1. JOHN STEINBECK’S
OF MICE AND MEN

2. THE CONTEXT: AMERICA IN THE 1930S
 Great Depression
 Land of opportunity = Land of
desperation
 Best hope: California
 Farmers packed families into
Cars, tied possessions on the
back, and sought work out west
 Advancement was no longer the
aim; it was simple survival

3. AMERICA
1930S VS. 2011
 Population: 1 23,188,000  Population: 311 ,591,917
 Life Expectancy:  Life Expectancy:
 Male, 58.1  Male, 75.9
 Female, 61.6  Female, 81.2
 Average salar y: $1 ,368 (was  Average salar y: $ 46,326
reduced by 40% between  Unemployment rate: 8.3 %
1929-1932)
 Unemployment rises to 25%  Food Prices (Thanksgiving,
 Food Prices (Thanksgiving, 2011)
1931)  Turkey, $1.25/lbs
 Turkey, .39 cents/lbs  Carrots, .25 cents/bunch
 Carrots, .05 cents/bunch  Sweet potatoes, $3.26/lbs
 Sweet potatoes, .10 cents/3  Cranberries, $2.49/12 oz can
lbs  Milk , $3.50/gallon
 Cranberries, .19 cents/17 oz  Package of 18 dinner rolls,
can $3
 Milk, .56 cents/gallon
 Bread, 9 cents a loaf

4. THANKSGIVING DINNER, MORRIS
RESTAURANT MENU
“Fruit Cup or Clam Cocktail, Chicken Broth
or Vegetable Soup; Entree Turkey or
Chicken; Four Vegetables, Alligator Pear
or Waldorf Salad, Choice of Dessert, Tea,
Coffee or Milk,
$1.25.”
Display ad, Morris Restuarant, 147 Morris
St. Morristown, New Jersey, Daily Record,
November 25, 1931

5. IT WASN’T ALL BAD!
Buildings: Empire State Building, the Chrysler
Building, and Rockefellar Centre
The Arts: Jackson Pollock; Clark Gable; Shirley
Temple; War of the Worlds; many musicals…
Literature: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, Dr. Seuss
Stamp collections
Monopoly
Baseball
The zipper

6. THE AUTHOR:
JOHN STEINBECK
1902-1968 First
Born in Salinas, well-known
California novel: Tortilla
Spent his summers Flat (1935)
working on ranches Received
Attended Stanford a Nobel Prize
University, but never
graduated in Literature in 1962
Wrote 27 books in
total

7. STEINBECK DURING THE DEPRESSION
Lived in well-established family home…for free
Older family members supported him and his
wife
Supplied him with paper for writing
Paid off his loans for him
Paid his living expenses, allowing him to quit
his warehouse job and focus on writing

8. THE NOVEL: OF MICE AND MEN
 Written in 1937
 Originally titled Something That Happened
 “To a Mouse” poem
 Often referred to as a novel-play
 Has been made into a movie three times, as well
as a made-for-TV movie
 Appears on the American Library Association’s
list of the most challenged books of the 21 st
century
 Was chosen as a Book of the Month Club
selection before it was published

9. STEINBECK ON OF MICE AND MEN
“I was a bindlestiff myself for quite a spell. I worked in
the same county that the story is laid in. The
characters are composites to a certain extent. Lennie
was a real person. He's in an insane asylum in
California right now. I worked alongside him for many
weeks…He killed a ranch foreman. Got sore because
the boss had fired his pal and stuck a pitchfork right
through his stomach. I hate to tell you how many times
I saw him do it. We couldn't stop him until it was too
late.”
~1937 interview with The New York Times

10. A BRIEF INTRO
Setting: California, during the Great
Depression
Mainly follows the actions of two displaced
ranch workers: George Milton and Lennie
Small
Tragedy