Fasting (Siddhartha)

Fasting, is to willing abstain from eating. Though fasting can be done for a variety of reasons, two primary examples come to mind. Hunger strikes are a type of fasting and in history hunger strikes have been used in protest. Martin Luther King Jr. used fasting to protest the racial injustices of the United States in the 1960's and before him Gandhi in protest of the caste system in India. Another form of fasting can be spiritual. For example, Muslims practice fasting as one of the foundations, or Five Pillars, of the religion. The entire month of Ramadan is observed as a period of fasting where Muslims must abstain from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset and must abstain from getting angry and sexual activity. Through this fasting, Muslims believe that from abstaining from bodily pleasures they can draw closer to God and serves as clear evidence of their devotion.
What type of fasting do you think is being practiced by Siddhartha? To what end does Siddhartha hope to reach from fasting for long periods of time?

Questions/ Topics to think about

One question that comes to mind considering the first part of Of Mice and Men is the relationship between George and Lennie. As a blog post address the relationship between Lennie and George: Why are they together? What kind of relationship do they have? Also, what is the relationship they have to other workers?


In a blog post consider the first part of Siddhartha, why do you think Siddhartha leaves his parents home? What is he looking for? Predict where you think this journey will take him.

The Salinas Valley (Of Mice and Men)

The Salinas Valley, located in central California, serves as the main setting for Lennie and George in Of Mice and Men. The valley is made up of mostly small agricultural towns and is nicknamed America's Salad Bowl. As you can probably guess from the nickname and the picture, the valley is dependent on agriculture and grows a variety of crops. The valley has been a place for immigrants, due to the dependence on agriculture, with Lennie and George traveling what seems to be quite a distance to find work in the valley. Furthermore, the valley receives many immigrant farm workers who arrive from Mexico to harvest and work in the fields. The author John Steibeck was born in Salinas, California and used California as the setting for many of his novels. Here is a link to the National Srteinbeck center located in Salinas, California. You can find more biographical information on Steinbeck here: http://www.steinbeck.org/

Siddhartha and Buddhist Meditation

Siddhartha is a very spiritual book chronicling the journey of Siddhartha in India. In his quest for spiritual enlightenment we come across many spiritual ideas from Buddhism. One idea that is depicted from the beginning is meditation. Meditation is a way to achieve a deeper sense of reflection without filling your mind with thoughts and achieve a deep sense of relaxation and awareness. Here is a very good article from the BBC about Buddhist meditation: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/customs/meditation_1.shtml

Welcome

Welcome to the Summer reading Blog for English B. Here I will be posting ideas and background information for the books Of Mice and Men and Siddhartha. Also, I will be blogging about the new experience of reading ebooks on my iphone. :-))

Hope you enjoy your book and please feel free to contact me with questions.

James