Agenda – Mon. 10/24
• Questions so far?
• Migrant Workers Narratives
• Background on John Steinbeck and OMAM
While you’re reading ch. 1, consider:
Do the characters of George and Lennie seem to
echo the voices of the migrant workers’ narratives?
HW: (1) Ch. 1 Reading Quiz – Tuesday
(2) Ch. 1 Reading Log - Tuesday
Migrant Workers Narratives
Part I –
• Find your classmates who also read your assigned narrative and form a
group
• Together, summarize and discuss your assigned narrative – what ways
did the Great Depression impact the migrant workers?
• Develop a list of main points presented in the narrative
• Record on the front page of your packet
Part II -• Each person will now receive a NEW number
• Find your classmates who also share your new number and form a
group
• First, briefly summarize the narrative you read
• Share the main ideas that your first group came up with
• Record these ideas on the first page of your packet
John Steinbeck
• Born: Feb. 27, 1902
Died: Dec. 20, 1968
• From Salinas, California – 80 miles south of San
Francisco
• A rural community – spent his summers working on
ranches near his home, often with migrant workers
• Dropped out of Stanford University to pursue a
career in writing
• During the Great Depression, lived in a cottage
owned by his father near Monterey
• Famous works:
• Grapes of Wrath (1939) -- Pulitzer
• Of Mice and Men (1937)
• East of Eden (1952)
• Experienced backlash in his community following
the publishing of Wrath
• Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962
Salinas, California
Salinas, California
Migrant Workers
Philipinos cutting lettuce, Salinas, California,
1935. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.
Migrant Workers
Migrant pea pickers camp in the rain. California, February, 1936.
Photographer: Dorothea Lange.
Of Mice and Men
“To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough”
- Robert Burns, 1785
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,*
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,*
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
[*by thyself]
[*often go awry]
Man is at the mercy of fate and circumstance, and the world around him
Chapter 1
While you’re reading ch. 1, consider:
• Do the characters of George and Lennie seem to echo
the voices of the migrant workers’ narratives?
• How are George and Lennie similar to the migrant
workers in the narratives?
• How are they different?
Reminder: Ch. 1 Quiz & Reading Log – Tuesday!