Won Noble Prize "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception”
He listened to the stories of the people around him and used their stories and his life experiences to write his stories East of Eden was a fictionalized re-telling of Stienbeck's family history. The Red Pony sprang from his childhood pony. Tortilla Flat came from the characters he knew around Salinas. Of Mice and Men came from the farms where he had picked fruit to help support himself while he attended college. The Grapes of Wrath evolved from the time Steinbeck spent writing newspaper articles about the farm families who had fled Okalahoma in search of better lives in California (http://www.literarytraveler.com/literary_articles/john_steinbecks_california.aspx)
The bonds of family and friendship are tested throughout this novella. Issues surrounding the depression and prejudices are also tackled in this novel.
Lennie and George, the central characters in “Of Mice and Men” were migrant workers The Migrant Experience: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tsme.html