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Teacher-of-English.com Of Mice and Men GCSE Literature

English GCSE Framework This scheme of work has been designed to fit into the new English curriculum framework. This page shows explicitly how the scheme fits into the new framework.

Reading Assessment Foci This page shows explicitly how each lesson covers the different Reading Assessment foci.

Teacher-of-English.com Of Mice and Men Introduction Lesson 1: Social & Historical Context

Of Mice and Men Objectives: To learn about the author of the text. To find out about the social and historical context of the book.

John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men is influenced by John Steinbeck’s own experiences of working on the ranches in the Salinas Valley, California. Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902 into a wealthy family but his interest was in the lives of the labourers who worked on the farms around California. Steinbeck wrote a number of novels about poor people who worked on the land and dreamed of a better life (Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath) and he himself worked on a number of ranches around Salinas. Of Mice and Men was Steinbeck’s first big success as a writer. Not only did the book sell very well it was turned into a Broadway play and a movie, providing Steinbeck with financial security. However, Of Mice and Men almost didn’t make it to the publishers. After writing the first half of the story his dog, Toby, got its paws on the manuscript and shredded it! Fortunately Steinbeck was able to rewrite the first half again from memory.

The Great Depression When Of Mice and Men was published in 1937 America was in the grip of a huge economic depression. On October 29 1929, the Wall Street Crash led America into a depression which crippled the country from 1930 - 1936. When banks went bust people lost their life savings and at one point one third of America's population were unemployed. Back in the 1930s there was no welfare state to help the unemployed so food became scarce and millions of jobless men and women lost their homes and were forced to live in shanty settlements known as 'Hoovervilles.’Their homes were constructed from corrugated iron and anything else the people could get their hands on. To make matters worse a series of droughts in states like Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas led to the failure of harvests and barren land. Farmers were forced to leave their land as they couldn't repay their mortgages and had to sell what they had to pay off their debts. Many economic migrants went west to California, believing there would be land and jobs, but many were refused entry to the ‘Golden State’ and turned back. The refugees had nowhere to go back to, so they set up home in the California valleys - living in shacks of cardboard and old metal - and looked for work as casual ranch hands. Against this background, men like George and Lennie were lucky to have work. The farm hands were fortunate for at least a bunk-house to live in and to have food provided, even though the pay was low.

Wall Street Crash, 1929 A solemn crowd gathers outside the Stock Exchange after the Wall Street Crash of 1929

Panic on the streets of New York Crowd at New York's American Union Bank during a bank run early in the Great Depression

The Great Depression People lose everything – jobs, homes, savings – 1/3 of American population is unemployed

Destitute Destitute families in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. In the 1930s, the American Government employed several photographers to document the effects of the Great Depression on the population of America.

Over Farming and Mechanisation “Tractored out"; Power farming displaces tenants from the land in the western dry cotton area.

The Dustbowl Buried machinery in Dallas during the 1936 Dust Bowl, an agricultural, ecological, and economic disaster.

The Hooverville Hooverville

Films of the Great Depression Click on the links below to watch a range of films about the economic depression of the 1930s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqaTv8cCWeg (Steinbeck & the Depression) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulVQ-kH1MAA&feature=related (The Wall St Crash) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISniZI_H7mE (Hoovervilles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gplaqa2yRgg (The Dust Bowl) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoptH8TqasE (Scenes from the Great Depression) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCNKq0-9p3w&feature=fvw (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Death of the American Dream The American Dream isthe idea that everyone in the United States has the chance to achieve success and prosperity. It is a social ideal set out in the American Declaration of Independence, 4th July, 1776. It states: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” Click here to watch a clip from The New York Times discussing what the ‘Dream’ means to American citizens. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the dream had all but died. Poverty, starvation and massive unemployment meant that the dream was unattainable and things were even worse for blacks as America was still a racist and segregated society. Across the world the economic depression led to political instability with the rise of fascism in Italy, the Spanish Civil War and the emergence of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

Great Depression Mind Map The Wall Street Crash Dustbowl The Great Depression poverty Create a mind map using what you have learned about The Great Depression.

Check Your Understanding Of Mice and Men is set in… Steinbeck wrote about… On October 29th 1929… The Great Depression brought hardships such as… The Dust Bowl was… The American Dream is… Can you complete the following sentences?

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