SOCCER43

**Prompt #5 (April 3): Truth in __Of Mice and Men__**
Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men explores themes of dreams, loneliness, equality and relationships that parallel many of the other texts we have read this year. Which theme do you think is most important? What is the "truth" about that theme revealed in the novel? The most important theme so far this year, and in Of Mice and Men, is the follow your dreams and to actually have them. Without dreams (or expectations), we have nothing to aspire to. Dream are basically the path for one's life. In OMAM, George, Candy, and most importantly Lennie all have a big dream to own a piece of land. Lennie dies thinking of this image. The revealing of this truth in the novel is that the dream of the men affect their entire time at the ranch, for better or for worse. That brings it back to the idea of dreams paving out a track.
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**Prompt #4 (March 30): Truth in __Great Expectations__**
Think about the different ways Dickens uses the idea of "expectations" in his novel. What is the truth about our expectations, either those we have for ourselves, those others have for us, or those we have for other people? The truth that we have about any expectations is that they take control of one's life and lead that person in some direction. For example, if a person strives to be the best at whatever they may be, chances are they will succeed in life. Everyone needs to have some structured expectations in their life to get somewhere, because without them, we can't live up to anything. In GE, Pip's main expectation is getting rich, but theoretically, it is maturing.
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**Prompt #3 (January 6): Truth in __To Kill a Mockingbird__**
Reflect on our reading from __To Kill a Mockingbird__. We looked at issues of education, growing up, justice, fairness, and others. In our writing, we looked for connections between our personal experiences and those of the characters in the novels. What "truths" can be found in this book that relate to our world today? The truths that can be found in TKAM are racism and common stereotypes. The biggest (and most obvious) example of racism is the trial of Tom Robinson. There is no evidence whatsoever that he committed a rape, yet he was sent away and was killed from it. People just took the word of a white woman, because back then, "a black man could never win over a white woman." Racism is still seen today, but it is not as common. The common stereotypes we see include that everyone, meaning women and other races, are below white men. This of course has changed completely, and it is for the better. We do see these stereotypes today, though.
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From Golding's work, we can learn that without our common society, it is difficult to sustain humanity. Almost every boy turned savage and evil in the story, and that would have never happened if the boys were never marooned. It is also strange that the boys suddenly act "normal" when the navy, or theoretically the real world shows up. If the boys decided to stick to the rules that they grew up with and not try to take advantage of the freedom situation, they may have been in a different place at the end. The truths I found in this novel are that without a common or sturdy ground to build on, we lose our sanity.
 * Prompt #2 (November 6): Truth in __Lord of the Flies__** In our reading of William Golding's __Lord of the Flies__, we looked at issues of fear and evil, the "beast within." What can we learn and apply from Golding's work, either on a personal or societal level? What truths did you find in this novel or in our discussions about it?
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___**Prompt #1 (October 6): What is the “truth” of mythology?**__ The general term “mythology” encompasses the stories that a culture creates to understand the truth of the world they live in and their place within it. From a personal standpoint, it is about understanding who we are and where we fit in our world experience. What is the "truth" of mythology as we have studied it? What truth have you learned from our investigations? What personal truths have been revealed to you? __**What is Truth?**__ Truth is one of the most general terms you can think of. In my opinion, the truth of mythology is culture itself. Since truth means different things across the world, it depends on what culture it originates from. All of the myths we have studied this year (__The Odyssey__, "Grandmother Spider", etc) are all different and all have a difference in the story's meaning. From our investigations, I learned many things about themes and differences in culture. For example, in "Grandmother Spider," the truth is how fire came about, and the theme could be to never give up hope. This could be the total opposite in another culture. Some personal truths that have been revealed to me is the actual belief itself. From every myth, something important was created in one way or another (Humans, light, etc) by a supernatural force. You cannot see the story, or relate it to your own world if you don't believe in that or something in your life. For me, it is to believe like I always had in our Father.