Of Mice and Men by: John Steinbeck

1. Of Mice and Menby: John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers during The Great Depression in California.

2. John Steinbeck & Background 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 neighboring ranches, where his experiences of rural California and its people impressed him deeply. • In 1919, he enrolled at Stanford University, where he studied intermittently for the next six years before finally leaving without having earned a degree. • For the next five years, he worked as a reporter and then as caretaker for a Lake Tahoe estate while he completed his first novel, an adventure story called Cup of Gold, published in 1929. • Critical and commercial success did not come for another six years, when Tortilla Flat was published in 1935, at which point Steinbeck was finally able to support himself entirely with his writing. 

3. The Great Depression Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother depicts destitute pea pickers in California, centering on Florence Owens Thompson, a mother of seven children, age 32, in Nipomo, California, March 1936. This image is often the poster child of the depression.

4. The Great Depression - Continued • The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries. • It was the largest and most important economic depression in modern history, and is used in the 21st century as an example of how far the world's economy can fall.

5. The Great Depression - Continued • The Great Depression originated in the United States; historians most often use as a starting date the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as “Black Tuesday. “ • The end of the depression in the U.S is associated with the onset of the war economy of World War II, beginning around 1939.

6. The Ranch & Other Places inOf Mice and Men

7. Characters • Lennie -  A large, lumbering, childlike migrant worker. • Due to his mild mental disability, Lennie completely depends upon George, his friend and traveling companion, for guidance and protection. • The two men share a vision of a farm that they will own together, a vision that Lennie believes in wholeheartedly. • Gentle and kind, Lennie nevertheless does not understand his own strength.

8. Characters • George -  A small, wiry, quick-witted man who travels with, and cares for, Lennie. • Although he frequently speaks of how much better his life would be without his caretaking responsibilities, • George is obviously devoted to Lennie and is very protective of him. • George's behavior is motivated by the desire to protect Lennie and, eventually, deliver them both to the farm of their dreams

9. Characters • Candy -  An aging ranch handyman, Candy lost his hand in an accident and worries about his future on the ranch. • Curley's wife -  The only female character in the novel, Curley's wife is never given a name and is only referred to in reference to her husband. The men on the farm refer to her as a “tramp,” a “tart,” and a “loo loo.” • Crooks -  Crooks, the black stable-hand, gets his name from his crooked back. Proud, bitter, and caustically funny, he is isolated from the other men because of the color of his skin.

10. Characters • Curley -  The boss's son, Curley wears high-heeled boots to distinguish himself from the field hands. Rumored to be a champion prizefighter, he is a confrontational, mean-spirited, and aggressive young man who seeks to compensate for his small stature by picking fights with larger men. • Slim -  A highly skilled mule driver and the acknowledged “prince” of the ranch, Slim is the only character who seems to be at peace with himself. The other characters often look to Slim for advice.

11. Characters • The Boss -  The stocky, well-dressed man in charge of the ranch, and Curley's father. He is never named and appears only once, but seems to be a fair-minded man. • Aunt Clara  - Lennie's aunt, who cared for him until her death, does not actually appear in the novel except in the end, as a vision chastising Lennie for causing trouble for George. • Carlson -  A ranch-hand, Carlson complains bitterly about Candy's old, smelly dog. • Whit -  A ranch-hand.

12. Themes • Of Mice and Men attempts to explain the nature of being human and one's struggles to identify a place in the universe. • In doing so Steinbeck touches on several themes: dreams, loneliness, how man's prosperity achieves cruelty, powerlessness, and uncertainty of the future — or fate.