Small, crafty, cowering, timorous little beast,
O, what a panic is in your little breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With hurrying scamper!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering plough-staff.
I'm truly sorry man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion
And fellow mortal!
I doubt not, sometimes, but you may steal;
What then? Poor little beast, you must live!
An odd ear in twenty-four sheaves
Is a small request;
I will get a blessing with what is left,
And never miss it.
Your small house, too, in ruin!
Its feeble walls the winds are scattering!
And nothing now, to build a new one,
Of coarse grass green!
And bleak December's winds coming,
Both bitter and keen!
You saw the fields laid bare and wasted,
And weary winter coming fast,
And cozy here, beneath the blast,
You thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel plough past
Out through your cell.
That small bit heap of leaves and stubble,
Has cost you many a weary nibble!
Now you are turned out, for all your trouble,
Without house or holding,
To endure the winter's sleety dribble,
And hoar-frost cold.
But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
Still you are blest, compared with me!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!
Tough one, huh? I can help you out with it. Here's a 5 minute lecture from a semi-retired college professor. Do this: pres play, and re-read the poem and the guy gives his lecture. You'll be able to follow along pretty well. (He starts reading it and describing what he's reading about 1:30 in.
Here again is the part that inspried Steinbeck:
But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
Here's the question: To what degree to you agree with this claim? Support your claim with evidence not from the text, but rather from another text - a short story, a novel, a film, a poem, etc.
Again, you can earn extra credit by responding to your classmates' posts.
P.S. Anyone remember this game, or am I just old?
OH MY GOSH I REMEMBER THIS GAME!!! I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH!!! We should spend a day in class playing this game.
ReplyDeleteThough it took me awhile to fully comprehend the text, I strongly agree with the claim that Robert Burns portrayed in his poem “To a Mouse.” To better understand the poem I had to break it down and it appeared to me that Robert Burns was trying to say that whether you are a mouse or a man, our best laid schemes or ideas can often get lost and leave us with nothing but grief and pain. The mouse in the poem, was not alone, it just happened to be him at that present moment that he was turned out into the cold winter without a home. This reminded me of Walter Younger from A Raisin in the Sun. Walter had his dreams of the liquor store and he planned on it coming true when he gave Willy Harris the money for it. Little did Walter know that Willy would sneak off with not only his money, but his hopes and dreams. Walter didn’t necessarily deserve what happened to him, but it did happen, and all he was left with was grief and a pain in his mind. Theoretically not only do mice sometimes fail to build themselves a future but men do as well, and that to me, stands true.
ReplyDeleteThough it took me awhile to fully comprehend the text, I strongly agree with the claim that Robert Burns portrayed in his poem “To a Mouse.” To better understand the poem I had to break it down and it appeared to me that Robert Burns was trying to say that whether you are a mouse or a man, our best laid schemes or ideas can often get lost and leave us with nothing but grief and. The mouse in the poem, was not alone, it just happened to be him at that present moment that he was turned out into the cold winter without a home. This reminded me of Walter Younger from A Raisin in the Sun. Walter had his dreams of the liquor store and he planned on it coming true when he gave Willy Harris the money for it. Little did Walter know that Willy would sneak off with not only his money, but his hopes and dreams. Walter didn’t necessarily deserve what happened to him, but it did happen, and all he was left with was grief and a pain. Theoretically not only do mice fail to build themselves a future but men do as well, and that to me, stands true.
ReplyDeleteThough it took me awhile to fully comprehend the text, I strongly agree with the claim that Robert Burns portrayed in his poem “To a Mouse.” To better understand the poem I had to break it down and it appeared to me that Robert Burns was trying to say that whether you are a mouse or a man, our best laid schemes or ideas can often get lost and leave us with nothing but grief and. The mouse in the poem, was not alone, it just happened to be him at that present moment that he was turned out into the cold winter without a home. This reminded me of Walter Younger from A Raisin in the Sun. Walter had his dreams of the liquor store and he planned on it coming true when he gave Willy Harris the money for it. Little did Walter know that Willy would sneak off with not only his money, but his hopes and dreams. Walter didn’t necessarily deserve what happened to him, but it did happen, and all he was left with was grief and a pain. Theoretically not only do mice fail to build themselves a future but men do as well, and that to me, stands true.
ReplyDeleteI can see now how Steinbeck incorporated the title "Of Mice and Men" into his book. No matter how much one person tries they can't always get what they want like in the book the dream of George, Lennie and Candy. They work hard to get to the dream but there is always a roadblock in the way or a plough like in the poem near the domain of a mouse. Just like the dreams of the characters in A Raisin the in the Sun the unexpected happens and you can't do anytthing about it.
ReplyDeleteSteinbeck's story incorporated the poem "To a Mouse. The story "Of Mice and Men is kind of about dreams to this is how i kind of figured out what Robert Burns was saying. People have dreams, just like George, Lennie and Candy did in the book but there is always a roadblock in the way of completing it. Just like the story "A Raisin in the Sun the characters dreams are unfulfilled by a random act that happens and nothing can be done about it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the claim made by Robert Burns. Through the poem, Burns states that "The best laid schemes of mice and men Go often askew", which basically mean that no matter what you are or where you stand within any sort hierarchy, the plans of both "mice and men" can and often do go awry. In the short story The Man Who Was Almost a Man, Dave had planned to buy a gun in an attempt to prove that he was a man. He had thought that that the power and authority the gun would have given to him over others would elicit respect from them, near the end of the story though, the gun had only caused others to look down in shame upon him. It is true that even the most though-out plans can go awry and that we can never really plan out our whole future, which “though [we] cannot see, [we] guess and fear!”.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Yes, I actually remember that game, and YES you are old :D
I understand why Robert Burns names his claim "To a mouse". The mice is very small. The mouse is dreaming big, and tries fulfilling that dream everyday. Sometimes that dream fails, because there will always be problems and conflicts that make you go farther away from your goal. Sometimes there are too many problems that you just have to give up. This made me think about "Raisin in the Sun" because Walter started out small. He was an African American with not that much money. He had a dream to own a liquor store by the money from his dad. The conflict was that Willy Harris took his money. After that Walter had no idea on fulfilling his dream and his dream kind of flew right past him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that claim for several reasons. First the schemes of mice and men that are the best planned are normally greedy and have a low chance of success in the first place. Second even if they are well planned out you cannot plan for every eventuality. These are both indicated by Ranger's Apprentice The Battle for Skandia. In this the Temujai are planning to declare war on Skandia and take their land but they don't succeed. This means that their plan failed. They also had thought out tons of possibilities but their plan still failed. Their plan didn't have a low chance of success but it still failed so the best plans quite often fail.
ReplyDeleteI get how and why Steinbeck got the main idea for the book from this poem. The poem makes me think of the movie District 9. In the movie the aliens are stranded on the earth. An alien has just collected enough "fuel" to get the aliens of the earth. As that is taking place the humans are trying to move the aliens somewhere farther from the city. The humans go through District 9 and start giving out eviction notices. The main character is the man who is handing out the notices. In one of the houses he finds the "fuel" and sprays it on himself on accident. The humans then take it away to their lab. This makes it much harder for the alien to get home and it does not turn out to be how he expected.
ReplyDeleteI agree with kevin's claim. The first thing that came into my mind after i read the poem was Willy stealing Walter's money, but you already used it .
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this poem many times, I extracted from the text that no matter how big or how small, go forward as if you cannot go back and let all your plans unfold. I also believe that he is saying that we should be more like mice. They can only see the present, not the future or the past. They have no worries they have no fears. Nothing is holding them back from accomplishing what they want. This reminds me of the movie Forest Gump. He makes his way through the movie doing what he thinks is best and runs into different situations. The one scene that sticks out at me the most is at the beginning when his college allows black people to go to the University. A young black girl is walking into the school and she drops her book. There are hundreds of kids there and not one of them says anything to her about it falling. But Forest, despite her being black, pushes his way through and gives her the book as if she is just another white person.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the question I strongly agree with the poem. We should be more like mice, and less like man. Forget about the past. Don't think about the future, and only worry about the present and what you can do in that moment of time.
The title "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck was influenced by the the poem entitled "To a Mouse” by Robert Burns. Men are like mice. We are all always planning, but whether or not the plan comes true is not of our control. We are small and unimportant in the major plan of all that is life. Both us and the mice are equals. We will all face challenges to what we planned out, and what we dreamed of will not always come true. They will have a price, and what you get out of it is not your's to choose. George and Lennie planed on getting a place together, but the plan changed when Curly came into the group. that is an example of the plan gone "askew." Another part of the plan gone "askew" is when George had to kill Lennie for the safety of others. That made everything go off course. The story "Of Mice and Men" by , and the poem “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns remind me of the movie "The Sound of Music." In this movie the father is supposed to marry this real mean woman, but he later falls in love with the nanny. His dream turns out for the better, but it still changes.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with everything that Robert Burns writes about in "To a Mouse" because it is true that no matter how much anyone plans for something, things can change in just a matter of minutes. While we as people have learned to live in the present, the future is something that no one can state for sure. That is why Burns states that "foresight may be vain", for things can always go "askew". In the new movie "Alice in Wonderland", Alice's boyfriend had pictured getting married to her and had planned an entire engagement party for her without Alice knowing. When he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him on the gazebo, she just ran away. Although her boyfriend could have guessed that Alice would have said yes, the future is unpredictable. He was left with "nothing but grief and pain" after her unexpected response to his question. Therefore, while predictions about the future can fill a person's head with hope, it is probably best that no possibility gets voted out.
ReplyDeleteThe poem "To a Mouse" clearly was the base of John Steinbeck's book "Of Mice and Men" as the two have a very similar theme throughout. That theme is you are never to small or insignificant to dream. In the poem, the mouse was the one with a dream and in an instant, it got shattered by forces greater than its control. The same thing happens in the novel "Of Mice and Men". George and Lennie are saving up money to start their dream of having a farm to themselves. Then, George's plan turns to ruin when Lennie kills Curley's wife. It happens just as fast as the mouse lost its house to plow. What George did after was live in the present. He took no blame for the act and killed Lennie to prove he was loyal to the ranch. This type of living in the now reminded me of the series "The Pacific". In the series, marines who have been told little of what to expect fighting the Japanese are thrust onto an island and in a moments time, have to fight and kill the enemy. These soldiers are living in the now. They are not thinking of the mental damage killing another being might do. They consider only what's in front of them and what they have to do to survive.
ReplyDeleteJohn Steinback's title "Of Mice and Men" was influenced by the poem "To a Mouse" written by Robert Burns. Although it took me a while and many reading attempts to figure out what the text was trying to say, I agree with Robert Burns's claim. I believe Burns is trying to say that we humans are just the same as mice. We portray ourselves as being big and important when, in reality, we are small in comparison of the world and life. Not everything goes as expected and of course there are going to be many dreams knocked astray and some crushed down to the ground. Robert Burns's poem is about dreams and how they can cause grief and pain. This automatically reminded me of "A Raisin in the Sun" and how so many of the characters dreams were destroyed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ricky in is use of Forest Gump. Another scene from that movie that I thought of right after reading this poem was when Forest went back into the jungle to take as many survivors as he could to safety. He was not thinking of the what the future might hold for him and why he should reconsider saving the wounded. He simply thought of what was going on now and was living in the now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ricky in is use of Forest Gump. Another scene from that movie that I thought of right after reading this poem was when Forest went back into the jungle to take as many survivors as he could to safety. He was not thinking of the what the future might hold for him and why he should reconsider saving the wounded. He simply thought of what was going on now and was living in the now.
ReplyDeleteIn the Poem "To a Mouse" it is basically saying to me, not to be redundant, but that dreams can often not go as planned (askew). I could not agree more, as we have seen this evidently in the book Of Mice And Men, as Lennie, Candy, and George's dream gets crushed due to the timely killing of Curley's wife thanks to Lennie. This is also the case in, Back To The Future (Part's I, II, and III) when Dr. Emmitt Brown (Christopher Lloyd) has the dream of time travel, finds a way to rationalize it and introduces it to his friend Marty (Michael J. Fox). Of course nothing could go right as dealers of plutonium in which Dr. Brown stole from (in order to make his time machine work) come to get him and Marty has no choice but to hop into the time machine of his own good. He is then sent to 1955 where he accidentally messes something up in the past which could lead to catastrophic event. Him and Dr. Brow are then throw into a slew of adventures, that they did not expect, in order to preserve the space time continuum.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert Burns. Nothing ever seems to go as planned. The future is unpredictable. You always have to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best with everything. This is shown in the play A Raisin in the Sun. In this play Walter has this huge plan to invest in a liquor store but he was not prepared for what would happen. He never thought that his best friend Willy would run off with his money. This shows that you always need to be prepared for any given situation and that you need to prepare for the worst possible outcome. Walter did not do this and he was left with nothing. So Robert Burns claim is a very helpful piece of advice. You always need to be prepared for anything because most of the time things do not go your way.
ReplyDeleteI read the poem many times, and watched the video numerous times. The title of John Steinbeck's book, "Of Mice and Men", came from, "To a Mouse", by Robert Burns. I agree with Robert Burn's claim. In the beginning, I inferred that both, men and mice, are incredibly equal. Men have big dreams, as to own a house. A mouse can have the same exact dream. "But little Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain:"; what Burn is trying to say here is that, whether we are an animal, or a human, we always have someone here for us. It could be in the distant future, for the good, or the bad. In this same scenario, we have George and Lennie. George and Lennie travel together, and are partners in crime. George has done a lot for Lennie, to keep him safe, and with him. In the end, Lennie still thinks that George is on his side. But as we all know, George turns his back on him, and George did what he did.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this text. The poem, "To a Mouse" does remind me of the book, "Of mice and Men." Even if people don't want to believe it, they are just like mice. Dreams can get crushed just like a mouse's dream can. As the man in the lecture said, sometimes dreams can be pushed away by big unfortunate events. Lennie and George's dream was to just live a simple life and tend a farm. They thought it would be pretty simple achieving that goal as long as Lennie didn't mess anything up. As their scheme totally fails once Lennie kills Curley's wife, all they have left is grief and pain. George's pain was that he had to kill Lennie in a humane way. It is probably easier for Lennie to die and not have anymore harm come his way. In the movie, "Avatar," Jake's dream was to just walk on his own feet. As he goes into his avatar form, his befriending of a true avatar brings pain and suffering to the avatar people, and to his own comrades. There is lots of fighting and death. One simple dream causes chaos and destruction. Dreams can go very wrong.
ReplyDeleteFrom this poem, I think the author is trying to say that sometimes things don't go the way they seem, and instead of achieving one goal, you achieve another. I agree with this claim because it happens to me alot, where something doesn't go the way its planned, but in the end, you are happy about what happened. It is very much like The Wizard of Oz. All of the characters want something from the wizard. when it turns out that the wizard does not have any actual magical power to give them what they want, they instead realize that they already have what they wanted, and they are happy in the end.
ReplyDeletei agree with the exerpt. it reminds me of many things. one thing it reminds me of is the movie 2012. The governments and a select few people know what is to come and they prepare for the end. they hope it will not happen, but they also hope they will survive. another would be Alice in Wonderland. every one hopes for there not to be a war bit in the end they prepared and defeated the "jaberwok". They prepared by getting alice to return to underland. by doing so they achieved in their goalof overthroughing the red queen.
ReplyDeleteI think that "Of Mice and Men" was inspired by "To a Mouse", by Robert Burns. In "Of Mice and Men" George, Lennie, and Candy all dream of owning their own farm and living on it without being afraid of getting canned or picked on. While trying to make that dream a reality there comes a roadblock in their path. George ends up killing Lennie because of it and then does not end up getting his property with Candy. In "To a Mouse" the mouse also gets it's dream crushed so no matter who we are, something bad can always happen and make our dreams seem impossible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert Burns' claim that most of the plans of men, no matter how well they are organized will fail due to unforseen or uncontrolable factors and leave "nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy!"-Robert Burns. An example of this is in the book Winnie The Pooh when Eeyore works all day finding sticks and then building his house out of them. When it is almost night and Eeyore is ready for bed a huge gust of wind blows by and carries away Eeyore's house. Eeyore worked all day to have a house to sleep in but an uncontrolable factor destroyed it and left him nothing but grief and homeless.
ReplyDeletethe idea that "the best laid plans of mice and men often go askew" is often proven true in many books and movies,for example, in forrest gump, forrest's plans with his girlfriend went askew when his girlfriend killed herself
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert Burns' claim saying that your plans will never go how you want them to so you should live in the present instead of worrying about the future. The character Don Quijote from Miguel Cervantes' "Don Quijote" sets a perfect example of how to live in the present. After reading books about chivalry and knighthood, Quijote goes crazy and believes he's a true knight-errant. He parades around helping people, not thinking about how his actions will affect the future. An example would be when he comes across a boy being whipped by a farmer. Quijote challenges the farmer to a duel and threatens to kill him if he doesn't stop whipping the boy. The farmer swears and oath that he won't harm the boy and Quijote, who is sure he has done a good deed, leaves. The farmer, who is now even angrier at the boy, proceeds to give the boy an even bigger beatdown.
ReplyDeleteLike most questions, I say it all depends on the situation. Correct me if I'm wrong, but what I'm getting out of this is that when something goes wrong, they tend to cause trouble for now and joy later on. Most of the time, I believe that is not true. When I was just outside at recess at sixth grade (current situation) when I broke my wrist (what went wrong) and made me hurt (trouble for now). When did I ever find joy in breaking my wrist? Never. Although if it's something like a plan to restart the economy, first, the economy is bad so they try to fix it (current situation), then the economy turned out to be doing worse (what went wrong) which caused many families to cut back on spending and maybe go hungry (trouble for now) but later the economy rebooted and started to get better (the joy). Both of these situations are very different however they could both fit in to this poem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert Burns' claim. "To a Mouse" reminded me of the book, "Of Mice and Men;" after viewing the video and re-reading the poem a bunch of times, I realized what connection John Steinbeck saw in the poem, that was related to his story. I believe that Burns was trying to tell us that our future dreams could come astray, no matter how prepared or determined you are on that specific dream. Right away, this reminded me of the book, "A Raisin in the Sun," and how everyone had a dream that they wanted and believed would eventually come true but in the end, it was destroyed. So, I think that Steinback related his novel to this story by saying that everyone feels so confident, big, and determined about everything when in reality, life is a bigger and more broader place then you think and not everything will end in happiness. The future can be crushed, no matter how confident you are in succeeding in your future dreams.
ReplyDeleteWhat comes to my head after reading the poem, "To A Mouse", is that do what is right, don't do what ithers are doig, but be what you feel is right. Don't let anything get in your way from accomplishing what you want. You have to be ablle to predict the future, wether it is good or bad, and be prepared for it. We should be more like mice by only seeing what is ahead of us, and have nothing get in our way of reaching our goal. Unfortunately, that mouse's dream was shattered in an instant due to a greater force. This is simialar to what happens in the movie, "Finding Nemo". Nemo has been captured by divers and put into a fish tank from the sea. His father, Martin, crosses the entire ocean and through obsticales to retreive his son. Martin is never going to give up and he doesn't see what could happen in the future, he just does what is then and at the moment. He goes with his heart and does what is right, not seeing what could happen in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert Burns' claim. We all have certain things we wish to accomplish. We plan things with all our might and hope for the best but sometimes, in the end, we are left with nothing. For what seemed like joy and happiness, is really pain and grief. This is true for the story, The Wedding Planner's daughter. Willa desperately wants a father so she tries setting her mother up with her english teacher who she really thinks would be a good father figure. She thinks her plans are going well but somehow they backfire and Willa and her mother must move away. We plan so much and hope for the best that we can't accept the fact that we are all left with pain at the very end.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert Burns' claim. We all have certain things we wish to accomplish. We plan things with all our might and hope for the best but sometimes, in the end, we are left with nothing. For what seemed like joy and happiness, is really pain and grief. This is true for the story, The Wedding Planner's daughter. Willa desperately wants a father so she sets up her english teacher with her mother (who is a widow) who she thinks will be a great father figure. She thinks that everything will work out and that they will get married but that is not the case. After all her planning, it backfires and Willa and her mother must move away. Willa’s dreams of having a father are crushed and she is deeply upset, having no joy but only pain and grief.
ReplyDeleteThe title, "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinback was influenced by the poem, "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns. It took me a while to understand what the poem was actually saying. I realized that what the poem is saying is that we are all the same, even mice and men. I agree with Robert Burn's claim, that whether we are mice or men there are always going to be things in life that throws us off the track of following a dream or accomplishing something. And when we get thrown off that track or path we suffer with greif and pain because our dreams have been crushed. When I made this realization I instantly thought of the book "A Raisin in the Sun" because in the book Walters dreams of owning a liquor store get crushed when the money gets stolen and he has to suffer through that greif and pain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what the author of "To a Mouse" is trying to say. That no one is safe from being hurt or harmed by something out of their hands. Neither a lowly mouse or a powerful man has any control over what might happen to them.These two compleatly different creatures, have the same hardships as the other. These two compleatly different creature, are the same. This concept is everywhere. For instance in the movie Aladdin. Aladdin, a lowly destitute peasant (man) and Jasmine, a powerful princess (mouse) are not really all that different. you might think that the princess Jasmine has everything easy. That her stuggles and hardships are much smaller and much more trivial than Aladdin's, but you would be wrong. In this movie, both the man and the mouse go through things that most would not be able to go through. this is why i agree with this poem. Because nomatter what the plan was, and no matter who planned it, a plow can always come in and ruin it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this quote by Robert Burns. It means that even if you plan what you are going to do and lay out your scheme it can still not go as you planned. I believe the quote is true because no matter how hard you try and how much effort you put into things sometimes, you cannot control everything. Things that were suppose to bring you joy and pleasure end up turning and bring you grief and pain. That happens a lot of the time in stories and in real life. An example is from the movie "Bushwhacked". In this movie, a troop of boy scouts plan out an overnight trip to the woods with one of the best scout leaders in the country. They plan out every detail and do nothing wrong, but they're trip still turns out terrible due to something they could not control.
ReplyDeleteI agree on Robert Burnes claim on "To Be a Mouse," because you never know whats going to happen in the future and life is unpredictable. Also, that you should never let anyone get in the way of your dreams in life. This poem and lecture reminded me of the character Walter Lee in the book "A Raisin in the Sun" because no matter what any one said to him, he wanted that liquor store. In the end he risked loosing all his familes money to own a liquor store. This showed me that no matter how risky things are in life you should go for it, because anything can happen in life.
ReplyDeleteMice or men, we are all the same in one way. We might look different but we all face troubles that can either shape us or destroy us. I agree with Robert Burns, the author of "To a mouse" as he claims that a man is similar to a helpless rodent. In his poem he shows how the mouse represents not only lowly animals but also lowly human beings. He also says that he doesn’t really mind if the mouse has a treat occasionally and steals his corn. After all, the farmer steals from the land by plowing it so he can’t judge the mouse for trying to survive on its own. Finally he tells the mouse that everyone fails no matter how big or small. After reading this poem ten times, the movie “Ratatouille” came to my mind. Not in the sense that the movie is literarily about a rodent, but more for what it stands for. A rat named Remy has everything set up for him. He is apart of a big rat colony and can get a good social place, but he dreams of something big and almost impossible to reach. He wants to be a French chef. Just like a plow can destroy the mice’s house and dreams, Remy’s life can be easily destroyed with one bite of poisoned cheese yet just like with most humans one obstacle doesn’t stop us from trying. The situation of a poor man trying to built his future appears everywhere; books, movies, and real life. Men are not much different from mice as we all struggle for food and shelter. For me, the only surprising question becomes, why do we continue to struggle? A mouse has an instinct and a human has a brain, yet our problems remain the same.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the situation for me to completely agree with this claim. In the book Of Mice and Men compairing Lennie's and George's dream of having the land, then George having to kill Lennie is the epitome of the cliam. But in some cases, like in the movie Pride and Prejudice, the main character Lizzie is supposed to marry Mr. Collins. Her family was set on her marrying him, and actually needed her to marry him. But because she said no, she had the opportunity to marry for love, to Mr. Darcy, who was rich and kind. So her family's dream went askew, yet it still turned out to be a happy ending, even for Mr. Collin's, who married Lizzie's best friend instead. So I can only agree to this claim of "the best laid schemes of mice and men, often go askew" to a certain extent.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading over the poem a couple times and trying to understand it a little better, I do agree with Robert Burns' claim. Especially when he states in the poem, "The best laid schemes of mice and men, go often askew." I fully believe in that because it is a lot like in the book we just read, "Raisin in the Sun." In that book, Walter is the man of the household and all he does is scheme plans up in his head and dream of things. And they don't go exactly as he schemed them up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert Burns of what he says in this poem. This poem is essentially about that dreams and plans torture individuals. Thinking about the future gives one sorrow because they do not have it. People often plan out what they are going to do in order to accomplish that dream, but often it ends up on a different path. Realizing that ones dream is not accomplished gives them pain and grief but one is searching for happiness. This poem is a lot like the movie "Up". The protagonist has a dream that he can go to paradise falls, day after day his wife and he put in spare change into a jar. Many times an occasion occurs that they must break the jar in order to pay off what had occurred. When they became old he was filled with pain and grief for not fulfilling his dream to go to paradise falls, but still had hope for the joy to come.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Robert Burns says "The best laid schemes of mice and men, go often askew." This makes sense because you cannot plan the future the way you want it to be. You just have to go with what you have and make the best of it. In the book A Raisin in the Sun, they all had dreams that most could not be fufilled. They just had to go with what was right at the time and hope for the best. We have to act more "mice" then we will live better.
ReplyDeleteWhen Robert Burns claims that the best plans/ideas/schemes go wrong, I totally believe him. In the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the mayor of the town had a brilliant scheme to make his town become the biggest tourist attraction in the world. His plan was working, until the young inventors machine broke and threatened to destroy the world with enormous food.
ReplyDeleteI think the poem ties in with the book because of the way they both depict how so dreams can not be achieved even though some people really want the dream to come true, this was also the case in the book A Raisin in the Sun because many of the characters wanted their dream to come true
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