Themes within the first chapter of Of Mice And Men

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Claire Chambers

Themes within the first chapter of

 Of Mice And Men

        The novel Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck was written during a period in history when life was not very auspicious. It was the time of the depression, which followed The Wall Street Crash.

The Wall Street Crash occurred in October 1929 when the stock market crashed, wiping out forty percent of the paper values of common stock. Many Americans lost their life savings. By 1932 approximately one out of every four Americans were unemployed. They received no help from the President at the time, Herbert Hoover, who believed that a person should help themself. It was not until Franklin Roosevelt came into power in 1932, that unemployment fell from 13,000,000 to 8,000,000. Roosevelt spoke of a “new deal” for the American people.

        The Depression was even more detrimental for the Americans as it went against everything they believed in, in particular The American Dream. The American Dream is basically the idea that every American can be successful and happy and that they, themselves can achieve this.

        Back in the 19th century, settlers from Europe began arriving in America, intent on starting a new life there. The American government sold families a small piece of land (about a square mile) for $1 an acre, on which to live. They would have to build their own houses made out of sods on it. They would farm it and have to combat many problems. They were often very lonely on the plains. Life could sometimes be very arduous and the Americans dreamt of a better life and this dream was passed down through the generations. Thus, the American Dream was born.

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        The desire to better themselves is something that has driven mankind long before the birth of the American Dream. In 1831, the British scientist, Charles Darwin was taken aboard the ship HMS Beagle and sailed to the Galapagos Islands, where he observed that each island supported their own type of tortoise, mockingbird and finch. The forms were closely related but differed from island to island with different eating patterns and structure. An idea began to form in Darwin’s mind of the possibility of links between similar species.

Darwin’s theory of evolution is that because of the food problem, the young ...

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