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Of Mice and Men
• A novel by John Steinbeck
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John Steinbeck • Born in Salinas, CA in 1902. • His father was a government
official and his mother was a teacher. They encouraged him as a reader and a writer.
• During summers, he worked as a hired hand and fruit picker, nourishing his impression of the California countryside and its people.
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Steinbeck was fascinated by the human condition:
• He drew from the people and places around him for his stories.
• The plight of poor Americans during the Great Depression was the source of his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
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Steinbeck was inspired by the strength of working people.
• The heroes in his novels are the hardworking poor.
• Steinbeck believed in the dignity of all people, and often criticized the wealthy and powerful for exploiting their workers.
• Because he fought for the poor and criticized the rich, Steinbeck was often accused of being a Socialist sympathizer.
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Time Period: The Great Depression
• 1929 Stock market crash caused the U.S. economy to come to a grinding halt.
• 1 in 4 people lost their jobs, and household incomes dropped by 40%. People couldn’t afford to buy goods so businesses went bankrupt.
• Banks foreclosed on homes and farms, forcing people into homelessness, with no help from the government like we have today.
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People lost faith in the “American Dream.”
• Many hardworking people who
had owned their own homes found themselves in bread lines and shantytowns.
• Thousands left home to find work. The journey was difficult and dangerous; many lost family members to disease and starvation.
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The Dream of California
• The Dust Bowl was a result of drought and strong wind in the Midwest (caused the once fertile soil to dry up), this further displaced workers from agricultural jobs.
• Displaced families left the Dust Bowl of the Midwest and shanty towns in big cities to find a better life in California.
• As thousands rushed to find work, the jobs became scarce, immigrants were despised, and many found themselves worse off than before with no money to return home.
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Our novel: Of Mice and Men • Setting: a ranch in
Soledad, CA during the Great Depression.
• The boss is a rich man
who hires men to work his ranch.
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Lennie and George
• Two “bindle-stiffs”: men who move from job to job and carrying their belongings with them.
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Why are we reading this book?
• In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck focuses his attention on one of the oldest issues in human relations: people’s responsibility for other people.
• Steinbeck is intent on getting us to see that humans cannot be isolated from one another, and cannot ignore the plight of the less fortunate.
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Why does an author use authentic language?
• Steinbeck uses the language of his time, and his characters have the attitudes of the 1930s.
• To a modern reader, some words may sound insensitive and even racist.
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Of Mice and Men is one of the most frequently challenged books in the
United States. • Every year, the book is
challenged in American schools as appropriate English curriculum because of “profane language, moral statement, and the violent ending.”
• Every year, millions of high school students continue to read it and find that it is one of their favorite books of all time.
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Now, a little bit about the author…
• http://www.biography.com/people/john-steinbeck-9493358/videos/john-steinbeck-mini-bio-2174100661