English 11
About the Author: John
Steinbeck

• Born in 1902 in Salinas, CA
(Not far from the setting of
Of Mice and Men)
• From boyhood, dreamed of
being a writer
• Attended Stanford
University, but never
graduated
• His material was often
rejected, but he entered a
successful decade starting in
1930
• Other successful novels: The
Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl
Of Mice and Men

• Set on a ranch in the Salinas Valley
in California during the Great
Depression of the 1930s
• The first work to bring John
Steinbeck national recognition as a
writer
• Title suggests that the best−laid
plans of mice and men often go
awry--a reference to Robert
Burns's poem "To a Mouse."
• Steinbeck conceived Of Mice and
Men as a potential play. Each
chapter is arranged as a scene, and
each scene is confined to a single
space: a secluded grove, a
bunkhouse, and a barn.
Of Mice and Men, cont.

 The action in the novel occurs over the course of
three days
 Two main characters are migrant workers—George
and Lennie
 Lennie has a mental disability, and George has
assumed responsibility of caring for him
 They both share the dream of owning their own land
and farm someday
Agriculture during the Great
Depression & Migrant Workers

 Migrant Workers—itinerant single men who roamed the
western states following the harvests
 Many traveled by train, and were given a wage of $2.50 to
$3 a day and a “room,” which was often a tent.
 By the late 1930s, there were an estimated 250,000 to
300,000 migrant workers—underpaid, underfed, and
underemployed
 The maximum salary per year= $ 400 Average=$ 300
 These “bindle-stiffs” led harsh and sometimes rough lives
in search of work
 Steady work was impossible
Migrant Workers, cont.

 Steinbeck wrote
movingly about the
struggles of these
migrant workers—and
the “American dream”
that they had.
Themes in Of Mice and Men

 The American Dream: Lennie and George working
toward getting their own land
 Mental Disability: Lennie’s mind being one like a
child—problems he faces
 Friendship and Loyalty: Lennie and George and
their loyalty to one another
 Race/Racism: The treatment of the stable buck,
Crooks
 Lonlieness: Emotion felt by Curley’s wife, and the
migrant workers during that time
As we read…

 You need to keep up with the following:
 Reading guides/vocab for each chapter
 Journal Entries
 Any notes we take
Video links

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhIhnVCwxrI
 Audio:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIU5PH4_Yn
o
 http://soundcloud.com/guffoenglish/sets/of-miceand-men-audiobook-1
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe_nEaj-6K0
Idiom

 Definition: An expression whose meaning is
different from the literal meaning of the words that
make it up.
 Examples from Of Mice and Men:
 Bustin’ a gut Workin’ up a stake-