1. John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

2. Champion of the working class  … the migrant worker  … the underprivileged  … the blue collar worker  … the misfit  … the poor  … the exploited

3. California is Steinbeck country.  … born in Salinas, California  … middle-class family  … father was county treasurer  … mother was a schoolteacher  … wrote about his native land

4. Why are his stories about the poor so realistic?  because he worked several labor jobs ranch hand freight worker fruit picker common laborer

5. Attended Stanford University  … studied marine biology  …went on expedition with Dr. (Doc) Ed. Ricketts to Gulf of California  …Cannery Row (1945) and Sea of Cortez (1951) are results of this experience

6. Steinbeck known for writings about Great Depression (1930s)  …Tortilla Flat (1935) was first acclaimed novel  …Of Mice and Men (1937- novel / 1940 - play) continues themes of plight of workingclass  … Grapes of Wrath (1939) won Pulitzer Prize; also shows problems of Great Depression

7. More Steinbeck Novels  … The Moon is Down (1942) makes critical observations about Nazism, also a dramatic version  … The Pearl (1947) probably a result of his experiences at Gulf of California in Mexico, theme of evils of love of money  … East of Eden (1952) highly acclaimed and made into motion picture twice, the first starring James Dean

8. Steinbeck, a prolific writer who published in five decades  … Cup of Gold (1929) first publication by Steinbeck  … The Winter of Our Discontent (1962) also made into a motion picture  … Travels with Charley (1962) last publication of Steinbeck, a nonfiction journal of his travels across America with his dog Charley

9. Steinbeck’s Politics  … moved from left to right as he grew older  … early novels showed his disdain for a capitalistic society which exploited the poor, almost socialistic (communistic)  … later years showed Steinbeck as hawkish in Vietnam War, adamantly against Soviet and Red China’s communism

10. Literary devices, techniques and strategies used in Of Mice and Men  foreshadowing  symbolism  biblical allusion

11. Themes in Of Mice and Men  man’s responsibility to man  American Dream  loneliness  exploitation of the poor  Racism  Sexism

12. Contemporaries of Steinbeck  Hemingway  Fitzgerald  Faulkner