John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men
The Literary and Historical Background
1 Match the key words with the explanations below.
Key words: Economic boom, Great Depression, Great gangsters (Al Capone), Jazz Age,
Ku Klux Klan, Lost Generation, Prohibition, Migration, New Deal
a. A name for 1920s, when jazz music was especially popular. The name came from the
book Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was called ‘the
spokesman of the Jazz Age’.
b. The period in the US history (1919 -1933) when it was illegal by national law to make
or sell alcohol and alcoholic drinks. It was not popular, and it was too expensive to
make sure that the law is obeyed. It also produced criminals like Al Capone who made
and sold alcohol. A few states kept such laws for several years, and some counties in
certain states still have them.
c. The period of severe economic failure in most countries of the world that lasted from
1929 until World War II. It began in the US when the New York Stock Exchange fell
on 29 October 1923, known as Black Tuesday. Many businesses and banks failed and
millions of people lost their jobs.
d. A powerful leader of organized crime in Chicago, the US, during the period of
Prohibition. His nickname was Scarface. He had seven rival criminals murdered in the
St Valentine’s Day Massacre, but the police could not find evidence on which to arrest
him. He was finally sent to prison in 1931 for not paying enough income tax.
e. The program begun by the US president Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s to end the
Great Depression. It introduced new economic and social measures to help the
unemployed and poor, and made the national government more powerful.
f. A secret US organization, founded in 1866, that opposed to equal rights for African
Americans. The members wear long white robes and tall pointed hats to hide their
identity. In the 1920s it had nearly 5 million members, attaching not only African
Americans, but also Jews, Roman Catholics or people from foreign countries.
g. A period of prosperity in the 1920s in the US. People borrowed money from banks at
low interest rates, bought shares and quickly became rich. Also the car, petrol and film
and music industries prospered during this era.
h. Many people who lost their jobs during the Great Depression travelled to other places
in search of employment. There were rumours, for example, that there were job
opportunities available in California, therefore many people migrated to this part of
the US.
i. Artists and intellectuals who became adults during or just after WW I. They grew
critical of the materialism, extravagance, shallowness and indulgence of the American
society. Many artists left to live and work in Paris, for example E. Hemingway.
2 Divide the key words into two groups according to the decade.
Key words: Economic boom, Great Depression, Great gangsters (Al Capone), Jazz Age,
Ku Klux Klan, Lost Generation, Prohibition, Migration, New Deal
1920s
1930s
3 Read about the background of the novel Of Mice and Men. Underline the key words in
the text.
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, in 1902, an area that he came to know very
well during his boyhood explorations, and which he used as the setting for Of Mice and Men.
He left university without completing the course and had a variety of jobs, including working
on a ranch. He used his experience to help him when he wrote about the attitudes and life
style of the migrant workers in Of Mice and Men.
The novel was published in 1937, during the Great Depression which followed Wall Street
Crash (the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929). During the 1930s many
businesses failed, leading to huge numbers of unemployed. The only option for people who
became very poor was to travel around looking for work. These migrant workers travelled
alone and travelled light – they had very few belonging and rarely stayed in one place for
long. Once a job was finished, they had to move on. However, many refused to give in to
despair, and dreamed of eventually owning their own place and settling down. This
‘American Dream’ is shared by George and Lennie.