Comparing The Great Depression In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

"Ain't many guys travel around together, I don’t know why. Maybe ever ‘body in the whole damn world is scared of each other," Slim. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, features a story about two guys traveling together as they look for a job. They live in a time of a financial crisis and the dust bowl in the 1930’s. The novel features the prevalent theme of companionship and the American dream that can be connected historically to the economical struggles in the 1930s.

Lennie does not learn from his actions, thus becoming monotonous with his ways. George mirrors the cycle of every other migrant worker. As he and Lennie try to reach their goal of living the American dream, they go through the ongoing sequence of working, receiving their pay, finding new work, and trying to achieve the dream of having their own farm. The two are stuck in their own repetitive nature showing how the cycle may

The Dust Bowl made it extremely hard to grow and raise crops. “The Dust Bowl covered a huge amount of farmland which was the main cash source for the farmers living in Oklahoma.” The reason why farming was such a popular job there was because the soil was so rich with nutrients that crops grew phenomenally. It was a very hard job to uncover the remaining soil under their land to continue growing crops. It was a very hard job to do this because

Poor agricultural practices and years of sustained drought caused the Dust Bowl”. During the 1930’s farmers kept growing and planting their crops, but

In the 1930’s itinerant workers were migrant workers who travelled from land to land to find jobs, any occupation available to allow them to fend for themselves and survive in the disastrous world, they were living in at the time. We know George and Lennie are migrant workers due to the period of time the novella is based on. It was a catastrophic world as it was when The Great Depression occurred, unemployment and recession increased vigorously. Bearing this in mind, the way in which Steinbeck’s first description of George and Lennie, at the

Steinbeck uses the ranch workers to express the emotion of isolation so that we can easily engage with the emotion by realising what it was like for a ranch worker back in the day. As George is a ranch worker and feels isolated, Lennie on the other end who has a serious mental disability and is often referred to a child does not understand the emotion of isolation that George feels, because he is oblivious due

In 1929, tears swept the nation and gloom bestowed itself upon a once happy place. The Great Depression had started. People lost everything ,so many became migrant workers. Of Mice and Men, a classic novel written by John Steinbeck, emphasizes many sad themes, but gives us a good insight on what life was like in the 1940’s for many people. Although there are other themes, rootlessness, loneliness, and poverty are extremely prominent throughout the novel in many characters.

Accomplishing a life goal or dream during a crisis is the epitome of what it means to survive and to thrive. For George and Lennie, their dream to survive their crisis and thrive in the harsh times of the Great Depression is, “We could live offa the fatta the lan” (pg.57) which in simpler terms is having a ranch for themselves where they can work for themselves without any worry in the world. However, when the very relationship sustaining and allowing the possibility to the dream ends, so does the dream in turn making it worthless to survive during dire situations like the Great Depression. Without relationships, it is nearly impossible to accomplish these goals as one lacks the physical, mental and in George and Lennie’s case, monetary support, consequently not fully surviving. When George and Lennie are weaving their dreams, they state “But not us!

The farmers were affected by the dust bowl because of drought.The dust bowl also affected them by taking the farmer's crops.The farmers had lost their land and were forced to move with no money and food.The farmers traveled to find jobs and food in the west.The farmers then would either have to start farming again or try something else such as orange pickers for money.

In the late 1930’s novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck follows the lives of two men and how they live on one another to endure the hardships nurtured from the Great Depression. George and Lennie, the main characters, venture together along the rolling hills of the western United States, looking out for one another and being there for each other even in the hardest times looking for work to pursue their lifetime dream. Lennie, a strong bold man and a hard worker, is handicapped with a mental disability while George, on the other hand, is a slim, but strong man who has taken care of Lennie ever since his Aunt Clara had perished. Both the men have big dreams of living on a beautiful farm together and raising farm animals such as chickens,

“The Dust Bowl was both a manmade and natural disaster” (Klein, 2012). “[The catastrophe] revealed the darker side of entrepreneurialism, its tendency to risk long-term social and ecological damage in the pursuit of short-term, private gain, (Worster, “Dust Bowl”). Like stated previously in the Library of Congress article the Dust Bowl was caused primarily by the overgrazing of cattle as well as dry farming by farmers. During the first world war wheat farmers need to fill in the demand of crops for the allied forces in Europe. While this worked for the period of time after the war ended the fields were plowed down to the bare minimum. With no wheat or grass to hold the soil together and nothing to protect the water and

John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men is an extraordinary novel with unique characteristics. The novel is about an uncommon friendship between two extremely different individuals who are living and working together. This story belong to the genres tragic realistic fiction, historical fiction and drama. The linking between the novel and The Great Depression emphasizes throughout the story, which makes the novel very realistic and down to earth. The author touches on several themes such as: the unreachable American dream, the economic injustices, loneliness, friendship and people’s propensity for cruelty. In this book review, we will get into a deeper understanding of what the actual story means.

The Dust Bowl was a series of devastating events that occurred in the 1930’s. It affected not only crops, but people, too. Scientists have claimed it to be the worst drought in the United States in 300 years. It all began because of “A combination of a severe water shortage and harsh farming techniques,” said Kimberly Amadeo, an expert in economical analysis. (Amadeo). Because of global warming, less rain occurred, which destroyed crops. The crops, which were the only things holding the soil in place, died, which then caused the wind to carry the soil with it, creating dust storms. (Amadeo). In fact, according to Ken Burns, an American film maker, “Some 850 million tons of topsoil blew away in 1935 alone. "Unless something is done," a government report predicted, "the western plains will be as arid as the Arabian desert." (Burns). According to Cary Nelson, an English professor, fourteen dust storms materialized in 1932, and in 1933, there were 48 dust storms. Dust storms raged on in the Midwest for about a decade, until finally they slowed down, and stopped. Although the dust storms came to a halt, there was still a lot of concern. Thousands of crops were destroyed, and farmers were afraid that the dust storm would happen

If Lennie and George didn’t have their dream, they wouldn’t have had the drive in their life, and would have descended to the level of the other hands; however, their dream wasn’t ‘rational’, appealing only to their hopes, wishes and dreams, and wouldn’t have succeeded anyways. Lennie says to George, “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you” (15). Lennie and George keep each other afloat in the migrant worker’s life. Without George, Lennie would end up in a mental

To say it’s been a rough span of years for the state and local governments would be an understatement during this recession. From 2008 to present day all states have struggled to balance their budget and not run a deficit. Throughout American history, this is said to be the worst recession since 1947 after World War II. Revenues fell substantially and unemployment went into the double digits. Throughout this struggle we’ve seen cuts in education, public services, increases in taxes and spending cuts. This recession has affected businesses and residence raging from young to elderly. The federal government has stepped in to help by providing the American Recover and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) but this eventually will spiral down to its finish