1. John Steinbeck and Of Mice and Men

2. Steinbeck and His Books John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902 and died in NYC in 1968. His most famous books were written in the 1930s and 1940s, and are set in California. First achieved literary success with his book Tortilla Flats in 1935. Novels deal with the lives and problems of working people. Many of the characters in his books are immigrants who went to California looking for work or a better life.

3. Steinbeck’s “Dust Bowl” Stories Steinbeck wrote 3 books that chronicled the trials encountered by migrant workers. Of Mice and Men & The Grapes of Wrath are two famous dust bowl novels. In these novels, Steinbeck glorified the unity of migrant workers while portraying the struggles they faced in a realistic light.

4. Of Mice And Men The title of the novel comes from a poem titled “Of A Mouse” by Robert Burns. This stanza is included in the poem “ The best laid schemes o’ mice and men Often go wrong And leave us nought but grief and pain For promised joy!” –What predictions about the story can you make based on the poem? –OMAM is a novella: a work of fiction of intermediate length; shorter than a novel, yet longer than a short story. It was also written as a play by Steinbeck.

5. Setting of OMaM Set in the farmland of the Salinas valley, where John Steinbeck was born Steinbeck's father owned land in the area, and as a young man Steinbeck had worked as a farm hand. The ranch in the story is near Soledad, which is south-east of Salinas on the Salinas river. The countryside described at the beginning of the book, and the ranch itself, would have been very familiar to John Steinbeck.

6. Migrant Workers Main characters are George and Lennie,two migrant farm workers who are chasing ‘The American Dream’ Lennie is mentally disabled; George looks after Lennie Huge numbers of men traveled the countryside between the 1880s and the early 1930s harvesting wheat. They earned $2.50 or $3.00 a day, plus food and very basic accommodation.

7. The American Dream Since beginning of America, families and individuals have come here to find a new life. The horrors of slavery, of the American Civil War, the growth of towns with slums as bad as those in Europe, and the corruption of the American political system led to many shattered hopes. In OMAM, we will see how despite these issues, the characters still hope for a better life.

8. Possible themes Friendship The (Im)Possibility of the American Dream Loneliness versus Loyalty Oppression Nature Violence

9. Important Literary Elements Plot Characters Theme Foreshadowing Symbols Setting