con, i think you are looking at it too much. (also benry, stupid? lol)

I tend to think the producers often give us these little titbits of information to send us down the wrong path, so i would say that of mice and men has no real significance (apart from benry quoting it) in lost. Any links you find are probably coincidence.

Yeah...you're probably right. Lol. I just thought it was really strange that he put the rabbit in his bag like that....i mean, WHY would you do that?! It just reminded me of Lennie a lot.

Also i dont think Benry's stupid, just maybe not as clever as we're supposed to think...

[Losty]

What was the quote that Ben said from the book????????

[Him]

"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."

[-x-madegurl-x-]

ooo im doing this for my GCSE. teacher predicted me a D and in my mocks i got a B on it

i love this book/film and i was like "woooaaah" when i saw jack's dad playing slim. he looked so much younger! lol

[monster-eats-pilot]

I'm not doing it, that isnt fair
I've not read it but I'm sure it's in the house somewhere so I'll read it at some point