Of Mice and Men
By John Steinbeck
Background
Information
John Steinbeck
• The author, John Steinbeck, was born in Salinas,
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California in 1902.
In college, he worked as a laborer dredging canals
alongside migrant workers.
Steinbeck was often angered by biased reports in
newspapers portraying migrant workers as
untrustworthy & dangerous.
He attended Stanford University but never graduated.
Steinbeck’s novels are about economic problems of rural
labor & social injustices.
• John Steinbeck 1902 - 1968
Time Period
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After WWI, there was a market drop in farm prices, which
meant more work for the same amount of money.
The stock market crashed in 1929.
In 1933, nearly 25% of the people in the U.S. were
unemployed.
Because of the “Dust Bowl” in the Great Plains, many
people headed to California.
These travelers were nicknamed Okies.
Most workers did not achieve their dreams because there
were too many workers and not enough jobs. Migrant work
was grueling, challenging, and unrewarding for most.
1930s - Great Depression
• Began when the stock market
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crashed in October, 1929
Businesses failed, factories
closed
– People were out of work
– Even people with money
suffered because nothing was
being produced for sale.
• No money to replenish what
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was borrowed
Didn’t realize the effect it
would have
What About the People?
• Farmers were already feeling the effects
– Prices of crops went down
– Many farms foreclosed
• People could not afford luxuries
– Factories shut down
– Businesses went out
• Banks could not pay out money
• People could not pay their taxes
– Schools shut down due to lack of funds
• Many families became homeless and had to live in
shanties
Many waited in unemployment
lines hoping for a job.
People in cities would wait in line
for bread to bring to their family.
Some families were forced to
relocate because they had no
money.
A Farm Foreclosure
*FDR*
• When he was inaugurated
unemployment had
increased by 7 million.
• Poor sections (like Harlem)
had 50% of the pop.
unemployed
• Instated the “New Deal”
• It wasn’t till President
Roosevelt took over and
tried to put the economy
back together that people
even saw a glimmer of
hope
Why did people start to
move to California?
• Mild climate=longer growing
season=longer work=more money
• Easy route (Highway 66—Route 66)
• Fliers distributed in places with the
highest unemployment rates
Migrant Workers &
Cesar Chavez
• Cesar Chavez-The Chavez family had a small farm, and ran a
country store. As the Depression intensified and years of drought
forced thousands off the land, the Chavez family lost both their farm
and store in 1937. Cesar was 10 years old when the family packed
up and headed for California. They joined the ranks as migrant farm
workers.
• These were difficult years, sleeping by the side of the road, moving
from farm to farm, from harvest to harvest. Cesar would attend 38
different schools until he finally gave up after finishing the 8th
grade.
• As Cesar learned the hard lessons of life, he absorbed important
values from his parents. His mother taught him to care for the less
fortunate and the power of love (goes along with the love that
Lennie and George show for one another).
Cesar Chavez Cont.
• In the early 1940s the Chavez family settled in Delano, a
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small farm town in the California’s San Joaquin valley,
where Cesar would spend his teenage years. He ended
up marrying his high school sweetheart, Helen.
As an adult, Chavez developed as a leader, activist, and
organizer. Even after the Great Depression, Chavez was
determined to change the lives of many migrant farm
workers by lobbying to improve working conditions in
the fields and in the cities where the goods were sold.
He always fought for the laborers or farmers. At the end
of his life, he was a national symbol/hero, and will be
remembered for the accomplishment that no one else
had ever been able to do; build a union for farmworkers.
Farm workers getting work cards
under a Government Scheme
(Murray & Ready)
The Result of so many
workers moving to California?
Low Wages
• Too many workers moving to
California
• Families could not support
themselves
• Traveled from crop to crop
The Setting
• Of Mice and Men is set in the farmland of
the Salinas Valley in California, where
John Steinbeck was born, and which he
knew all his life.
• This book was published in 1937.
• The Great Depression defines the 1930s.
• Steinbeck wrote mostly about migrant
workers (those displaced during The Great
Depression).
• THE AMERICAN DREAM:
• From the 17th Century, when the first
settlers arrived, immigrants dreamed of a
better life in America.
• People went there to escape from
persecution or poverty, and to make a
new life for themselves or their families.
• They dreamed of making their fortunes in
the goldfields.
• The American dream today tends to be
about becoming rich.
• For many the dream became a
nightmare. The horrors of slavery, of
the American Civil War, slums, and the
corruption of the American political
system led to many shattered hopes.
A Dream Deferred* by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred*?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
* deferred = to put off action, to delay
What does Langston Hughes
say about dreams?
He thinks if you defer (put off) your dream
too long that you will never achieve it.
Jack Bryant
Firebaugh, 1940
Sunny Cal
You've all heard the story
Of old Sunny Cal
The place where it never rains
They say it don't know how.
They say, "Come on, you Okies,
Work is easy found
Bring along your cotton pack
You can pick the whole year round.
Get your money ever' night
Spread your blanket on the ground
It' s always bright and warm
You can sleep right on the ground."
But listen to me Okies
I came out here one day
Spent all my money getting here
Now I can't get away.
Why the title Of Mice and Men?
• The title of the novel comes from a poem
by the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759 96):
– The best laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft agley [often go wrong]
And leave us nought but grief and pain
For promised joy!
Why the title? (cont’d.)
• Translate the portion of the poem into
your own words:
– The best plans often fall apart and result in
pain, rather than happiness.
• What can you predict about the story,
based on the title?
– Not everything we plan will go the way we
want.
To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough
BY ROBERT BURNS 1785
Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murd'ring pattle!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwellTill crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.
I'm truly sorry man's dominion,
Has broken nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow-mortal!
That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld!
I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
'S a sma' request;
I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't!
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!
Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An' naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!
Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e'e.
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!
About the Novel
• Of Mice and Men was first published in
1937.
• It is number 2 on the list of most
frequently banned books.
• Protagonists- George and Lennie
• Antagonists- Curley, society, the predatory
nature of human life
Themes
• The predatory nature of human existence
• The importance of fraternity and idealized
relationships between men
• The American Dream
• The destructive imbalance of social power
structures in American society
• The effects of isolation/loneliness
Characters
• Lennie- has a mild mental disability; loves to
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pet soft things; possesses incredible physical
strength
George- short tempered but a devoted friend to
Lennie; hopes to achieve their American dream;
protects Lennie
More Characters
• Curley- the boss’s son; wears high heeled boots
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to distinguish himself from the other workers;
mean-spirited; recently married
Curley’s wife- the only female character; only
known as “Curley’s wife”; represents female
sexuality in a male-dominated world; referred to
as a “tramp”
Slim- the only character at peace with himself;
the only character to understand the bond
between George and Lennie; insightful
Works Cited
• “Of Mice and Men Factsheet.” English Resources. 1999.
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http://www.newi.ac.uk/englishresources
/workunits/ks4/diction/ofmicemen/llshort/factsheet.html.
“The Fight in the Fields.” PBS. 28 August 2013.
http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/cesarchavez.html.
“The Most Frequently Banned Books in the 1990s.” Greenwood Press. 21
Nov. 2005. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/People/spok/most-banned.html.
“The New Deal Network.” 21 Nov. 2005.
http://newdeal.feri.org/library/7_31.htm.