Context

LO: To know and understand the social and

historical context of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
Choose your starter:
1) List all the words you
would associate with
this image (e.g.
desolate, sparse).
2) Imagine you are a
character in the scene.
Write a short passage
about what you can
see.
3) When and where do
you think this
photograph was taken?
Explain your reasons.
 Author
Stick this image in your books:

I will read
information
about John
Steinbeck – note
down as much
information as
possible around
the image in your
book.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 Author
John Steinbeck biography
• He wrote the book ‘ Of Mice and Men’ in 1936
• He came from Salinas, California
• Like ‘Of Mice and Men’ many of his books deal with the lives and problems of working people.
• Many of his characters in his books are immigrants who went to California looking for work or
a better life.
• Steinbeck worked on a ranch when he was 19, and used his experiences in ‘Of Mice and Men’.
• The living conditions for the farm workers were very poor.
• Often men travelled alone but sometimes whole families had to move and all live in their car.
• Steinbeck's novels can all be classified as social novels dealing with the economic problems of
rural labour. They tend to focus on trials and tribulations people experience and often make
the reader root for the underdog.
• In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for literature for his “realistic and imaginative writing,
combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” Both The Grapes of
Wrath and Of Mice and Men won Pulitzer Prizes. They both focused on the plights of poor
migrant workers searching for hope and the American Dream.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 Key Words
While we watch the following clips, mind-map all the key
words that you hear:
immigrant worker
Watch Me

Context
Key Words

California

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 The American Dream
• The American Dream is a national ethos of the United
States in which freedom includes a promise of the
possibility of prosperity and success.
• In the definition of the American Dream by James
Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and
richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for
each according to ability or achievement" regardless
of social class or circumstances of birth.
• The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the
United States Declaration of Independence which
proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that
they are "endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.“
(Wikepedia)

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 California
DATE DESCRIPTION
 Californian Gold Rush: discovery of gold in California sparks a major wave of migration from the east of the USA (and
1848 Europe) to California on the west coast. One of the towns created as a result of the Gold Rush was Auburn.

Period of mass immigration into the USA from abroad (c.40 million people), especially from Europe. People came for
1850-

many reasons but in particular to escape poverty and/or political oppression. America was seen as ‘the home of the
free’ and a land of opportunity where hard work will bring success. Many dreamt of owning and farming their own
1914 land.

9.9.1850  California is declared to be the 31 st state in the United States of America

 Pacific Railway Act opens the way for the building of the Transcontinental Railway, connecting the east and west Coasts
1862 via the interior and providing relatively rapid and cheap transport for goods and people across the United States

 The emancipation (freeing) of the slaves and the abolition of slavery following the American Civil War (1863-1865).
Many freed slaves moved from the southern states to the northern cities but some went west where they became
1865 ‘sharecroppers’: farmers who were allowed to farm part of someone else’s land in return for paying a share of their
crops to the landowner.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
  February 27th: John Steinbeck born in Salinas, California. This was an intensive
agricultural (farming) area of California with Salinas and Soledad both being
important towns. By 1902 there was a large sugar beet industry and after the First
World War the expansion of irrigation projects (bringing water to the land rather
1902 than just relying on rainfall and existing rivers) meant that during the 1920s the
area of the Salinas Valley became the ‘salad bowl’ of America, with lettuce (Green
Gold), broccoli and artichokes forming the major crops. These crops provided jobs
for a large number of temporary workers. However, there are still ranches growing
wheat, cattle and sheep with which Steinbeck would be familiar.

 The First World War: America entered the war in 1917 with over 2 million men
going to fight in Europe (although many arrived too late to see much, if any, actual
fighting). Troops returning to the USA brought back German army Luger pistols as
1914-1918 prize souvenirs.

 The war was beneficial for American agriculture and industry as they exported food,
industrial goods and munitions to Europe.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
  Russian Revolution – raises fears of communism in the USA (communism = the violent
overthrow of the upper classes by the working class).

 Marcus Garvey starts the first branch of The Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation
Association (UNIA) in the United States. This is an organisation devoted to improving the status
1917 of black people. It is one of a number of such organisations including the National Association
for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) which was founded in 1909. Racial
segregation (black people being prevented from mixing with white people in public places such
as schools, hospitals and parks) was enforced by laws in many states. Such laws are often
referred to as ‘Jim Crow’ laws.

 Prohibition starts in the USA – the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks (all drinks more than
5% proof) is banned throughout the United States of America.

 There are race riots against black people in 23 cities across the USA.
1919
 The government cracks down on those suspected of being Communists (or ‘un-American’) –
especially trades unionists and immigrants from countries thought to have links to communism.
Strikes are put down by the government which does not see them as concerned with poverty and
employment but as a threat to the American way of life.
LO: To know and understand the social and historical context
of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 Roaring Twenties
…The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside,
Read this extract from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott
until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions
Fitzgerald. It was
forgotten on the spot, first published
and enthusiastic in 1925,
meetings between women twelve
who never
http:// years
knew each
other's names.
before Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Theand novel
www.youtube.com/
The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, now
is orchestra
the
set in is
watch?
New Yorkcocktail
playing yellow during theandRoaring
music, the opera ofTwenties.
voices pitches a key lighter. Laughter is
v=684n8FO68LU
easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word. The groups
change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already
there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and
more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the centre of a group, and then, excited
with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices with colour under the
constantly changing light.
Suddenly one of these gypsies, in trembling opal, seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it
down for courage and, moving her hands like Frisco, dances out alone on the canvas
platform. A momentary hush; the orchestra leader varies his rhythm obligingly for her, and
there is a burst of chatter as the erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda Gray's
understudy from the Follies. The party has begun.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
The Roaring Twenties / the Jazz Age:
 PROSPERITY
 For many people in America (especially the cities such as New York and Chicago) the 1920s are years of
considerable prosperity. American goods are protected from competition with imports by high tariffs (customs
duties) and Americans are encouraged to buy American produced consumer products such as cars, washing
machines, refrigerators and radios. Henry Ford pioneers the use of the ‘production line’ in his car factories and by
1928 him ‘Model T’ Ford costs only $295, down from $1200 in 1909, and he has sold over 15 million of them. The
increase in car ownership leads to an increase in road building, bringing with it an increase in the number of trucks
and buses.

 It becomes much easier to borrow money to purchase goods, for example through the new ‘hire-purchase’
schemes– getting the goods immediately but paying for them by instalments. People also borrow money to buy
shares in American companies. By 1929 it is possible to borrow 90% of the money needed to buy shares: the idea
is that the share price goes up, the owner then sells and pays back the money borrowed to buy the shares out of
the money he gets on sale. This only works if the share price continues to rise. However, the ‘consumer boom’
meant that the profits of American companies rise dramatically and therefore so do the value of their shares.
Share prices also go up because more and more people want to buy them.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
Women
Women start to play a growing role in the American economy, both as consumers and
workers.
Between 1920 and 1929 the number of working women over the age of 15 increases by
50% to c.10 million (25% of the female population over 15).
However, women’s wages are usually considerably lower than those of men, even where
they were doing the same or similar jobs. Women are subject to criticism for the way
they dress and act as skirts and hair get shorter, cosmetics got cheaper and women
become more economically independent.
Women drive and smoke. Fashionable clothes become cheaper and easier to obtain with
a massive increase in chain stores throughout the USA.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
The Roaring Twenties?
The consumer goods boom does not affect all people equally. By
1929 over 50% of Americans earn less than $2000 a year, with 40%
below the poverty line. Black and immigrant workers are
particularly likely to be affected by low wages and unemployment.
Farming families are far less likely to enjoy the consumer boom as
many rural areas still have no electricity and small farm incomes
drop dramatically as the price of wheat falls. In 1920 wheat costs
$183 a bushel (a measure of wheat). By 1929 it is 38¢. a bushel. By
1929 farm incomes are roughly 40% of the national average.
During the boom times of the 1920s c.1 million black farm workers
lose their jobs. However, in California, which has a more
industrialised form of farming with less small farms, farmers do
better.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 The Wall Street Crash
• The Wall Street Crash (Saturday 19th October – massive profit taking (selling shares at a high price to
get the maximum amount of profit), leading to fall in share prices and more panic selling on Sunday
20th as people start to worry they will lose money.
• Those who can afford it buy shares as the price drops (often borrowing money to do so) and this
means prices rise on Monday / Tuesday as demand grows again.
• Wednesday 23rd – again there is mass selling at the very end of the day (shares are only bought and
sold during defined period of hours) followed by panic on Thursday 24 th – everyone trying to sell but
there are no buyers.
• To try and stop the panic the banks try to support the share market by using their money (i.e. the
money belonging to their customers) to buy shares and keep the price up on Friday 25th.
• Monday 28th: more massive selling again and the banks don’t step in to buy. This continues on 29 th
but there are no buyers so prices fall and then fall further AND the buying / selling technology
collapses preventing many even trying to sell shares which are now worthless.
• This leaves many speculators (those who bought hoping to make a quick profit) ruined as they
borrowed money to buy shares expecting them to rise in value. The shares are worth nothing and
they can’t repay what they borrowed.
• The banks that lent them the money can’t get it back and start to go broke. Many American
companies are now worthless.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 1930s: The Great Depression
The 1930s: the Great Depression
• Following on from the Wall Street crash, but not entirely caused by it, there is a major economic
depression in America and elsewhere.
• The 1930s are years of mass unemployment, particularly in agriculture (with small farmers suffering
particularly badly and losing their land when they are unable to repay the money they borrowed to
buy it) and the traditional ‘heavy’ industries of coal, iron and steel.
• Many businesses, including several thousand banks, go bust. There is a cycle of depression: as one
company goes bust and its workers become unemployed, it causes other businesses - that relied on
that company or its workers for its income - to go bust.
• When banks go bust those who have deposited their savings in that bank lose them. This starts
another cycle as savers in other banks try to withdraw their savings, causing those banks to collapse.
• There is nothing like unemployment benefit or housing benefit, and no free national health system
(some people had private health insurance, which increased during the 1930s). If you lose your job,
you often lose your home and the whole family ends up on the streets. Many such families end up
in living in cardboard shantytowns which become known as ‘Hoovervilles’.
• During the 1930s more women enter the workforce: but that is because they are much cheaper
than men, with their average wage being 50% that of the average male wage.
• As an antidote to the depression popular entertainment, especially the movies, continues to grow.
Going to the movies provides people with a short period when they could forget their troubles.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
  The Hawley-Smoot Act is passed raising tariffs (customs duties) on imported goods to an all time high. Other
countries react by imposing similar duties on American goods, including imports of American wheat, which
had been a major export for America during the First World War and the early 1920s. The surplus wheat
can’t be sold at home because the depression means that many people are struggling even to buy food. This
1930 helps to produce a major depression in farming as surplus wheat stocks build up and prices drop
dramatically. Small farmers and ‘sharecroppers’ are hardest hit. Tenant farmers can’t pay their rent and
farmers who bought land can’t pay back the loans they took out to buy it. They are evicted.

 This is the first of the drought years in the south and mid-west of the USA, adding to farmers’ problems.

 In 1932 20% of small farmers lost their farms as a result of being unable to repay their loans because of the
decrease in prices for agricultural goods.
1932
 The ‘Hobo’ becomes a figure of American legend: in 1932 about 2 million unemployed, including farmers who
have lost their land, are travelling the railroads looking for work.

 Following a long period of drought (exceptionally dry weather) the mid-West (especially Oklahoma and
Arkansas) are hit by dust clouds as the thin, dry soil is blown away: these areas become known as ‘The Dust
1934
Bowl’. Many farmers are forced to abandon their land, with approximately 350,000 – 400,000 passing over the
Rocky Mountain ranges to the west, especially California, to seek work there.

 Of Mice and Men is published. Steinbeck finished writing it in 1936, just before the lettuce strike. Set near
1937
Soledad in the Salinas Valley where Steinbeck was born.

 Steinbeck publishes The Grapes of Wrath. In this book he deals with migrants from the Dust Bowl who go to
1939
work in the vineyards of California. He also describes ‘Hoovervilles’.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 Timeline
1900 Plot these events on your own timeline:

1910 29th October 1929 – The The Roaring Twenties

Wall Street Crash
1920
1932: 2 million
unemployed
1930 1937: Of Mice and Men
is published.

1940 February 27th 1902 –

1930s: The Great John Steinbeck was
Depression born.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 Extended Learning Task
Independent Study Project:
Over the next two weeks prepare a project on one of the
following topics:
• The American Dream At least 2 sides of A4.
• The Roaring Twenties
• The Wall Street Crash
Deadline: 15th December
• The Great Depression
• The Dustbowl
• Migrant Workers in 1930s USA
• The Life and Times of John Steinbeck

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 Judging a book by its cover
Look at these front covers.
1. Write a list or words that you would associate with the images displayed
on the front covers.
2. Make a prediction about what the novel will be about.
3. Justify your decision with examples from the front covers.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).
 Judging a book by its title
John Steinbeck’s title – Of Mice and Men –Write
is a
taken
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men sentence
from a poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns who
predicting
The best laid schemes of mice and men what will
wrote a poem called “To a Mouse”. happen in the
Gang aft agley, story. I think
Go often askew, that the
characters
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, will…
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
Justify your
For promis'd joy! comment by
using evidence
For promised joy! from the
poem.

LO: To know and understand the social and historical context

of the novel (Of Mice and Men).