Of Mice and Men

History & Background Information Of Mice and Men

1902 - 1968 Place of Birth: Salinas, California Tortilla Flat (1935) Of Mice and Men (1937) The Grapes of Wrath (1939) Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie were perhaps the two most famous chroniclers of the Great Depression. • Steinbeck wrote a trilogy of novels portraying the struggle of migrant workers in California is the most enduring literary chronicle of the Great Depression. • Woody Guthrie (1912–1967 • Leading American songwriter of the late 1930s and 1940s • Released the Dust Bowl Ballads in 1940 • inspired by the drought-ravaged region of the American West that came to be known as the “Dust Bowl” in the early 1930s. literary context

Migrant workers • Migration - movement of people from place to place for permanent settlement • Drought in the plains forced owners off farms • Steinbeck’s novels depict this lifestyle

Lennie, one of the main characters in OMM has a disability. • What would life (typically) have been like for someone with a disability during this time? • What terminology is most appropriate and inclusive here? People with disabilities

Factories and Mills closed • Manufacturing cut in half • Unemployment rose from 3.2 % to 24.9% • Banks ran out of money • Mortgages foreclosed • Homelessness; poverty • “Riches to Rags” Effects of the great depression For Sale

Malnutrition Doubt Most severe for men, women’s jobs actually rose Children more self-reliant Whites took-over jobs held by minorities Living Conditions

Hoover: self-reliance, restore confidence, grew unpopular as conditions worsened Roosevelt elected in 1932 “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” New Deal, WWII eventually helped economy rebound The Government Responds

1939 - unemployment still 15% Outbreak of WWII - expansion of national defense, stimulating jobs and growth Federal Government expanded its role in social and economic areas End of Depression

How is this storyline reflected in today’s society? What parallels or struggles do you see people dealing with that they dealt with during the Great Depression? Relevance today?

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Presentation Transcript

Of Mice and men

Of Mice and Men..

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men:

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

“Of Mice and Men”

Of mice and men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

OF MICE AND MEN.

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

“Of Mice and Men”

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men