Of Mice and Men and the Dust Bowl
Setting of Of Mice and Men
- Salinas Valley in Soledad, CA
- Many men are out of work and looking for jobs on ranches
- The Great Depression brought nearly a half a century of low wages. People were homeless, malnourished, and forced to leave their homes to find work.
Describe this scene using three adjectives
John Steinbeck
(1902-1968)
- born in Salinas, California, came from a family of moderate means.
- He worked his way through college at Stanford University but never graduated.
- In 1925 he went to New York, where he tried for a few years to establish himself as a free-lance writer, but he failed and returned to California
The Dust Bowl
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Fun Fact
Duration and Devastation
Steinbeck won the
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1962
- The Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted about a decade.
- Its primary area of impact was on the southern Plains.
- The agricultural devastation helped to lengthen the Depression whose effects were felt worldwide.
- The movement of people on the Plains was also profound.
Quick Write:
What is the American Dream?
What is YOUR American Dream?