INTRODUCTION and HISTORICAL CONTEXT

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OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck

• INTRODUCTION and HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• Mrs. Caruso
• English 10

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Starter What are your impressions of America?
Write down three statements.

• LO to understand the background to the novel

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Watch this short clip

1. Describe the faces of the people in the film
2. Why were so many of them queuing?
3. What kind of work were the men looking for?
4. How would you describe their lives?

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1930s MASS UNEMPLOYMENT
5. What words does this newspaper use to show how
bad the situation was?
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THE GREAT DEPRESSION!

• On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock
  market crashed, triggering the Great Depression,
  the worst economic collapse in the history of the
  modern industrial world.
• It spread from the United States to the rest of
  the world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the
  early 1940s. With banks failing and businesses
  closing, more than 15 million Americans
  (one-quarter of the workforce) became unemployed.
  

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THE FARMERS
To make matters worse America was hit by a series
of droughts and many farms could no longer
operate.
6. Describe the picture using sight, sound and
feel.
7. How would the droughts mean there was more
unemployment?
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Historical Context

• The depression also led to a drop in the market
  price of farm crops, which meant that farmers
  were forced to produce more goods in order to
  earn the same amount of money.

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WHAT DID THEY DO?.
People heard that in California the soil was
still good and there was plenty of room and
opportunity for work.
8. If you were a farmer from Oklahoma in the
1930s what would you do?
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The Dust Bowl

• The increase in farming activity across the Great
  Plains states caused the precious soil to erode.
• This erosion, coupled with a seven-year drought
  that began in 1931, turned once fertile
  grasslands into a desert like region known as
  the Dust Bowl.

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9. Pick one of these images and imagine you are
in the picture. Write a short paragraph
describing how you feel.
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Dust Bowl Plains
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The History of Migrant Farmers in California

• During the Great Depression, economic and
  ecological forces (the Dust Bowl) brought many
  rural poor and migrant agricultural workers from
  the Great Plains states, such as Oklahoma, Texas,
  and Kansas, to California.

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The American Dream

• The states mild climate promised a longer
  growing season and, with soil favourable to a
  wider range of crops, it offered more
  opportunities to harvest.

• 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.

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is shattered!!

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

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Wrap up
Making predictions Consider what we have looked
at and discussed this lesson. This is the
America that the novella Of Mice and Men is set
in. Look at the image of a front cover
What do you think this novella will be
about? Write down three statements.
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What is the American Dream?

• America has always been seen as the Land of
  Opportunity, partly because immigrants from
  Europe saw it as a place of freedom, a place to
  begin a new life, a place for real possibilities
  and wealth for all.
• This belief in America as a country where
  ordinary people could create a better life for
  themselves is often referred to as The American
  Dream

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• This was the start of the Great Depression that
  would affect the whole world during the 1930s.
• The dream did survive for individuals.
• 1000s made their way west to California to
  escape farmlands of the mid-west.
• George and Lennie dreamed of their Little house
  and a couple of acres.
• The growing popularity of the cinema was the last
  American Dream for many.

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Historical Timeline
The New Deal - support for unemployment.
Banks, Factories close, farming collapses
1931
1936
1933
1929
1937

Financial Crash
Of Mice and Men is published.
Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes president.
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About The Author

• John Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas,
  California, a region that 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, where his
  experiences of rural California and its people
  impressed him deeply.

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John Steinbeck

• He wrote the book Of Mice and Men in 1936
• Like Of Mice and Men many of his books deal
  with the lives and problems of working people.
• Many of his characters in his books are
  immigrants who went to California looking for
  work or a better life.

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American Dream in Of Mice and Men

• Steinbeck wanted to explore the themes of power,
  ownership and control and their effect upon
  ordinary people.
• Those people strived for a better life, and had
  hopes and dreams
• The two main characters, Lennie and Georges
  dream is significant because it tells us
  something about the culture that has created them.

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• Steinbeck's novels can all be classified as,
• social novels dealing with the economic
  problems of rural labor.

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The Title

• The title comes from a poem
• by a Scottish poet Robert Burns.
• The best laid schemes o mice and men
• Gang aft agley (often go wrong)
• And leave us nought but grief and pain
• For promised joy!

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So Why The Title Of Mice and Men?

• Inspired by a poem written by Robert Burns-
• From the poem The best-laid schemes o' mice an
  'men / Gang aft agley
• 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.

What 3 predictions can you make about the book
from this poem alone? Write them down. 1. 2. 3.
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Fact or Fiction?

• Although Of Mice and Men is a fictional story it
  is deeply rooted in historical fact.
• The high unemployment resulted in many people
  travelling to find work.
• They could be hired and fired at the boss will
  (farm owners were very powerful)

? In your journals, discuss what you think
John Steinbeck means by this quote
The writer is delegated to declare and to
celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of
heart and spirit - for gallantry in defeat, for
courage, compassion and love. I hold that a
writer who does not believe in the perfectibility
of man has no dedication nor any membership in
literature.