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This is a picture which I took in the evening before I took the high school entrance exams.

My teacher took my class to the beach near our school. We all knew that our "middle school life" would end after exams. All my classmates are upset and a little bit sad. I just saw the sun set at that moment, so I picked up my camera and took a picture.

TO COMMEMORATE THE TIME IN MIDDLE SCHOOL.

**__ Of Mice and Men __**** Literary Essay ** John Steinbeck shows two totally different characters in the novel __Of Mice and Men__ who work in a ranch in California during the Great Depression. George and Lennie share the same wonderful dream at the beginning but finally the brutal reality forces George to kill Lennie, and this makes the story really tragic. The author, John Steinbeck, uses the character Lennie as a confidante to illustrate the change of George’s thoughts, the real aspect of Curley’s wife and the isolation of Crook, a black labor. The character Lennie does a great effort on showing others’ characters. Lennie does not have any ideas with human’s relationship, future dreams or anything else that a normal man should know. The only thing he knows is keeping rabbits in the future ranch. Therefore, even if George and Lennie’s relationship has changed during the development of the story, Lennie just plays an innocent role. The changing of Lennie-George relationship is the reflection of George’s changes in his mind. George values Lennie as a cousin at the beginning. As what he says to the boss “he’s my… cousin”. The line demonstrate that he thinks for their relationship for a while and finally comes out with a word, ‘cousin’. This word ‘cousin’ obviously proves that George admits their ‘cousin-relation’. This gives audiences a clear image because everyone knows what cousins are like:” 100% trust, no betrayals…” Later on, as Georg adapts the life in the ranch, he is sometimes not patient to Lennie. There is an important event in the novel, which George, Lennie and Candy build up a fantastic dream together. It is like building a splendid skyscraper. Nevertheless, the “pentagon” was broken down by Curley’s wife’s death. This forces George to make a decision. He has to choose between continuing running with Lennie and settle down in the ranch. Lennie is a confidante not only because of the words that George talks to him, but also because his death shows audiences what George has chosen. Curley’s wife appears in the novel as a flirtatious woman at first. She is interested in talking to everyone. However, the characteristic of Curley’s wife is not that simple. The character, Lennie, works as an audience of Curley’s wife who leads all her characteristics out to the readers. In the fifth chapter, Curley’s wife meets Lennie without any interruption of others. She tells Lennie everything about her tale nts on dancing and acting which she has never told any other people before. It is also the first time she has a listener who would like to let her finish her words. Lennie’s listening also gives a chance t o Curley’s wife to tell the readers about her willing of making a movie and wearing beautiful cloths. Lennie‘s quiet helps to depict the real aspect of Curley’s wife. Lennie also helps to demonstrate the isolation of Crook. Crook is the only black labor in the ranch. He is the symbol of black people in that society. His characteristic wa s laid out by the conversation between Lennie and him. Crook complains to Lennie, showing how a black man is isolated by all the other white people. Crook also takes his childhood as an example to illustrate how the real world is brutal and unfair to black people. Crook also tries to lead Lennie’s thought. He tries to make Lennie distrust George but he failed. Even though Crook did not get success, the procedure can still tell audiences that as an isolated black man, Crook’s mind was full of distrust of people around him. To sum up, John Steinbeck successfully depicts Lennie as a confidante to illustrate the change of George’s thoughts, the real aspect of Curley’s wife and the isolation of Crook. Steinbeck demonstrates the characteristic of Lennie as a mentally disabled person. This design gives every character in the book a reason to show their indeed to the audiences, and it promised the smoothness of the whole story.
 * David Sun **