=
Written by
John
Steinbeck
in 1937
Social, Historical and Cultural Context
Todays Targets:
• To understand and explain the
importance and impact of social,
historical and cultural context in the
story. (A*)
• To understand the message behind the
story the writer has set.
Why Is Social, Historical and Cultural
Context IMPORTANT?
Why do YOU think Social, Historical and Cultural
Context is IMPORTANT in everyday life?
Modern Era
Background
Sexuality
Family Life
Religion
Nationality
Community
Age
Race
What is social, historical and cultural context?
• What symbol is this?
• What does it make you think of?
Nazi Germany? Holocaust? Dictator?
• Originally The swastika literally
means "to be good“
• Used originally and even now in
Hindu and Buddhist religions as a
symbol of lucky and positivity.
• It was first used thousands of years
ago.
• ONLY on 1920 did Nazi Germany take
the symbol as a symbol of their party
and with it did awful things.
What is social, historical and cultural context?
• What symbol is this?
• What does it make you think of?
Swearing? Offensive?
• Making a V with your two
fingers originally was used in
1415 after the Battle of
Agincourt by British Bowmen
to show that they still had their
bow fingers.
• In 1960 it was taken on as a
peace sign.
Clinging to each other in their loneliness and
alienation, George and his simple-minded
friend Lennie dream, as drifters will, of a
place to call their own. But after they come
to work on a ranch in the Salinas Valley their
hopes, like "the best laid schemes o' mice
an' men," begin to go awry.
About The Author
John Steinbeck was born in
1902 in Salinas, California,
a region that became the
setting for much of his
fiction, including Of Mice
and Men.
As a teenager, he spent his
summers working as a hired
hand on neighbouring
ranches, where his
experiences of rural
California and its people
impressed him deeply.
Historical Timeline
The ‘New Deal’
- support for
unemployment.
Banks, Factories
close, farming
collapses
1929
Financial
Crash
1931
1933
Franklin D.
Roosevelt
becomes
president.
1936
1937
Of Mice and
Men is
published.
The Great Depression
• On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock
market crashed, triggering the Great
Depression, the worst economic collapse in the
history of the modern industrial world.
• It spread from the United States to the rest of
the world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the
early 1940s. With banks failing and businesses
closing, more than 15 million Americans (onequarter of the workforce) became unemployed.
Historical Context
The depression also led to a drop in the
market price of farm crops, which
meant that farmers were forced to
produce more goods in order to earn
the same amount of money.
The Dust Bowl
• The increase in farming activity across the
Great Plains states caused the precious
soil to erode.
• This erosion, coupled with a seven-year
drought that began in 1931, turned once
fertile grasslands into a ‘desert like’ region
known as the Dust Bowl.
Dust Bowl Plains
The History of Migrant Farmers in
California
During the Great Depression,
economic and ecological forces (the
Dust Bowl) brought many rural poor
and migrant agricultural workers from
the Great Plains states, such as
Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, to
California.
The Fields of Salinas, California
The American Dream…
• Hundreds of
thousands of farmers
packed up their
families and few
belongings, and
headed for California,
which, for numerous
reasons, seemed like
a promised land.
• The state’s mild
climate promised a
longer growing
season and, with soil
favourable to a wider
range of crops, it
offered more
opportunities to
harvest.
The American Dream is a national ethos
of the United States of America in which
democratic ideals are perceived as a
promise of prosperity for its people. The
idea of the American Dream is rooted in
the second sentence of the Declaration of
Independence which states that "all men
are created equal" and that they have
"certain inalienable Rights" including "Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
… is shattered!
• Despite these
promises,
though, very
few found it to
be the land of
opportunity
and plenty of
which they
dreamed.
So Why The Title Of Mice and
Men?
• Inspired by a poem written by Robert
Burns.
• From the poem: The best-laid schemes
o' mice an 'men / Gang aft agley
• Meaning: No matter how hard or well we
plan for something, our plans can often fail
to become reality...or worse, they can end
up going terribly wrong.
Fact or Fiction?
• Although Of Mice and Men is a fictional
story it is deeply rooted in historical fact.
• The high unemployment resulted in many
people travelling to find work.
• They could be hired and fired at the boss’
will (farm owners were very powerful)
The Author
John Ernst Steinbeck born in
Salinas, a farming town, California in1902 and
spent most of his life in Monetery County, the
setting for most of his novels. On Summer
breaks from Salinas High School, Steinbeck
worked on farms. During his summer work he
noticed the difficult working conditions of his
fellow workers, many of whom were migrant
workers and the darker aspect of human
nature, experiences he was later to explore in
works such as “Of Mice and Men”. Although he
was an author of twenty-seven books,
Steinbeck was best known for his novel, “The
Grapes of Wrath”, for which he won the
prestigious Pulitzer Prize. This book was banned
from schools and libraries as the authorities
deemed it to be obscene and misrepresent the
rich landowners and bankers whom Steinbeck
heavily criticises for their mistreatment of
migrant workers.
The Great Depression, which began in 1929 in US and rapidly spread to
the industrialised countries of the world, did not affect everyone the same way. Many
rich people felt no impact at all, and were oblivious to the suffering of others.
Unemployment rose from 5 million in 1930 to 13 million by the end of 1932. 200,000
people lost their homes at the start of the Great Depression and became itinerants
travelling across America looking for work. Rural America suffered the greatest.
The Depression changed the family in dramatic ways. Many couples delayed marriage the divorce rate dropped sharply (it was too expensive to pay the legal fees and
support two households); and birth rates dropped below the replacement level for the
first time in American history. Families suffered a dramatic loss of income during this
period, dropping 35% in those four years to $15M. This put a great deal of stress on
families. Some reacted by pulling together, making due with what they had, and
turning to family and friends for help. Other families did not fare as well, and ended up
falling apart.
Traditional roles within the family changed during the 1930s. Men finding themselves
out of work now had to rely on their wives and children in some cases to help make
ends meet. Many did not take this loss of power as the primary decision maker and
breadwinner very well. Many stopped looking for work, paralyzed by their bleak
chances and lack of self-respect. Some became so frustrated that they just walked out
on their families completely. A 1940 survey revealed that 1.5 million married women
had been abandoned by their husbands.
Causes of the Depression
Causes of the Depression
As early as 1926, there were signs that the boom was under threat - this was seen in the collapse of
land prices in Florida.
Eventually, there were too many goods being made and not enough people to buy them.
Farmers had produced too much food in the 1920s, so prices for their produce became steadily
lower.
There were too many small banks - these banks did not have enough funds to cope with the sudden
rush to take out savings, which happened in the autumn of 1929.
Too much speculation on the stock market - the middle class had a lot to lose and they had spent a
lot on what amounted to pieces of paper.
The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 was a massive psychological blow.
America had lent huge sums of money to European countries. When the stock market collapsed, they
suddenly recalled those loans. This had a devastating impact on the European economy.
The collapse of European banks caused a general world financial crisis.
Effects
Unemployment - 13 million people were out of work.
Industrial production dropped by 45 per cent between 1929 and 1932.
House-building fell by 80 per cent between 1929 and 1932.
The entire American banking system reached the brink of collapse.
From 1929 to 1932, 5,000 banks went out of business.
Although many people went hungry, the number of recorded deaths from starvation during the
Depression was 110, although many other illnesses and deaths were probably related to a lack of
nutrition.
Treatment of Mental Illness During
1930s in America
Although, the treatment of the mentally ill had made significant pathways in the twentieth
century, the practices used in the 1930s were still far from ideal. Sufferers of mental
illnesses were no longer considered as lunatics or were bled to death because they were
considered to be possessed by the Devil, they were, however, seen as social outcasts. It was
not unusual for families to abandon their kin or keep them out of sight for fear of being
shunned by the community.
Drugs, electro-convulsive therapy (electric shock), and surgery were the most popular
methods to treat people with schizophrenia and others with persistent mental illnesses
during this period. Some were infected with malaria; others are treated with repeated
insulin-induced comas. Some had parts of their brain removed surgically, an operation
called a lobotomy, which was performed widely over the next two decades to treat
schizophrenia, intractable depression, severe anxiety, and obsessions. It was not
uncommon for patients to be abused and their individual needs neglected by the people
who were designated to care for them. These inhumane practices continued well into the
1950s until advances in drugs to treat mental illnesses were made. Attitudes too were
slowly changing.
What Is The American Dream?
The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in
his book The Epic of America which was written in
1931. He states:
"The American Dream is "that dream of a land in
which life should be better and richer and fuller
for everyone, with opportunity for each according
to ability or achievement. It is not a dream of
motor cars and high wages, but a dream of social
order in which each man and each woman shall
be able to achieve the fullest stature of which
they are capable of, and be recognized by others
for what they are, regardless of the circumstances
of birth or position."
The Wall Street Crash
In 1928 the new Republican president Herbert Hoover confidently stated, 'We in America
today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any
land.' Within a year, all the confidence had ended and America was plunged into
the Depression.
Wall Street Crash
When the Wall Street stock market crashed in October 1929, the world economy was plunged
into the Great Depression. By the winter of 1932, America was in the depths of the
greatest economic depression in its history.
The number of unemployed people reached upwards of 13 million. Many people lived
in primitive conditions close to famine. One New York family moved into a cave in Central
Park. In St Louis, more than 1,000 people lived in shacks made from scrap metal and boxes.
There were many similar Hoovervilles all over America. Between 1 and 2 million people
travelled the country desperately looking for work. Signs saying 'No Men Wanted' were
displayed all over the country.
the time of the election in November 1932, Hoover's popularity had reached rock bottom. It
was not even safe for him to go onto the streets to campaign. After his heavy defeat, Hoover
told his friends, "we are at the end of our string... there is nothing more we can do". The
American economy did not fully recover until the USA entered the Second World War in
December 1941.
Farming
Migrant farmers
Added to the man-made financial problems were natural ones. A series of droughts in
southern mid-western states like Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas led to failed harvests and
dried-up land. Farmers were forced to move off their land: they couldn't repay the bankloans which had helped buy the farms and had to sell what they owned to pay their
debts.
Many economic migrants headed west to 'Golden' California, thinking there would be
land going spare, but the Californians turned many back, fearing they would be over-run.
The refuges had nowhere to go back to, so they set up home in huge camps in the
California valleys - living in shacks of cardboard and old metal - and sought work as casual
farmhands.
Ranch hands
Against this background, ranch hands like George and Lennie were lucky to have work.
Ranch hands were grateful for at least a bunk-house to live in and to have food provided,
even though the pay was low.
Think about how the men agree to hush-up the fight between Curley and Lennie and
claim that Curley got his hand caught in a machine: they know that Lennie and George
would be fired if the boss came to hear of it, and then Lennie and George could be left
with nothing.