'How does the novel Of Mice And Men reflect life in the 1930s'

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1.     Harry Lovejoy.            ‘Of Mice and Men Essay.’

Question-‘How does the novel Of Mice And Men reflect life in the 1930s’

John Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas, California. His mother was a teacher and the reason why he learned to love books and his father was a county treasurer. He attended his local school and in the holidays worked on farms and ranches, this is the reason he is able to give such an insight to how life was there. After school he went to Stanford university studying marine biology but did not get a degree. He then went to New York for a short time were he worked as a reporter for the American Newspaper, before going back to California to concentrate on is writing. He wrote many books including Sea of Cortez, Of Mice An Men and A Russian Journal Before winning a noble Prize for Literature in 1962.

 

     The novel I am doing this essay on I ‘Of Mice And Men’ by John Steinbeck, set in California. The book was written In 1936 and also based in this period. This is in the middle of the great depression, which started in 1930 when firms and 2298 banks went bust and losing everybodies savings and finished at the beginning of the second world war. During the depression millions of people were left wandering around looking for jobs and surviving any way they could. All this came just after the boom of the 1920s where it was easy to find work and everybody was paid very well. In the 30s Steinbeck was also one of the 13million people without a proper job, this is because his writing alone would not be able to support him. This is similar to page 11 in the book where Lennie and George are looking for jobs, they also didn’t have much money so they are unable so buy the simplest things such as ketchup for their baked beans. Steinbeck found a job and found out how hard the work is on a ranch, he uses is experiences on Lennie and George as they also found a job a ranch in California and had to work very hard, just to get there $50’s a month. The reason why Lennie and George kept working is because of their dream. The Dream was to own a small farm in the country side with animals and crops, they have this dream because it is the only thing they have to look forward to in life, and as they as they money to achieve the dream it gives them a reason to work. Because of the depression all the other plans have been ruined as there is not even enough money to buy food, they need a dream to keep them going.

   George and Lennie are the main characters in the story, Lennie is a very big strong man but when he was young he kicked in the head by a horse. This caused him brain damage and he now is unable to make his own decisions and generally acts like a small child, this story was one told by George so people didn’t think Lennie was born this way. He is described by George as a ‘big dumb bastard who is no good for himself’. Even though George says this sometimes he is still always there for him. He had been looking after Lennie nearly all his life and always tries to help him. George is the person who keeps control of what they do. He takes control of everything from getting them both jobs to what they eat. He even speaks for Lennie, like when they arrive at the ranch they have to go and speak to the owner, before they go in George even tells Lennie not to speak, and any questions that Lennie does get asked George answers for him.

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 Crooks is the only black man working on the ranch. He is treated with the least respect and is made to sleep on his own in a little shed next to a dung pile. He knows where he stands, which is at the bottom. He is shown no respect except for his job as he is very good at it and when he is playing horse shoe as he is also very good at that. At the time the book was written in the 1930s in the

height of the Klu Klux Klan (kkk)  who wanted total segregation and destruction ...

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