1. Of Mice and Men Background Notes English 9

2. Setting of Novel The Great Depression 1929-1942 Stock Market Crash Drought --> Dust Bowl Farmers went into bankruptcy -- lost their farms and had to move. Banks closed, people lost savings, awful inflation Unemployment, no minimum wage Time: 1930s

3. Oklahoma Dust Bowl

4. Setting of Novel Place General Area –Salinas, California Valley, rural area, farming community California seen as the “Promised Land” Specific Area –Ranch “a few miles south of Soledad” –What does “Soledad” mean in Spanish? “loneliness” or “solitude”

5. Significance... Influx of itinerant workers. –Workers who move from place to place. Roamed from farm to farm in California –Why? New season = new crops Mostly single men “Rootless and isolated” existence –Most traveled alone and had no place to call home –Had a yearning for a home but no way to secure it

6. Author: John Steinbeck 1919-1925 attended Stanford University -- left without a degree Supported himself at times by working as a “bindle stiff” On the farms, listened to stories and absorbed speech patterns of migrant workers Quoted in NY Times in 1937: “Lennie was a real person... I worked alongside him for many weeks.” Considered to be one of the finest 20th century American authors Born in Salinas, CA 1902-1968

7. Steinbeck’s Notable Works Tortilla Flat (1935) Of Mice and Men (1937) The Grapes of Wrath (1939) The Pearl (1947) East of Eden (1952)

8. Themes in OMM Innocence Friendship Loneliness Discrimination The American Dream

9. Aspects of Society during OMM Position of Women –Depended on their class and education –Expectation: get married, depend on a man Racial Minority Groups –Treated as second class -- especially African- Americans

10. Aspects of Society during OMM Individuals with Learning differences –Considered “insane” or “crazy” and thought of as dangerous –No schooling or facilities; were often sent to asylums The Elderly –Depended on their families -- no Social Security –Harder to find jobs -- workers were judged by their physical ability, endurance, and usefulness.

11. Style of OMM = Naturalism Movement in writing in Steinbeck’s time Goal: Show life EXACTLY as it is Avoids euphemism and exaggeration. The reality of a specific part of society Philosophy: not ONE person or thing is ever at sole fault for what happens

12. Controversy Surrounding Steinbeck’s work: Naturalism ProsCons Writing life “as it should be” ProsCons In 1936, Steinbeck stated: “For too long, the language of books was different from the language of men. To the men I write about, profanity is adornment and ornament and is NEVER vulgar and I try to write it so.” He does NOT do it for shock value, or effect, or to garner audience. It’s written that way because that was the reality of the situation at the time.