Andrew Lerg
5/03/10
4th Block English
Of Mice and Men Conversation
George (Mice) and Ralph (Lord of the Flies)
The effects of others bringing you down
George: Lennie has really been a drag. I really don't know how much longer I can take this.
Ralph: You're telling me!? I had an entire tribe to look after and all they wanted to do was bring me down.
George: What do you mean?
Ralph: Well, being the leader of the tribe, I was the one that had to think of creating the shelters and the fire, yet nobody really helped.
George: So you had to do everything?
Ralph: Because we were on a remote island, we had to find a way so ships could see us. That is where the fire came into play. Plus we needed shelters to sleep in and I was the one who ended up completing it because all the others were goofing around.
George: What do you mean goofing around?
Ralph: All the littlens were just playing and swimming and some of the big kids went “hunting”.
George: Hunting is productive – why are you upset that they went hunting? You need to get food sometime.
Ralph: True, but it was a once in a blue moon occurrence when the hunters actually hunted and brought something back.
George: Alright, I guess I understand. But I still don't know how they were pulling you down?
Ralph: I specifically instructed some of the members to keep the fire going at all times so that we would have a chance at getting rescued. And what did they do?
George: Let me guess – they let the fire go out.
Ralph: Who knows how many ships went by us without knowing that we were actually there; needed to be rescued. Piggy and I saw a least one ship that went by but there could have been so many more.
George: I’m sorry – you must of exploded when you found out you missed a chance at being rescued.
Ralph: If I hadn’t had those other tribe members that only thought of themselves – I would have been off that island in less than a week. Not to mention Piggy or Simon would not have died. But like I said, my tribe members really were a pain.
George: Well at least it didn’t get any worse that what it did.
Ralph: Oh it did.
George: How?
Ralph: My tribe turned on me.
George: Go on.
Ralph: My rival, Jack, gained control of the tribe after he called me a coward and most of the members joined his side. After that, Jack’s tribe was solely based on survival and violence – not to get rescued. So I was even more hindered by my fellow peers prolonging our rescue.
George: So let me get this straight, because of your peers you lost two of your friends, lost control of your tribe, and almost lost your opportunity to get rescued.
Ralph: Yep, that pretty much sums it up.
George: Sounds a lot like me.
Ralph: Oh yeah?
George: I feel as if Lennie has blurred any hope or dream that I could ever want. There is no way I could leave him because what would that say about me as a person? On the other hand, there is no way to start something good because he’ll always mess it up.
Ralph: I get what you’re saying. Those people in your life have made a lasting impression that you just can’t shake.
George: Not only that but I have to think of everything for Lennie; what he eats, when he sleeps, what to touch, what not to touch, what to say, what not to say. I mean the list just goes on and on.
Ralph: I completely agree with you. It was the same for me with the tribe just in a different sense. More of a survival/getting rescued mode.
George: My life would be so much easier if Lennie were not a part of it. I could start a family, I could actually keep a job, I wouldn’t have to worry about him, I could spend my time with other people. You know what, I could probably have a life for once if it weren’t for him.
Ralph: I am sure that you don’t mean that.
George: Lennie really can’t help the things that he does because that is how he is made but it just feels that life would be a whole lot easier without him.
Ralph: I felt the same way about my tribe.
George: If there was a life without Lennie – I know exactly what I would do.
Ralph: Yeah, what’s that?
George: I would get to think about just me.
Ralph: That’s it?
George: Yep. No what does Lennie need or what did Lennie just do, just what am I going to do, what do I need. That’d be the life right there.
Ralph: I guess I can agree with you. I mean with no other tribe members, I could make sure the fire was going at all times and I would only have to take care of myself.
George: Negative people around you do generally make your life a whole lot harder.
Ralph: People that try to drag you down do generally make your life harder because you have to put more energy toward them instead of toward yourself.
George: Of which that can completely affect your mood and your energy levels. I guarantee that you will lose sleep over some of the other person’s actions or words. Lennie got himself in plenty of problems and I promise you that I lost a lot of sleep over that.
Ralph: I guess then the key thing is to just rise up and be better than those people.
George: Yeah, I mean what doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger.
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