1. Of Mice and Men Background

2. John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902 and died in NYC in 1968.
He attended Stanford University.
However, he did not earn a degree because he dropped out of school.
As a young man, Steinbeck worked as a farm hand.

3. Steinbeck’s Books He had 30 novels published.
His most famous books were written in the 1930s and 1940s, and are set in California.
Novels deal with the lives and problems of working people.
Major novels: Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

4. The Great Depression
Wall Street crashed in 1929, marking the beginning of the Great Depression.
The crash of the Stock Market on Oct. 29th was known as “Black Tuesday.”
Over 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s.

5. Effects of the Great Depression
13-15 million people lost their jobs.
Families who were evicted moved into “Hoovervilles” and built houses made of driftwood, cardboard, or newspaper.
The Great Depression lasted until 1939.

6. The Dust Bowl
During this time, the Great Plains suffered from a severe drought.
Windstorms lifted up the soil and blew massive clouds of dust around the plains—known as “black blizzards.”

7. Effects of the Dust Bowl
Dust storms choked people and animals, and it ruined pastures.
People were forced to leave their homes because conditions were so bad.
Most people traveled to California to restart their lives.
Around 89 million acres of land were damaged or destroyed.

8. Migrant Workers
Many of the people who suffered from the Dust Bowl became migrant workers who would travel in search of work.
They had to be out in the sun all day completing farm work by hand.
Most stayed in migrant camps with other migrants where it wasn’t the cleanest conditions either.

9. Mental Disabilities in the 1930s
People with mental disabilities were usually put into an asylum or institution for mental health.
Society thought that it would help to cure the disability without any actual knowledge or research on the different mental health disabilities.
Now we have the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), which gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities.

10. Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men is a novella: a work of fiction of intermediate length; shorter than a novel, yet longer than a short story.
It was also written as a play by Steinbeck.
The title of the novel comes from a poem titled “To A Mouse” by Robert Burns.

11. Setting of OMaM
Set in the farmland of the Salinas Valley, where John Steinbeck grew up.
The countryside described at the beginning of the book, and the ranch itself, would have been very familiar to John Steinbeck.
The story is set during the 1930s.

12. Themes
FRIENDSHIP/LOYALTY
LONELINESS
THE AMERICAN DREAM

13. Controversy Derogatory Terms
A character with mental disabilities is referred to as “mentally retarded” or “retards.”
A character who is African American is referred to using the “N” word.
These terms are used in the context of the time period.
Remember: These terms are inappropriate to use in and out of my classroom.