1. JOHN STEINBECK Of Mice and Men

2. John Steinbeck Born in Salinas, California in 1902  Spent the majority of his life in California  impact on his writing?  Appreciation of Salinas, farm life, and the nearby Pacific Ocean  Worked with migrant workers and bindlestiffs on ranches in the area during summers between school His books often deal with the problems of working people  Characters in his books are often people who go to California in search for a better life  American Dream

3. California and Farming, 1930s

4. Salinas, California

5. Time Period: Great Depression (1930s) The Dust Bowl  Severe dust storms damaged ecology and agriculture  Many lost their farms because could not produce crops  People decided to abandon their farms and go in search of work  migrant farm workers

6. Dust Bowl

7. To a Mouse, On Turning Up Her Nest But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [alone] In proving foresight may be vain: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley, [often go awry] An' lea'e us nought [leave us nothing] but grief an' pain, For promised joy. Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me! The present only toucheth thee: But, och! I backward cast my e'e [eye] On prospects drear! [dreary] An' forward, tho' I canna [cannot] see I guess an' fear!

8. Chapter 1 Description of Salinas: Why does the novel start out in this fashion? (1)  Mood? Tone? Introduction of Lennie & George (2-3)  Relationship between the two friends (11)  Character development?  Dead mouse (5) Past Troubles? (7) Literary devices: Dialogue (7)  Describe the dialogue… Major Themes?

9. Chapter 2 How is social hierarchy shown in this chapter?  Crooks description (19-20)  Boss description (20)  Lennie & George (23-24) Lennie & George (23-24)  Curley & George (25)  Candy & Curley (27)  Slim (33) Curley’s wife  How is she characterized?  Description?  “Got the eye” Are there any ominous signs of the future or a sense of foreboding? Theme: Strong vs. Weak Dialogue & Character Development  Who are “foils”?

10. Chapter 3 How do we see the idea of hope vs. hopelessness? Lennie + George : an archetypal friendship?  Where else in pop culture do we see this? Who describes a situation where they had a moral awakening? Portrayal of women What events foreshadow Lennie’s death? American Dream revisited (59)

11. Chapter 4 How is Crooks different than the other characters?  Childhood  “The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them…My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now” (70)  Where does he live? What does this show? (66) Strong vs. Weak dynamic  How is this seen in the chapter?  How does this relate to the overall message of the novel? Curley’s Wife  How is she portrayed? Major Themes: Isolation, Racism, American Dream

12. Chapter 5 Lennie’s tragedy Is Curley’s wife a sympathetic character?  What was her “American Dream”? (88)  Fantasy vs. Reality  Her corpse was “pretty and simple…sweet and young” (93) Why do you think George decides to kill Lennie himself? George (and Candy’s) realization that the “farm” dream is over… (94, 95)

13. Chapter Six Idyllic opening of chapter (99)  Repeated references: water snake, mountains  But death is foreshadowed! (99) American dream lost  What do you think of this tragic ending? What about Curley and Carlson’s response to Lennie’s death? (107)