IntroductionGeorge and Lennie’s tragedy in Of Mice and Men begins with friendship, but gradually becomes something much heavier.George is not simply Lennie’s friend. He becomes his protector, caregiver, problem-solver, safety plan, and eventually the person forced to make an unbearable decision about Lennie’s future.That leaves us with a question that reaches far … [Read more...] about Of Mice and Men: 5 Modern Stories About Love, Care and Responsibility
Of Mice and Men: Was George Right to Kill Lennie?
IntroductionJohn Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is often remembered as the heartbreaking story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two migrant workers traveling through Depression-era California with a simple dream.They want a little land.A house of their own.A few animals.And rabbits for Lennie.But beneath that small dream sits a much harder question.What happens … [Read more...] about Of Mice and Men: Was George Right to Kill Lennie?
Of Mice and Men: Was George’s Final Choice an Act of Love?
IntroductionJohn Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is often remembered as the story of two migrant workers and a dream that never comes true.But after listening to George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Slim speak together, the novel begins to look much larger.It becomes a story about what happens when human beings need one another in a world that gives them … [Read more...] about Of Mice and Men: Was George’s Final Choice an Act of Love?
The Grapes of Wrath Today: 5 Modern Stories About “I” and “We”
IntroductionJohn Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath about one displaced family, but he was never writing about only one family.The Joads lose land, work, stability, privacy, and certainty. Yet the deeper injury is harder to measure. Again and again, they are forced to ask whether poverty changes what a person is worth, whether protecting one’s own … [Read more...] about The Grapes of Wrath Today: 5 Modern Stories About “I” and “We”
The Grapes of Wrath Explained: 5 Questions Readers Still Ask
IntroductionFew American novels have been praised, attacked, banned, taught, argued over, and reinterpreted as intensely as John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.It is easy to see why.On the surface, the novel follows the Joad family as they leave Oklahoma during the Great Depression and travel west in search of work. Their farm is gone. Their security disappears. … [Read more...] about The Grapes of Wrath Explained: 5 Questions Readers Still Ask
The Grapes of Wrath: When Does “Me” Become “We”?
IntroductionWhat happens when a family does everything it was told to do, works hard, stays together, keeps moving, and still cannot find a secure place in the world?John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath begins with one family losing its land, but it gradually asks a much larger question.At first, the Joads think in the language of survival.Our land.Our food.Our … [Read more...] about The Grapes of Wrath: When Does “Me” Become “We”?
Stand With Jesus: What If People Tried to Stop the Crucifixion?
IntroductionWhat would you have done if you had been standing on that road?It is easy to answer from two thousand years away.We know the name Jesus Christ. We know what happened at Golgotha. We know that the crucifixion became one of the defining events in human history.But the people standing along the streets of Jerusalem did not possess our view of … [Read more...] about Stand With Jesus: What If People Tried to Stop the Crucifixion?
East of Eden Today: 5 Stories About Breaking Family Cycles
IntroductionWhat if the deepest wound in a family is not what happened to us, but what we unknowingly hand to someone else?John Steinbeck’s East of Eden asks whether human beings are trapped by inheritance, family roles, jealousy, guilt, and the darker parts of themselves. Cal fears that Cathy’s darkness lives inside him. Aron is protected by an image of goodness … [Read more...] about East of Eden Today: 5 Stories About Breaking Family Cycles
East of Eden: Does Timshel Still Make Sense Today?
IntroductionWhat if the deepest question in East of Eden is not whether Cal is good or bad, but whether any of us can become more than what family, biology, pain, and history have already made us?John Steinbeck’s novel has endured for generations partly due to the questions it refuses to settle easily.Was Cathy born evil, or did Steinbeck make her too … [Read more...] about East of Eden: Does Timshel Still Make Sense Today?
East of Eden: Are We Born Bad or Free to Choose?
IntroductionWhat if the darkest thing inside you did not begin with you?What if your jealousy resembled your father's, your anger echoed your mother's, and the wounds shaping your relationships had already traveled through your family for generations?Would that explain who you became?Would it excuse you?Or would there eventually come a moment when the story … [Read more...] about East of Eden: Are We Born Bad or Free to Choose?