Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck

Setting & Background Information

John Steinbeck

Born 1902, in Salinas, California, USA. He went to university but didn’t complete his

degree. His family wanted him to have a respectable

career as a lawyer. Steinbeck had many casual jobs ranging from

newspaper reporter to itinerant ranch hand. He had very little success as a writer until 1937

when ‘Of Mice and Men’ was published, which was an immediate and worldwide success.

John Steinbeck

He was a lonely, modest and restless man. He was never content and was always

searching for something more. He was difficult to live with, yet easy to

love; hence he was married 3 times. He had a great love of the outdoors and of

animals, especially dogs and horses.

The American Dream

The ‘American Dream’ arose from the way in which America was populated.

People came from almost every country and background, united in a belief that America would give them opportunities denied to them in the own country.

They were driven by the hope of a new way of life free from political or religious persecution or to escape poverty and starvation.

The American Dream In America, the poor had the opportunity to settle

on frontier farmland. New gold mines were being discovered. There were many opportunities to make money,

careers and reputations. The ‘American Dream’ was the idea that ordinary

people could make a clean start to achieve security and prosperity.

The dream survived until the economic depression of the late 1920’s.

The Death of a dream The Wall Street Crash in 1929 led to the ‘Great

Depression’. At the same time, ignorance and over farming, had

turned large areas of farmland into the ‘Dust Bowl’ – the land became like a desert.

Crops failed and farmers could not afford to pay the loans they had taken out to buy their farms.

Many people lost their dream and there was mass unemployment.

Machines were becoming available that could do the work of many men adding to the unemployment situation.

Itinerant Workers The main characters in the novel are George and

Lennie. They are examples of the ‘itinerant’ or ‘migrant’

farm workers at this time. The itinerant workers would travel vast distances

from farm to farm looking for manual work. They were often exploited, poorly paid and lived

in very basic accommodation. Many of these workers shared the dream that they

would one day own their own ranch or smallholding.

Ordinary People

All these things had happened or were happening by the time ‘Of Mice and Men’ was being written.

The novel is about:-– Social change– The end of the dream– Social problems– Exploitation of itinerant workers– Relationships between people