Mice of men context

• The "Great Depression" began with the huge crash of the stock market


  October 24th 1929
• Black Thursday


  The day 16 million shares of stock were quickly sold, leading to America's worst ever economic depression
• The president during the Great Depression was Herbert Hoover
• WALL ST, PANIC AS STOCKS CRASH


  Retoker 21th, 1929
• Billions lost; wave of selling engulis the financial market
• Wage income for workers who were lucky enough to have kept their jobs fell almost 43% between 1929 and 1933
• Farm prices fell so drastically that many farmers lost their homes and land
• At the height of the Depression in 1933, nearly 25% of the Nation's total work force, 12,830,000 people, were unemployed
• It is estimated that nearly 50% of children during the Great Depression did not have adequate food, shelter, or medical care
• From 1929 to 1932, 5,000 banks went out of business
• Many people were made homeless and some lived in shanty towns known as 'Hoovervilles'. People lived in shacks and tents
• California


  A state in the United States of America, on the West Coast, next to the Pacific Ocean. The major cities are Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco
• Life in California was difficult because of the Great Depression - there were not enough jobs and many people were living in poverty
• However, it was seen by many people from the Southern Plains as a jewel as it had not been damaged by the Dust Bowl
• Hundreds of thousands of farmers headed to California looking for work - they were known as migrant workers
• The migrant workers were treated badly and had to travel around California looking for work. When they did find work it very low paid
• There were often huge queues of men looking for work and food
• In The Great Depression African-Americans suffered as badly as white Americans and, in most cases, a great deal worse
• In the South they experienced awful racism and racist attitudes that remained from the times of slavery
• They left the southern states in large numbers hoping to find work in the big cities like Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and New York
• They could not find work in the cities and still experienced racism even if it was not as obvious
• African American men also travelo the on Any oking for work but it vas even harder for them to find a job than white migrant workers. This was because of endemic racism
• Jim Crow Laws


  Ensured African-Americans were often segregated and made to use different rooms, buildings, facilities and transport to white people
• Slavery was abolished in 1865 but many white people still treated black people extremely badly decades later
• The Ku Klux Klan terrorised black people. They carried out lynchings of black people, taking the law into their own hands, usually in rural areas
• They murdered people, usually by hanging, sometimes burning, sometimes both
• The people who carried out these awful crimes usually went unpunished. The law favoured white people and African-Americans were often harshly treated by
• John Ernst Steinbeck


  Born on 27th February 1902 in Salinas, California. From a wealthy family but interested in the lives of farm labourers. Wrote stories about poor people who worked on the land and dreamed of a better life, including 'Of Mice and Men' and 'The Grapes of Wrath'. Awarded The Noble Prize for literature in 1962. Died in 1968 of heart disease. Approximately 700,000 copies of his books are sold each year. Most of his books have been adapted into films or plays
• American Dream


  The idea that in America, it is possible for anyone to achieve success and improve their lives through hard work
• The American Dream clearly did not apply
• American Dream in Of Mice and Men

  • The theme of dreams is introduced at the start of the book through George's description to Lennie of the farm that they hope one day to own together. This dream is very important to the men because it represents freedom and having control over their own lives, which they do not have while moving around looking for work. Curley's wife also has a dream - to be a film star - and although she no longer has any real hope that this could come true, it gives her a distraction from the unhappiness of her life, which is also true of dreams for the other characters
• Crooks is not allowed to have an 'American Dream'
• Dust Bowl


  Took place in the 1930s in The Southern Plains. Violent dust storms turned the sky black. About 150,000 square miles of land came to be called the Dust Bowl. The states with the worst damage were Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Colorado
• Over farming had damaged the soil and grasslands. A severe drought turned the damaged soil into dust. The wind turned the dusts into huge dust storms that destroyed the farms
• Huge areas of farmland were destroyed. Sand piles built up and began to bury farm equipment and vehicles. People had to flee their homes. They packed all their belongings into cars. Many people headed towards California in search of work - they were known as Migrant Workers. People had to breathe through handkerchiefs to keep from choking