Of Mice and Men

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Of Mice and Men

• Aim Can I identify Steinbecks historical
  context?
• Do Now Before/After Reading Activity

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1. About the Author John Steinbeck

• His books are set in California and deal with
  problems of working people.
• Characters in his books are immigrants from
  Mexico or from other parts of the U.S. who went
  to CA looking for work or a better life
• (The American Dream).

Born in Salinas, California 1902-1968
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2. SettingSalinas Valley, CAFarmland
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Time period of Story 1930s
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
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• Dust Bowl- Tons of topsoil were blown off barren
  fields and carried in storm clouds for hundreds
  of miles.

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Many lost their farms because they could not
produce any crops.
People decided to abandon their farms and go in
search of work.
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The Wall Street Crash of 1929

• deepest
• economic
• depression the
• nation had
• ever known.
• It lasted until
• 1939.
• Effects business bankruptcies, bank closings,
  farm foreclosures, and massive unemployment.

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3. Migrant Farm Workers

• farm worker/Harvester someone who gathers a crop
• People, especially men, traveled the countryside
  harvesting crops.
• The main characters, George and Lennie, are
  migrant farm workers.

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Why did people MIGRATE ?
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• Lost their jobs
• No Money
• Lost their farms

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4. The American Dream

• The American Dream people that come to America
  in search of a better life.
• How do you reach the American Dream? What do
  you want to accomplish?

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A Better Life
Education
Freedom
Home
Money/Wealth
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• However, for many the dream became a nightmare.
• No Jobs No Money No food

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5. Poem???

• The best laid schemes o mice and men
• Often go wrong
• And leave us nought but grief and pain
• For promised joy!
• schemes set out plan
• nought with nothing but
• griefsorrow/sadness

• What is this poem about? Summarize it in 2-3
  sentences.
• How might this poem be related to the book (Of
  Mice and Men)?

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5. Poem???

• The title of the novel comes from a poem by the
  Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759 -96)
• 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!
• The best laid schemes of mice and men often go
  wrong- referring to a little mouse who had so
  carefully built her burrow in a field to protect
  herself and her little mice babies and the
  burrow is turned over and destroyed by the man
  plowing.