Thursday, January 30, 2020

Compare the beginning of the novel and Sinises film version Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Compare the beginning of the novel and Sinises film version Of Mice and Men Essay The opening of the novel and the film differ from each other in many ways. The film has a tense and dramatic start where as the novel is set in a quiet and peaceful woodland area as Steinbeck sets the scene in clear detail. The film opens with a haunting, chilling melody lingering in the background of a black screen with white credits appearing for several minutes. Sinise puts the credits at the beginning rather than at the end so that he adds to the drama at the beginning and doesnt ruin the ending with them. As the music fades the black background remains with the occasional, faint beam of moonlight, streaming through the open cracks in the wagon of a train. The camera shot focuses on a lonely figure, crouched in the corner, looking by the expression on his face as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, as the frequent train whistles drown out his thoughts. This makes the audience curious about who the man is, which makes them want to watch on to find out the identity of this mysterious character. Suddenly the film explodes into colour in a dramatic style as a panic-stricken woman, with her dress ripped, runs towards a group of men working on a ranch. The next clip is of the group of men, carrying guns on horseback, all laden in denim chasing two apparently un-armed men. These two men are Lennie and George, who are racing through the grassy shrubs of the plains. A sense of danger and menace is created as George is continually looking over his shoulder and dragging Lennie along as the men on horseback continue to hunt the two men. We later realise that this is symbolic of the two mens relationship, as George always has to look over his shoulder in real life. It symbolises a mother always looking over her shoulder to see if her baby is all right. Both of the men fall into a stream and hide under the overgrown reeds and grass from the prairie. The men pass by the stream and this causes a sense of excitement and tension within the audience. The first close up on Lennie shows us his big, frightened eyes, worried like a child, with his dilated pupils reflecting the sunlight. The heavy breathing stops but both men remain silent, and as time goes by the crickets begin to chirp and the audience get a chance to get their breath back. It then goes back to a train noise and by this time night has fallen. Both men jump onto a train, Lennie goes first and is hoisted up by George; this is symbolic of a mother picking up her child after it has fallen down, or is struggling to get up. Lennie tells George that he is tired, so George tells him to lie down and go to sleep. Lennies jacket is wet so George helps him to take it off. This action is symbolic of the mother/child relationship that the two men have. George takes Lennies jacket off like a mother undressing a child. The beginning of the novel is very different as Steinbeck sets the scene in clear detail. He creates a very quiet and peaceful atmosphere by using phrases such as fresh and green with every spring and the leaves lie so deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them. Unlike this, the film shows an exciting chase in a tense and dangerous atmosphere. The first time you see Lennie and George in the novel they are calmly walking through the trees and peacefully drinking from the pool. His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself down as he drank from the surface of the green pool. This is another symbol of Lennie behaving like a child. On the other hand when we first see Lennie and George in the film they are running away from a gang of rampant ranchers, seething for their blood. In the film they are both wearing different clothes. George is wearing denim and Lennie is wearing dungarees to make him look like a big kid. This differs from the novel as Steinbeck has the two men in identical dress. Both were dressed in denim trousers and in denim coats with brass buttons. Also they both wore black shapeless hats. The end of the novel is also very different to the end of the film. At the end of the novel Lennie hides in the bush where George said it was safe. While he waits he hallucinates and sees an enormous rabbit appear and speaks to him, telling him that he has done wrong and has let George down for all that he has done for him. Then his Aunt Clara appears and starts scolding him for his behaviour. This does not happen in the film as the audience may loose attention and it takes the edge off the seriousness of the atmosphere, that Sinise tries to create. At the end of the film George is looking for Lennie, trying to reach him before the angry mob do and painfully kill him. George runs to find Lennie, running as at the beginning of the film, but this time running by himself, running and falling, which is symbolic of his prediciment with Lennie. George finally finds Lennie wandering at a cut by the stream. Lennie runs to George and falls over in the water by Georges feet. Lennie persists to cuddle George like a child cuddling its mother. There is a long focussed camera shot of George and Lennie in the water. This is the first time we see George taller than Lennie and this is symbolic of the parent/child relationship they have with each other. The camera focuses on them for several seconds to emphasise this aspect of their relationship and to show how close the two men are. In the novel the two men are not in the water when they cuddle and there is no indication that George is bigger than Lennie. They are both on the banks near to the water. Sinise just adds this part in to the film to make it look as if Lennie has just fallen over emphasising his helplessness. In the novel Lennie asks George to tell him the story of how it is gonna be, and after several attempts George shoots him in the head and helps him die painlessly and with a certain amount of dignity. At the sound of the shot the men appear and surround George. They think there has been a struggle and George has shot Lennie in self-defence, only Slim realises what has really happened. Although George is left all alone there is the possibility that Slim and he will develop a closer friendship. Many changes were made from this original ending in the film version. When George was telling Lennie the story of how it was gonna be he shoots him first time after Lennie says and I get to tend the rabbits. Lennie, who was crouched on his knees, is curled up like a baby or an embryo with George standing over him after he had been shot. Once again this is symbolic of the mother child relationship between them and also symbolises Lennie being like a child. The final camera shot on them both expands on a large shot of the pool where George told Lennie it was supposed to be safe. The audience visualises the trust Lennie had in George and this is emphasised in this scene. The next shot goes back to the beginning where it is George who was on the train sitting in the corner lonely and isolated. He has a flashback and remembers the good times that he and Lennie had. In this flashback they both walk side by side, smiling and laughing, Lennie puts his arm around George like a child wanting affection from his mother. This caption is in slow motion to make the audience remember how good the friendship was between the two and to make the audience feel sorry for the lonely George. It then goes silent, the picture fades to a black screen and it ends. Another major difference between the novel and the film is the way in which Curleys wife is portrayed. In the novel she is pictured as a flirtatious tart, where as in the film she is depicted as pretty and only gently flirts. In the novel she is seen as being a tart. She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers. This extract clearly shows that she is unsuitably dressed for her surroundings. She wore backless shoes (mules) with ostrich feathers on the instep, with a red dress. This was not the clothing you would expect to be worn on a ranch. She only dresses this way so the men pay attention to her because she is bitterly lonely. In the film Curleys wife is seen as very different to this as she has a very pretty face and is only slightly flirtatious, whereas in the novel she blatantly flirts with Lennie. When she asked Lennie what had happened to Curleys hand, Lennie immediately looks at Candy for help and with no reply, he turns his gaze downwards towards his lap. This shows the reader a side of Lennie that is trying to reach out for help like a young child. Needing guidance he vaguely replies, Curley got his hand caught in a machine. Curleys wife laughed Ok machine. Ill talk to you later. I like machines. She picks out Lennie as he is the weakest and probably the most likely to fall for her charm due to his mental immaturity. Again she persists to flirt with Lennie when the four are talking about George. Lennie says Thats the guy, and hes gonna let me tend the rabbits, to which Curleys wife adds Well if thats all you want, I might get a couple rabbits myself. She comes across as very manipulative in this pa rt of the novel. In the film, she seems very lonely, and director Sinise adds a scene, which is not in the novel. In this scene Curleys wife tells George and Lennie of how Curley broke all of her records, which are her only company. This makes the audience feel sorry for her, as she is very lonely as if she has lost all of her friends. In the novel the reader sees Curleys wife as being lonely, but they do not feel sorry for her as she has a very nasty nature. An example of this is when she is in Crooks room and continually calls the men bindle stiffs and bindle bums. She says, they left all the weak ones here. She repeats this vicious nature when saying, Standin here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs a nigger an a dum-dum an a lousy ol sheep an likin it because they aint nobody else. Crooks tells her to get out of his room and she bombards him with a vicious racial assault saying, Listen Nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it aint even funny. This inner personality is only released when she is most lonely, as she believes that Curley cannot satisfy her emotionally or physically, in a marriage she is in to escape a spiral of her self-loneliness. This results in her need to lust for the other men on the ranch, as this may be her only chance to find the happiness she secretly yearns for. This tone that she speaks to people in is exempt from many parts of the film as the director tries to make the audience feel sorry for her, whilst in the novel you are made to think that she deserved to be killed due to the way she threatened Crooks. I feel Sinise did this to make you feel sorry for her when she dies and to bring Georges killing of Lennie into a deeper prospective. The age of Curleys wife also differs in both the novel and the film. In the novel Curleys wife is merely the tender age of fifteen/sixteen, whilst in the film she is portrayed as a much older and more mature age. My personal favourite between the novel and the film, is the novel as it is an epic and thrilling read. I think that the film version is very emotional, and the director Sinise portrays the novel in a different way, although the detail and description of the film can never compare with the original novel. You will find that in most cases the film cannot reproduce the same empathy and imagination used when the author first creates their masterpiece.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

The revolt of Israel congregation against Aaron and Moises Essay

The pericope that I choose for this reflection paper is Numbers 17:1-13. This pericope is the last in the series of three narratives about the revolt of Israel congregation against the high priest position of Aaron and the leadership of Moses. The first revolt came from Korah. Korah was a member of the tribe of Levi, the same tribe of Aaron (Exodus 6:16-20). Korah’s rebellion is not merely a personal attack on Aaron but also on his appointed-by-God priesthood. The second revolt led by Dathan and Abiram and the 250 other lay leaders defied and rejected the leadership of Moses. These revolted leaders have a very democratic argument, which is the will of the people must have higher authority than the leadership appointed by God. God answers by kill all the leaders and the followers of these two revolted parties. All those events establish the context for the text in Numbers 17:1-13. In this pericope, God instructs Moses to set up one final test in order to show His approval for A aron’s prietshood. This final test is intended to put an end to the people’s questioning and challenging of the authority of both Aaron and Moses. In this final test, Moses is instructed to take a staff from each tribal leader. The name of each leader is written on his staff. Aaron’s name is inscribed on the staff represents for the Levi tribe. Moses puts all these staves in the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. The next morning, Moses comes to the Tent and the staff of Aaron is sprouted, budded, blossomed and produced ripe almonds. There is something interesting in the way the text describes the staff of Aaron. The text does not simply say the staff of Aaron reaches the final stage of the production cycle and has ripe almond fruit on it. The text lists in det... ...ope that Jesus will come back in the same way He was lifted into heaven (Acts 1:11). The message of this pericope for Christian today is very clear that is honoring your spiritual leaders even when they fall short of fulfilling their callings. God gives salvation universally available for all, but God elects some to save and among whom He saves, He calls a few to lead. There are always failures and corruptions waiting to happen in the ministries of whom God calls to lead, that is inevitable. God wants Christian to honor their spiritual leaders not because who they are but because what they do. A true spiritual leader does two main things: preach the Word of God (Hebrews 13:7) and care for the souls of other Christians (Hebrews 13:17). As long as a spiritual leader commits to do these two things, the church as the God’s people ought to submit to his leadership.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Pregnancy And Breastfeeding Essay

Lisa and her husband have decided that they are ready to prepare for their first child. Lisa is 26 years old, weighs 125 pounds and is 5’6†. Lisa has been reading everything she can find on pregnancy because she knows that her prepregnancy health is important to the success of her pregnancy. She knows she should avoid alcohol, especially because alcohol is potentially toxic to the growing fetus in the first weeks of pregnancy, and she could become pregnant and not know about it right away. Lisa is not a smoker and does not take any medications. Although, she does drink 4 cups of coffee per day and drinks 3 diet cokes each day. She has already modified her diet to include some extra protein, along with more fruits and vegetables. She has always taken the herbal supplements glucosamine for her joints and ginseng for energy. She recently started taking an over-the-counter vitamin and mineral supplement. Lisa has always kept in good shape by running and yoga, and is admittedly worried about gaining too much weight during the pregnancy. She plans to continue exercising throughout her pregnancy. Answer the following questions. Women during pregnany do not recive the proper nourishment of vitamin and mineral supplemts. It is reccomended that they take a prental multiviamin mineral supplement due to the lack of calories, protein, folic acid, vitamin d, calcium, iron, iodine, and zinc in their diets. Deficiencies of these nutrients can result in deficiencies in infants such as low birth weight and reduced head size. I would recommend that Lisa should reduce her coffee and soda intake as they consist of high caffeine. Heavy caffeine use (in animal studies) showed reproductive problems such as mis carriage and birth defects. It would be safe for her to eat up to 12 ounces of fish such as tuna or salmon. The four types of fish that she should avoid are shark, swordfish, kings makerel, and Tilefish which they all contain high levels of meurcury. Consumtion of these products during pregnancy can lead to developmental delays and brain damage. It is common for pregnant women to experience morning sickness and constipation due to hormonal changes in the 1st trimester. I recommend that Lisa eat small frequent meals, eat dry crackers, and avoid food with odors to prevent nausea and vomitting. If she is undergoing constipation, the hormonal changes slow down the GI tract. She should have a high fiber diet and consume at least 8 glasses of fluids a day anlong with exercise daily.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Andrew Cunningham - Admiral Andrew Cunningham - World War II - Royal Navy

Andrew Browne Cunningham was born January 7, 1883, outside Dublin, Ireland. The son of anatomy professor Daniel Cunningham and his wife Elizabeth, the Cunninghams family was of Scottish extraction. Largely raised by his mother, he began schooling in Ireland before being sent to Scotland to attend the Edinburgh Academy. At the age of ten, he accepted his fathers offer of pursuing a naval career and left Edinburgh to enter the Naval Preparatory School at Stubbington House. In 1897, Cunningham was accepted as a cadet in the Royal Navy and assigned to the training school aboard HMS Britannia at Dartmouth. Highly interested in seamanship, he proved a strong student and graduated 10th in a class of 68 the following April. Ordered to HMS Doris as a midshipman, Cunningham traveled to the Cape of Good Hope. While there, the Second Boer War began ashore. Believing there to be an opportunity for advancement on land, he transferred to the Naval Brigade and saw action in Pretoria and Diamond Hill. Returning to sea, Cunningham moved through several ships before commencing sub-lieutenants courses at Portsmouth and Greenwich. Passing, he was promoted and assigned to HMS Implacable. World War I Contributions Promoted to lieutenant in 1904, Cunningham passed through several peacetime postings before receiving his first command, HM Torpedo Boat #14 four years later. In 1911, Cunningham was placed in command of the destroyer HMS Scorpion. Aboard at the outbreak of World War I, he took part in the failed pursuit of the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and cruiser SMS Breslau. Remaining in the Mediterranean, Scorpion participated in the early 1915 attack on the Dardanelles at the beginning of the Gallipoli Campaign. For his performance, Cunningham was promoted to commander and received the Distinguished Service Order. Over the next two years, Cunningham took part in routine patrol and convoy duty in the Mediterranean. Seeking action, he requested a transfer and returned to Britain in January 1918. Given command of HMS Termagent in Vice-Admiral Roger Keyes Dover Patrol, he performed well and earned a bar for his DSO. With the end of the war, Cunningham moved to HMS Seafire and in 1919 received orders to sail for the Baltic. Serving under Rear Admiral Walter Cowan, he worked to keep the sea lanes open to newly independent Estonia and Latvia. For this service, he was awarded a second bar for his DSO. Interwar Years Promoted to captain in 1920, Cunningham moved through a number of senior destroyer commands and later served as Fleet Captain and Chief of Staff to Cowan in North America and West Indies Squadron. He also attended the Army Senior Officers School and the Imperial Defense College. Upon completing the latter, he received his first major command, the battleship HMS Rodney. In September 1932, Cunningham was elevated to rear admiral and made Aide-de-Camp to King George V. Returning to the Mediterranean Fleet the following year, he oversaw its destroyers which relentlessly trained in ship handling. Raised to vice admiral in 1936, he was made second in command of the Mediterranean Fleet and placed in charge of its battlecruisers. Highly regarded by the Admiralty, Cunningham received orders to return to Britain in 1938 to assume the post of Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff. Taking this position in December, he was knighted the following month. Performing well in London, Cunningham received his dream posting on June 6, 1939, when he was made commander of the Mediterranean Fleet. Hoisting his flag aboard HMS Warspite, he began planning for operations against the Italian Navy in case of war. World War II Contributions With the beginning of World War II in September 1939, Cunninghams primary focus became protecting the convoys that supplied British forces in Malta and Egypt. With the defeat of France in June 1940, Cunningham was forced to enter into tense negotiations with Admiral Rene-Emile Godfroy regarding the status of the French squadron at Alexandria. These talks were complicated when the French admiral learned of the British attack on Mers-el-Kebir. Through skillful diplomacy, Cunningham succeeded in convincing the French to allow their ships to be interned and their men repatriated. Though his fleet had won several engagements against the Italians, Cunningham sought to dramatically alter the strategic situation and reduce the threat to Allied convoys. Working with the Admiralty, a daring plan was conceived which called for a nighttime airstrike against the Italian fleets anchorage at Taranto. Moving forward on November 11-12, 1940, Cunninghams fleet approached the Italian base and launched torpedo planes from HMS Illustrious. A success, the Taranto Raid sank one battleship and badly damaged two more. The raid was extensively studied by the Japanese when planning their attack on Pearl Harbor. In late March 1941, under heavy pressure from Germany to halt the Allied convoys, the Italian fleet sortied under the command of Admiral Angelo Iachino. Informed of enemy movements by Ultra radio intercepts, Cunningham met the Italians and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Cape Matapan on March 27-29. In the battle, three Italian heavy cruisers were sunk and a battleship damaged in exchange for three British killed. That May, following the Allied defeat on Crete, Cunningham successfully rescued over 16,000 men from the island despite taking heavy losses from Axis aircraft. Later War In April 1942, with the United States now in the war, Cunningham was appointed to the naval staff mission to Washington, DC and built a strong relationship with the Commander-in-Chief of the US Fleet, Admiral Ernest King. As a result of these meetings, he was given command of the Allied Expeditionary Force, under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, for the Operation Torch landings in North Africa late that fall. Promoted to admiral of the fleet, he returned to the Mediterranean Fleet in February 1943 and worked tirelessly to ensure that no Axis forces would escape from North Africa. With the conclusion of the campaign, he again served under Eisenhower in commanding the naval elements of the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the landings in Italy that September. With the collapse of Italy, he was present at Malta on September 10 to witness the formal surrender of the Italian fleet. Following the death of the First Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, Cunningham was appointed to the post on October 21. Returning to London, he served as a member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and provided overall strategic direction for the Royal Navy. In this role, Cunningham attended the major conferences at Cairo, Tehran, Quebec, Yalta, and Potsdam during which plans for the invasion of Normandy and the defeat of Japan were formulated. Cunningham remained First Sea Lord through the end of the war until his retirement in May 1946. Later Life For his wartime service, Cunningham was created Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope. Retiring to Bishops Waltham in Hampshire, he lived in a house that he and his wife, Nona Byatt (m. 1929), had purchased before the war. During his retirement, he held several ceremonial titles including Lord High Steward at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Cunningham died in London on June 12, 1963, and was buried at sea off Portsmouth. A bust was unveiled in Trafalgar Square in London on April 2, 1967, by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in his honor. Sources Antill, Peter,  Admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1883 - 1963.â€Å"Biography of Andrew Cunningham.†Ã‚  Royal Naval Museum, Royal Naval Museum Library, 2004.