Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck Anticipating Of
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
Anticipating Of Mice and Men Directions: The words below are taken from John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. Read the words below and construct a storyline based on them. Write out your storyline using each of the words. • • • George Lenny rabbits California migrant worker ranch old mangy dog Curley’s wife right hand pistol • • • friendship mice American dream corrupt women loneliness Lenny’s puppy Great Depression death lynch mob disability
Table of Contents • Historical Backdrop – Great Depression – Dust Bowl – Migrant Workers • About the Author • About the Novel • Offensive Content
Historical Backdrop • Great Depression – Highest unemployment rate in America’s history • Dust Bowl – Midwest experiences great drought – Not enough food • Migrant Workers – People gave up farms/homes in search of work, heading west
Great Depression • Causes of Great Depression: – – income gap high consumer debt, purchasing on credit weakened European economies following World War I large surpluses of U. S. goods • Effects: – Stock market crashes in 1929 – 1/3 to ¼ of Americans are unemployed – People rely on bread lines for food and sleep in tents and shacks. – Government fights Depression through increased government regulation and massive public work projects to create employment
Dust Bowl • Cause of Dust Bowl: – Man exhausts the soil • Breaks up the evolved prairie grass • Overplants crops • Crops cannot hold soil in great plains draught – 7 year draught • Effect of Dust Bowl: – Migration west to California – Search for better life
Dust Storm (above) & Soil Erosion (below) Clear Day & Dusty Day
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse • Poetic novelization of the experiences of a young girl during the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma • Excerpts – “Beginning: August 1920” – “Not too Much to Ask” – “Rules of Dining” – “Fields of Flashing Light”
Migrant workers • Cause – Crop prices fell, which led farmers to plant more crops to earn same amount of money – Farmers had to invest in more equipment and help – Huge debt! – Stock market crash of 1929 – Farmers lose farms • Effect: Great Plains workers must migrate to California
Migrant workers harvesting lettuce 18 year old migrant worker with baby
Migrant workers waiting for relief checks Ditch-bank housing for migrant workers
Author Background: John Steinbeck • • Born in 1902 in Salinas, California is backdrop for most novels Spent summers as a farm hand Went to Stanford 1919 – Didn’t earn degree • Worked as a reporter • Published many novels – Cup of Gold (1929); Tortilla Flat (1935); Grapes of Wrath (1940) • Nobel Prize in Literature 1962
John Steinbeck
About the novel • Published in 1937 • Genre: fiction, tragedy • Setting: Mid 1930 s in Pacific Grove and Los Gatos ranch • Characters: George, Lennie • Point of View: Omniscient • Conflict: man vs. nature, man vs. man, man vs. society • Plot: George & Lennie set out to achieve their dream of owning their own farm, but outside forces and Lennie’s character cause problems.
Themes • Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. – The predatory nature of human existence – The importance of brotherhood and idealized relationships between men – The Importance and Impossibility of the American Dream – Struggle between what’s right and what’s convenient
Motifs • Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. – Corrupting power of Women – Loneliness and Companionship – Strength and Weakness Curley’s Wife
Symbols • Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. – George & Lennie’s Farm – Lennie’s Puppy – Candy’s Dog
Offensive Elements in the Novel • Swearing • Sexual allusions • Moral Choices • Why might these potentially offensive elements be included in the novel? • What effect do they have on characters, setting, plot, etc?
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