Review Of Thomas Scarseth's 'A Teachable Good Book'

In Thomas Scarseth, A Teachable Good Book: Of Mice and Men, many different claims are mentioned. Claims such as objectionable traits are necessary, a simple concept created a big story, and simple yet complicated characters make a story whole. Scarseth mentions the book is a tragedy but "… a tragedy in the classic Aristotelian/Shakespearean sense of showing humanity's achievement of greatness through and in spite of defeat". Many people believe that because the book has such depressing ideas, ideas such as one of readers favorite characters, Lennie, being betrayed and murdered by his best friend George, it is simply not good or worth the read, Scarseth feels differently.

Firstly, Scarseth argues objectionable traits are necessary for a great story, traits that people don’t usually like to read about. He mentions the fact that best stories have the worst endings. Scarseth says the best authors have learned this and incorporated it into their righting, such as the case with John Steinbeck and Of Mice and Men. This book is truly an amazing tragedy about betrayal, death, and more. I think this point is shown undeniably in many popular books of today from Hunger Games to Maze Runner, they all container the same intense traits throughout the plot.

Scarseth knows the storyline is simple but the little details make it all so complex. I believe he is 100% correct with his statement. Scarseth explains his thoughts in saying "The style is simple; clear, direct sentences of description and action, direct quotation of the speech is simple. Few long words, no hard words". The simplicity of the text is just one reason why this book was read and loved by many. That was one of the reasons I personally actually understood the book, was because the plot was so simple and clear and the help of the basic characters made it impeccably easy to