Historical Context of Of Mice and Men

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Historical Context of Of Mice and Men

• John Steinbeck,
• 1937

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setting

• Time _at_1932-1937
• Place Soledad, Salinas Valley, Monterey County
• Conflict Great Plains migrants seeking work

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Salinas, California

• Central California Coast (West of Monterey, East
  of Fresno, South of San Jose)
• Economy Salad Bowl of the World, vineyards,
  cattle ranches
• Within 20 miles of the Pacific

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Steinbecks Family and Influences

• B. 1902
• Parents educated
• Dad moved West after civil
• war bought land
• Mom read to him as child
• King Arthur, The Bible,
• Treasure Island
• Loved nature, observed
• mans relationship to
• the land

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Steinbecks Childhood

• Grew up in Salinas
• Work on cattle ranches as teen
• Worked on farms as a college student
• Saw lives of itinerant workers first hand

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The Depression

• Published his 1st book 2 months before the stock
  market crash

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Time 1933-1935

• The Great Depression begins on October 24, 1929
  with the stock market crash

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Inquiry Question

• What would be an affect of the stock market crash
  for wealthy people?
• For average people?

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• By January 1933, unemployment reached 14,597,000.

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• Inquiry Question How is this graph related to
  the previous one of the stock market crash?

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Inquiry Question What does this photo say about
the Great Depression? How is it ironic?
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The land had been over-farmed for decades, then
drought that began in the early 1930s that
created even more issues on the Great Plains.
Inquiry Question What is the effect of
overworked and moisture poor land?
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• As a result of drought and over-farming, the soil
  was dry and unanchored with crops. Great dust
  storms (literally) erupted several times. One
  even traveled from the Midwest to Washington D.C.

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• Last weekend was the worst dust storm we ever
  had. Many days this spring the air is just full
  of dirt coming, literally hundreds of miles.
  After we wash dishes and put them away, so much
  dust sifts into the cupboards we must wash them
  again before the next meal.
• -Ann Marie Low, from Dust Bowl Diary

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• After the soil was eroded, rain did as much
  damage to the land as the wind storms.

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• In South and Great Plains hundreds of thousands
  of people were evicted from their homes and farms
  because of the economy or drought.

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Inquiry Question

• What was the total affect of the Dust Bowl on
  the farmers?
• What do you think your reaction would have been?

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Hoovervilles

• Many evictees lived in random towns of tents and
  shacks made of cardboard, tar paper, scrap wood
  or metal called Hoovervilles.

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• Here were all these
• people living in old,
• rusted-out car bodies
• . . . . There were people
• living in shacks made of
• orange crates. One family with a whole lot of
  kids were living in a piano box.
• --a visitor to a shantytown outside of Oklahoma
  City

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Migration

• Approximately two million menmany who had left
  families behindwandered the country, hitching
  rides on the box cars of railroads (Hobo) and
  sleeping under bridges.
• Soon Families began to leave as well

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• Great migrations started out of towards the West
  and Northwest.

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Inquiry Question

• In what ways did migrating to California give
  people hope?
• In what ways were their hopes crushed?

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Itinerant Workers

• Salinas Valley used itinerant labor (Hispanic,
  Japanese, white) before the Depression
• Labor market flooded afterward
• Steinbeck saw these people working himself on
  ranches and farms

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Itinerant Homelife
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Inquiry Question

• What is the result of a flooded labor market?

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Labor Clashes

• Wages dropped
• Unfair working conditions
• Over-abundance of labor
• Increased use of technology

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Inquiry Question

• As a writer, how do you think Steinbeck makes his
  story so real and authentic?

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Steinbecks Résumé

• Steinbeck watched hundreds of people from the
  Great Plains and South migrate to CA looking for
  work.
• He wrote articles for newspapers on the itinerant
  workers while writing Of Mice and Men and The
  Grapes of Wrath.
• He lived in Hoovervilles and traveled across the
  country with them.
• Once in California, he literally lived the life
  of an itinerant farm laborer.

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Why Read the book?

• An accurate portrayal of the lives of itinerant
  workers of the Great Depression
• Demonstrates history of labor vs. employer
• Shows loss of the small, family owned farms and
  growth of vast, corporate farms

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Summary

• Write a minimum 6 sentence summary of the
  information in this PowerPoint and class
  discussion. Include specific information and
  vocabulary. Write your summary in context, no as
  a list of facts, dates, and/or definitions.