2. Written by John Steinbeck in 1937

3.  Born in 1902 in Salinas, California  Became the setting for much of his fiction, including Of Mice and Men  As a teenager, he spent his summers working as a hired hand on neighbouring ranches  His experiences of rural California and its people impressed him deeply

4. Financial Crash Banks, factories close, farming collapses 1929 1931 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes president 1936 The ‘New Deal’ - support for unemployment 1937 Of Mice and Men is published

5.  “Black Tuesday”: October 29, 1929, stock market crashed triggered the Great Depression  the worst economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world.  Spread from the United States to the rest of the world  Lasted from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s  Banks failed, businesses closed  more than 15 million Americans (1/4 of the workforce) became unemployed.

6. The Depression also led to a drop in the market price of farm crops Meant that farmers were forced to produce more goods in order to earn the same amount of money

7.  Increase in farming activity across the Great Plains states caused soil to erode  Erosion, coupled with a 7 year drought that began in 1931, turned once fertile grasslands into a ‘desert like’ region known as the Dust Bowl.

11. Dust storm (“Black Blizzard”) in South Dakota, 1934.

13. During the Great Depression, economic and ecological forces brought many rural poor and migrant agricultural workers to California from the Great Plains states:  Oklahoma  Texas  Kansas

14.  Hundreds of thousands of farmers packed up their families and few belongings and headed for California, which, for numerous reasons, seemed like a promised land.  mild climate promised a longer growing season  soil favorable to a wider range of crops  offered more opportunities to harvest

17.  Despite these promises, very few found it to be the land of opportunity and plenty of which they dreamed.

18. “Shack House” in California in the 30’s

19.  Rootlessness and poverty were a way of life.  FDR: The New Deal  Introduced minimum wage, welfare, Social Security, work cards, and job creation. President Roosevelt at his desk

20.  Inspired by a poem written by Robert Burns  From the poem: “The best-laid schemes o' mice an’ men / Often go awry”  Meaning: No matter how hard or well we plan for something, our plans can often fail to become reality... or worse, they can end up going terribly wrong.

21.  Although Of Mice and Men is a fictional story, it is deeply rooted in historical fact.  High unemployment resulted in many people travelling to find work.  Workers could be hired and fired at the boss’ will (farm owners were very powerful)

22.  Friendship  Loneliness  Survival of the fittest (Social Darwinism)  Disillusionment with the American Dream

23. George Physically small Smart Lennie’s caretaker Lennie Physically big Mentally challenged Dependent on George