INTRODUCTION NOTES

1
John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men

• INTRODUCTION NOTES
• Writing Assignment Discussion Points

2
John Steinbeck

• 1902 1968
• Spent teen years working on a CA
  ranch the combination
  of the work and
  people served as an inspiration for
  many of his
  novels.
• Wrote 17 novels stories, plays, and
  screenplays including
  
• Cup of Gold (1929), Of Mice and Men (1937), The
  Grapes of
  Wrath (1939), and Travels with
  Charley (1962).
• Reputation centers around the earlier novels that
  portray California as the land of American
  promise, during a time of economic hardship in
  America, with The Great Depression as a backdrop.
  

3
Novel Facts

• Genre American Fiction / tragedy
• Written mid 1930s in California / published in
  1937
• Setting 1930s / California
• Narration told from a third person omniscient
  perspective. The narrator can access the inner
  thoughts of any character, as required by the
  story.
• Tense past
• Protagonists George and Lennie
• Antagonists Curley, society
• Major Conflicts Man vs. Man / Man vs. society

4
Of Mice and Men IntroductionWriting Assignment
Discussion Points

• This novel takes place in a rural CA setting with
  the Great Depression as a backdrop, filled with
  migrant workers.
• Define what a migrant worker is. Predict what
  types of hardships you will read about in the
  novel, based on the setting and what you know
  about migrant workers. How do you believe this
  type of setting will help to shape the characters
  of the novel?
• In addition to a critical setting, one of the
  main characters, George, has taken on the
  responsibility of caring for Lennie, a full grown
  adult with the mind of a child.
• Imagine how difficult it would be to care for a
  disabled person. In fact, you may already be
  someone who has this responsibility in some way.
  If you are, discuss the challenges and rewards
  involved in this responsibility. If you are not,
  predict what this type of lifestyle would be
  like. In addition, add on the challenge of having
  to move from place to place in order to survive.