47 pages • 1 hour read
John SteinbeckOf Mice and Men
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1937A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: John Steinbeck and American Migrant Workers
Of Mice and Men is a work of realistic fiction that depicts the struggles of migrant farm workers in the years following the Great Depression. The setting of the novella—the Salinas Valley in the 1930s—is critical to the reader’s understanding of the events that unfold as both time and place are essential to the plot line. Steinbeck’s familiarity with the landscape and the general feeling of the times reflects his own upbringing in Salinas, California. Historically, this region of Northern California is known for its agricultural industry, and “Dust Bowl Migrants”—refugees from the southern plains—traveled to the Salinas Valley in the 1930s in search of a “promised land” (Karsten, Jayne. “The Dust Bowl Migrants Move West.” The Kennedy Center, 2022). Much of Steinbeck’s work features migrant and/or marginalized characters and explores the universal experiences of the ordinary man.
In his 1936 novel, In Dubious Battle, Steinbeck explores capitalist exploitation and the plight of migrant workers. Although Steinbeck is most famous for his social protest fiction The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and his magnum opus, East of Eden (1952)—he penned several works of journalistic nonfiction. In Harvest Gypsies (1936), a collection of essays, Steinbeck offers a critical portrayal of the migrant worker’s plight and champions the organized labor movement for farm workers. Similarly, Steinbeck interviewed migrant workers in California and published a collection of their stories in his 1938 pamphlet, Their Blood is Strong. This work is considered his precursor to The Grapes of Wrath.
In 1962, Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception” (“The Nobel Prize in Literature 1962.” NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Thu. 27 Oct 2022).
Socio-Historical Context: The Great Depression
Of Mice and Men was published in 1937, eight years after the 1929 stock market crash that precipitated the financial hardship of America’s Great Depression, which lasted from 1930 to 1936. Firms and banks previously thought reliable went bankrupt, while unemployment, poverty, and a general sense of foreboding characterized the mood of America at this time.
Of Mice and Men captures the feelings of an entire nation in six brief chapters that take place over four days on a ranch in Soledad, California. The trials of George and Lennie, and those of their fellow ranch hands, represent the difficulties many American farmers faced after losing their land and livelihoods to the economic downturn of the Great Depression. As harvests failed year after year thanks to a poorly timed drought, more landowners migrated in search of work. They sought refuge in California, looking to soothe their disappointment at losing their mortgages and independence with meaningful paid work far from their homes, their families, and their dreams. Only some laborers, like George and Lennie, were lucky enough to find paid work; others wandered endlessly, only to be turned away by farmers possessive of their own efforts and resources that enabled them to survive thus far.
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