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John Steinbeck

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1

John Steinbeck

  • John wrote the book in 1936

  • He worked on a ranch when he was 19 and used his experience to help him write Of Mice and Men

  • Most of John's books are about the lives and problems of working people who have to deal with economic problems

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2

The American Dream

  • From about 1920 onwards, when people began to emigrate (from Europe to America) most people had dreams for their success in this new land

  • Many farm workers (like George & Lennie) would dream of owning their own small farm

  • Many women (like Curley's wife) dreamed of being discovered and appearing on TV eg. as an actress

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3

Death Of A Dream

  • The American Dream lasted until the late 1920's

  • The death was caused by the Wall Street Crash (and this also started The Great Depression)

  • Farming was badly affected and so farmers dreams of freedom and independence was doomed

  • The dream George & Lennie and many other migrant farm workers shared would no longer be possible

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4

The Depression

  • The Depression began in 1929 due to the crash of Wall Street when the New York stock exchange collapsed

  • Businesses went bankrupt and many people lost fortunes overnight

  • This didnt just affect America, but it caused a widespread of unemployment, poverty and misery in many other parts of the world

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5

Dust Bowl (bad farming)

  • Caused by over farming and little rain; the topsoil became eroded and exhausted and no longer usable

  • This resulted in many thousands of poor farm workers moving to California

  • Men were considered extremely lucky to find any work but the wages were low and the conditions were not good

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6

Migrant Farm Workers

  • Men would travel great distances to find work

  • They would receive about $2.50-$3.00 a day

  • The food was basic and the rooms were sometimes nothing more than a shared tent

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7

Racism

  • Black people had separate rooms to white people

  • They were low down on the hierarchy

  • They were not regarded as equal and were therefore treated very poorly

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8

Position Of Women

  • Curley's wife was never given a name which is significant as it shows her identity is seen only in terms of her husband

  • Women were not respected much at all and were only seen as property to their men and therefore they were far down the hierarchy

  • Women were not expected to have careers and were not taken seriously

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9

Life On The Ranch

  • Life on the ranch was tough

  • The conditions of the ranch were very basic and worse than how Steinbeck described them in the book

  • You were there to work and not to be respected

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10

Novel title

  • It came from a poet “To a mouse” Scottish poet Robert Burns

  • Translates to “sometimes even the best thought out plans to wrong and leaves us feeling grief and pain instead of the happiness we intended”

  • This can applied to all the character in the novel who dreamed of a better life

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11

1930s social attitudes

  • When time were harsh and people are guarded what they had

  • Valued their privacy

  • Friendship were difficult

  • Prejudice, racism, sexism, ageism and discrimination

  • Carlson is a stereotype ranch worker and anyone who differs from him suffers prejudice

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12

Steinbeck’s view on 1930

  • Cruel world makes people cruel

  • If anyone was kind to look after the disabled, it was very RARE.

  • Dream is what drives people to continue

  • Wants to show people are still kind, noble and brave like George

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13

Why did all the character’s dream fail

All of these character were trapped by social limitation and obstacles

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