By John Steinbeck

 Robert Burns – farmer and poet
 Wrote a poem to a mouse after he accidentally messed up her nest when he was plowing his field

 But Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leaves us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!

 Born in Salinas, California in 1902
 Grew up working on ranches
 Wrote many novels about the hardships of poor farmers and ranchers during the Depression era
 Won a Pulitzer Prize for his most famous novel, The
Grapes of Wrath about a poor family trying to survive during the Great Depression

 Place: Soledad, California
 Time: 1930’s – during the Great Depression

 What is your idea of the American dream?

 Discovery Education
 American History: America’s Economy: Sorrow and
Hope

 Two best friends, George and
Lennie, are looking for a job on a ranch as workers
 Lennie has a mental disability and George helps take care of him and look out for him
 They have a dream of one day buying a farm of their own together

 Mentally disabled
 Relies on George to help guide and protect him
 Physically very large but he acts like a child
 He is gentle and kind, but does not understand how strong he is
 He loves petting soft things such as small animals

 Lennie’s best friend who takes care of him
 Small, wiry, and smart
 Pretends that his life would be easier without Lennie around, but he really cares about him

 An old ranch hand who works at the same place as
Lennie and George
 He is missing his hand
 Offers his life savings to help buy the farm that Lennie and George dream of owning one day

 Son of the boss who owns the ranch
 Small and arrogant, always trying to prove himself
 Very possessive of his new wife
 Mean and aggressive

 The only female in the story
 She isn’t given a name
 She is flirtatious with the men
 She is very lonely and dreams of a better life

 An African-American who works at the ranch with
Lennie and George
 He has a crooked spine which is how he got his nickname, Crooks
 He is lonely and isolated from the others because of the color of his skin
 He also wants to live on the farm that Lennie and
George plan on buying

 Highly skilled mule driver at the ranch
 Very smart and insightful
 The other men look up to him and respect his opinion

 Carlson: a ranch hand
 The Boss: Curley’s dad and owner of the ranch
 Aunt Clara: Lennie’s kind aunt who cared for him until she died
 Whit: a ranch hand

 Loneliness: many of the characters feel alone or isolated from other people
 Friendship: the importance of friendship and what it means to be a true friend
 The Impossibility of Achieving the American
Dream: how difficult it is for people to actually reach their dreams

 George and Lennie’s Farm: the American dream of being free and living a happy life
 Lennie’s Puppy: represents the power strong people have over the weak
 Candy’s Dog: represents what happens to people or things when they no longer have a purpose