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Explore the historical context of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, focusing on the 1930s Depression and Dust Bowl. Learn about the causes and effects of these significant events and how they shaped the lives of the characters in the novel.
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The History Behind Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
The 1930s • Depression - an economy with high unemployment, falling income, failing business, decline in production and sales. • The Great Depression • Misconception: - Stock market crash was the cause of the Great Depression.
Leading Causes • Heavy Real estate losses in Florida • Mass Consumption: • Living above means • Farming Depression (1920-1935) • Cheap land (Banks allowed buyers to put 25% down on an acre that cost $15.00) • Over production on wheat (five million acres) • The Dust Bowl • Uneven Distribution of Wealth • Uninsured banks • Stock Market Crash
Rapid Growth in the Stock Market • To attract investors brokers sold stocks on margin -- the investor paid only part of the selling price in cash and borrowed the rest on margin from the stock broker. • Brokers borrowed money from the banks to cover the margin.
Check the table below. Now, ask yourself, why would a broker want to sell stock on margin? Is this risky? $42.50 $37.50 $425.00 Shares are being sold at $5.00 each. Initially, the investor owes 15%.
March 1928 – Stock prices soared and the number of shares traded rose sharply Stock prices were 400 percent higher Investors became cautious Fewer buyers drove prices down October 1929 “Black Tuesday” Confidence in stock market failed Investors began selling stocks Margin calls- Banks wanted their money from brokers, and brokers wanted their money from investors. Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Stock Market Crashed! Sad days ahead!
Dust Bowl • The Dust Bowl itself was restricted to a 97-million-acre piece of high, level land in the southern portion of the Great Plains: Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
The "Drought" • From 1932-1936 the annual rainfall didn’t exceed 12 inches • Low wheat prices and yields drove farmers from their lands • Dust clouds lifted and settled over millions of acres • Farmers and farmhands moved into California as migrant workers • Seventy severe dust storms recorded in 1933
Dust Was Everywhere • Atlantic Monthly, 1930s • “Dust in the beds and in the flour bin, on dishes and walls and windows, in hair, eyes, teeth, and throats…” • People in Cimarron County remember hanging wet blankets across their windows and laying wet cloths over their faces when they went to sleep. • Ceilings collapsed under the weight of the accumulated dust mounds.
Migrant Workers • Migration - movement of people from place to place for permanent settlement • Drought in the plains forced owners off farms • The Grapes of Wrathdepicts this lifestyle
"Oakies" • Migrant farm workers • Homeless/farmless due to drought and “Dust Bowl” • Poor mid-western farmers despised and abused in California
Effects of the Great Depression • Factories and Mills closed • Manufacturing cut in half • Unemployment rose from 3.2 % to 24.9% • Banks ran out of money “The Banking Crisis” F.D.R. • Mortgages foreclosed • Homelessness; poverty • “Riches to Rags” For Sale
Living Conditions • Malnutrition • Doubt • Most severe for men, women’s jobs actually rose • Children more self-reliant • Whites took-over jobs held by minorities
The Government Responds • Hoover: self-reliance, restore confidence, grew unpopular as conditions worsened • Roosevelt elected in 1932 • “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” • Fireside chats (Full Transcripts) • New Deal
End of Depression • 1939 - unemployment still 15% • Outbreak of WWII - expansion of national defense, stimulating jobs and growth • Federal Government expanded its role in social and economic areas • Democratic Party - majority of America’s support for next half of century
Of Mice and Men By John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck • Born in Salinas, CA • Born in 1902 • Attended Stanford University • Took literature and writing • Became laborer and journalist • Wrote novels, and play- novelettes • Married three times • Won Nobel Prize in 1962 • Died in 1968 • Wrote best-selling novels • Wrote stories for movies • Wrote government propaganda during WWII • Famous for Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, The Red Pony, Cannery Row
Salinas, California • Located in Monterey Co. • 100 miles south of San Francisco • 60 miles south of Silicon Valley • 17 miles east of Monterey/Carmel • 10 miles east of the Pacific Ocean
George: • A migrant worker who travels from farm to farm for work during the Depression. • Cares for Lennie, his childhood friend who is mentally disabled • Lennie: • A large mentally disabled man. • Obsesses over touching soft things such as hair and fur • Dreams of having a farm with George and raising rabbits Characters • Candy: • An old, crippled man who has lost his hand • Swamper at the ranch • Curley: • Son of ranch owner, Formidable pugilist
Curley’s Wife: • Considered a tramp by most of the ranch men • Doesn’t have a name • Crooks: • Stable buck of the ranch, Only Black man • Carlson: • Large man who complains about Candy’s old dog • Offers to put the dog down Characters • Slim: • Ranch foreman, Wise man • Boss: • Suspicious of George and Lennie when they arrive late • Fair man
Analysis • Microcosm: The ranch is a microcosm of the world. The ranch and characters represent the world and people in general. • Lennie, Curley’s wife, Candy, and Crooks represent the lonely imperfect people in the world. • The boss represents the bosses and higher position people in the world. • Curley represents the spoiled pugilist type of people who think they can control by physical strength. • George and Slim represent the caretakers of the world. They are hard workers who makes sure work gets done.
