Of Mice and Men and Religion

As part of developing our curriculum in KS3, we are placing emphasis on three cross topic components.

For Year 7, we, like most, are focusing on classical myths, which is great when we cover aspects such as the Victorian novel and Shakespeare.

For Year 8, we are looking at fairy tales which makes some great connections with Gothic horror and Charles Dicken’s ‘Great Expectation’.

For Year 9, we are looking at stories from the Old Testament and New Testament. But, in looking at these stories it made me revise my thoughts on the John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’. Now, I am not the novel’s biggest fan and like a lot of teachers we just got a little bit fed up of teaching it, but I do have a new appreciation of the book now.

A lot of what I am exploring is interpretation and like most interpretations you are free to think ‘yep’, ‘no’ or ‘ what utter codswallop!’.

The Garden of Eden?

Since the dawn of time, teachers have been making associations between the opening and ending of the novel with the ‘Garden of Eden’. It is so perfect. So calm. So innocent. It even has rabbits and nothing says garden at the beginning of the world like big fluffy rabbits. In fact, so determined are we to extend the interpretation we try to crowbar the serpent in with the water snake. That isn't tree climbing snake.  

I believe we have become so blindsided that we make the setting the ‘Garden of Eden’ for simplicity. Aside from Steinbeck’s theme of nature, I feel that there is a different garden we should be thinking about when looking at the novel.

There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores, a path beaten hard by boys coming down from the ranches to swim in the deep pool, and beaten hard by tramps who come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water.

The novel doesn’t make the opening setting a place devoid of humanity. It makes it clear that is frequented by humanity on a regular basis. And, if your knowledge of the bible is a little bit dodgy, then you might have missed that there was only two humans in the Garden of Eden. Not lots of them. Not a few living in a village nearby.

I feel that the opening has more akin to the Garden of Gethsemane. A garden associated with friendship. A garden associated with reflection. A garden associated with betrayal.

The Garden of Gethsemane was a garden on Mount of Olives (I know, California doesn’t have that many olive groves but it does have mounts) outside Jerusalem. After the Last Supper, Jesus goes to pray with his disciples. At this point, he is betrayed by Judas, captured and then crucified.

Let that sink in. After his last bowl of slop, Lennie goes to the brush to seek mental and emotional solace from his disciple, George. At this point, he is betrayed by George and killed. I know that there are no olives, but the similarities are striking. For years, I have sold the idea that the brush was an allusion to the ‘Garden of Eden’ and how sin changed everything. Of course, there are other interpretations. For this blog, I am focusing solely on the religious interpretations.

The Judas Kiss

Now, let’s look at George’s …sob…sob…sob betrayal. The infamous Judas kiss was an act that could be open to two interpretations. One: a kiss is an act of affection and respect. You only kiss the ones you love and respect. Two: a kiss is the signal that the person kissed is Jesus so the soldiers can capture him.

 "No," said George. "No, Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know." The voices came close now. George raised the gun and listened to the voices.                                                                        Lennie begged, "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now."  "Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta."                                        And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head.

If we take this interpretation further, we need to look Judas’ role. George’s telling of the dream is both an act of affection and a betrayal. He is telling the story out of love for Lennie because it mentally and emotionally calms him down, but at the same time it is a distraction for the act of shooting him in the head.

Judas isn’t the only disciple to betray Jesus. Peter denies knowing Jesus three times. George often hides the truth about Lennie several times. Although, he doesn’t actual deny knowing Lennie, he fails to tell the truth numerous times in the story.

An' you got it away from him and you took it an' you killed him?"

 "Yeah. Tha's how." George's voice was almost a whisper. He looked steadily at his right hand that had held the gun.  

So is George and amalgamation of Judas, Peter and the soldiers who took pity on Jesus when he was crucified. This for me possibly heightens the complexity of George’s character. Possibly, George even plays the role of Mary / Joseph. He treats Lennie as his own flesh and blood as a promise to somebody– ummm sounds familiar.

And the ending for George. Judas committed suicide after the Garden of Gethsemane. I cannot help but think something similar would happen  

“Woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” Mark 14:21

Jesus

We know that literature throws up lots of allusions in relation to Jesus Christ. If there was someone presented with Christ-like perfection, it would have to be Slim.  I think interpreting Lennie as Jesus Christ figure is complicated given that Lennie kills people. However, there is an interesting relationship between innocence and power. Jesus was an innocent and kind man who was feared because of his powerful influence on others. With Lennie we have a largely innocent and kind man who cannot control his power. His power has a destructive influence.  Therefore, both die to prevent their power increasing. They both have visions when travelling through the wilderness. Only one has rabbits.

Now, here is where the story diverges from the crucifixion story. Most certainly Curley would have crucified Lennie and made him walk the streets with a wooden cross. Here, we have something more humane. Judas, I mean, George, prevents the crucifixion.

Added to this is the idea of sacrifice. The sacrifice of a loved one to atone for past sin.

 Other interesting religious interpretations

·         David and Goliath – a childlike Lennie defeats a (short) powerful figure of hatred Curley

·         Samson and Delilah  – a man with some interesting hair (might have curls) is obsessed with a woman. Look at how pleased Curley’s wife is when Curley’s power is taken away from him. Who asked Curley to wear the glove?

‘yep’, ‘no’ or ‘ what utter codswallop!’ – I will let you decide.

Thanks for reading,

Xris

Girls do try and that might be where the problem lies

I really, really, really enjoyed ‘Boys Don’t Try’ by Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts. For me, it’s a strength, is its unpicking of gender stereotypes and how our own prejudices can be part of the problem surrounding boys in education. Anyway, I was thinking about this book as my own daughters finished primary school this week and they also received their SATs results.

It is sad to say this, but my daughters’ experience of primary school has not been the positive experience I had hoped it to be. Married to a dedicated, hard-working and committed, primary school teacher, I know what a fantastic job primary schools do. In fact, I work with a lot of superb primary schools and primary school teachers. I know how great primary schools can and should be. They are fun, enjoyable and great places, but for us, as a family, we have been counting the days for when my daughters left their school. And, the saddest thing of all was that my daughters were doing the counting down themselves.  

So, where did it go wrong? It wasn’t really the systems. It wasn’t really the teachers. It wasn’t really the headteacher. However, I could possibly write a book on our experiences and dealings with the school. I think the problem stems with how they dealt with girls and different kinds of girls.  

As a dad of two daughters, I am starting to realise things about my daughters. Each one has two personas. A school persona and a home persona. They are both very different people, but really they are alike in so many ways. The school persona is polite, friendly, chatty and helpful. The home persona is well the opposite – there will be a day, when they read these blogs and I will be in trouble! The home persona will say something and challenge things when the school persona will not, because they are worried they’ll get told off. Life for them is the battle between these two versions of themselves. They’ll tell me about how unfair I am as a dad at home, but they would shudder doing the same to a teacher. There’s this constant friction.

My daughters are perfect ‘Blue Peter’ girls. They’d love to enter a competition. They’d love to save a hedgehog. They’d love to know about compost making. They just want to get involved. And, this is the other problem: ‘ the kind good girl type’. They get lumbered with everything. Here’s a new student. Meet the ‘Blue Peter’ girls. It became a joke in our house about how every new student, and I mean every new student, was paired up with my daughters when they arrived at school. Good girls were seen, and are often seen, as the problem solvers. We’ll just use Jenny because she’s kind and friendly. My daughters were that girl and they got fed up of it.    

I hate ‘Star of the Week’ with a passion. From my experience, it is rarely fair and it is often used to pander to the boys. Tom kicked a ball. Star. Peter ran a race. Star. The girls have to wait for their ‘annual turn’. Yes, it often felt like a tick box exercise. Everybody would get a go once a year, because that is fair. It seemed to my daughters that the naughty boys got the award more often than them. The girls who wouldn’t swear within fifty miles of a school would be overshadowed by the boys who have been known to swear openly. The girls could see what was going on. They worked hard and it was the naughty boys who got praised for something that was expected from girls. That made the one mention a year all that more important.

Popularity is an interesting thing. Most people want to be seen as being popular. However, I have seen how the ‘popularity factor’ has a damaging effect on girls. My daughters put themselves up for school council most years. They occasionally got it, because nobody else volunteered and the teachers selected the successful candidate. In the final year, the school made the decision a democratic decision and the school voted for school president. My daughters didn’t get the role, because the school voted for the popular student in a fair and democratic process. The whole process was transparently about popularity and that was made public. The whole process became about highlighting how my daughters were not as popular as the other students. A fair and democratic process? 

The popular kids are usually the extroverts and the outspoken and confident students. I have sat through numerous school plays and assemblies listening to the popular kids and seen the other children hide in the sides, because they haven’t got the confidence to say a line or two. School plays tend to draw attention to this. At times, I think we should rename school plays to ‘The Popular Extrovert Show’. Not really a microcosm of schools, in my opinion. My daughters would love to have a bigger part, but they are not going to shout out for one. They are good.  

My daughters left the school. They didn’t feel sad. They just wanted to have a better experience. As girls, I don’t think they had that opportunity. Not because someone intentionally went out of their way to do something, but because the wrong focus here or there can have long-lasting damage on a girl. Schools will not see the impact they have on girls, because of the two personas. The school persona smiles, while the home persona cries. There’s so much more to girls’ behaviour and I think we neglect them heavily.

We have growing issues in secondary schools and I think we need to explore the girls' behaviour, just as much as the boys. Nationally, we have a problem with boys, but that doesn’t mean we need to have the spotlight solely on the boy.

I am just a dad trying to understand things and I happy to be corrected if I have misunderstood or misinterpreted something. 

Thanks for reading,

Xris 


Update: 18/12/19 

Dear Reader, 

Last night I attended an Advent service at my daughters' school. During the performance, one of my daughters sung a solo. A solo she never had the opportunity before.  A solo that she was incredibly worried about. A solo she never thought she'd have the chance to do because of other students. 

A solo she smashed. She was brilliant. In fact, she was praised by many for doing it.  

When I wrote my original blog in July, I had people tell me stories of how their lovely, quiet daughters had difficulties in primary schools, but flourished and thrived in secondary schools. They were right for my daughters, but it does raise some interesting ideas. Are we neglecting a silent majority of children in primary schools? Boys can be vocal. Attention seeking girls are certainly vocal. Introvert girls aren't. 

When do the quiet, good girls get noticed? Is it when they don't have friends? Is it when they do a poor piece of work? They don't scream for attention the rest of the time. They are relied on. They are dependable and loyal, but they are largely forgotten. 

I cannot tell you how my daughters have transformed since primary school. They have become confident, friendly and outgoing. They didn't have a major personality change, but they feel valued. They feel noticed. They have a voice. They feel they can do anything. They are motivated. They are driven. But, they do that will a smile on their face. Quietly. 

So, what am I trying to say? Well, simply: primary schools need to look at how their quiet girls and boys fit into the school life. Children need to feel part of a community. What if we are simply supporting an alienating experience for young people in our care? We aren't doing it on purpose, but it is the by-product of caring for some children more than others. Maybe care is the wrong word. Maybe focus is the right word. 

I have seen, first-hand, the difference it can have on quiet students when they have a sense of place and community. When the feel part of something. When they connect. 

Thanks for reading, 

Xris