about the author
Of mice and men
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas,
California in 1902. Although his family was wealthy, he was interested in the lives of the farm labourers and spent time working with them. He used his experiences as material for his writing. He dropped out of college and worked as labourer before achieving success as a writer.
He wrote a number of novels about poor people who worked on the land and dreamed of a better life, including The Grapes of Wrath, which is the heart-rending story of a family's struggle to escape the dust bowl of the West to reach California.
Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1962.
His father, John Ernst
Steinbeck, worked at several places: He owned a feed-andgrain store, managed a flour plant and served as treasurer of Monterey County. His mother, Olive Hamilton
Steinbeck, was a former schoolteacher. John died in
1968.
After World War I, economic forces brought many poor and migrant agricultural workers from the Great Plains states, such as Oklahoma, Texas,
California. Following World War I, a recession led to a drop in the market price of farm crops, which meant that farmers were forced to produce more goods in order to earn the same amount of money.
The stock market crash of 1929 only made matters worse. Banks were forced to foreclose on mortgages and collect debts.
Unable to pay their bank, many farmers lost their property and were forced to find other work.
Of Mice and Men teaches a lesson about the nature of human existence.
Nearly all of the characters, including
George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and
Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or another, to having a profound sense of loneliness. Each desires the comfort of a friend. Curley’s wife admits to Candy, Crooks, and Lennie that she is unhappily married, and
Crooks tells Lennie that life is no good without a companion to turn to in times of confusion and need.
The characters are helpless by their isolation, and yet, even at their weakest, they seek to
John Steinbeck was born in Salinas,
California in 1902. Although his family was wealthy, he was interested in the lives of the farm labourers and spent time working with them. He used his experiences as material for his writing. He dropped out of college and worked as labourer before achieving success as a writer.
He wrote a number of novels about poor people who worked on the land and dreamed of a better life, including The Grapes of Wrath, which is the heart-rending story of a family's struggle to escape the dust bowl of the West to reach California.
Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1962.
His father, John Ernst
Steinbeck, worked at several places: He owned a feed-andgrain store, managed a flour plant and served as treasurer of Monterey County. His mother, Olive Hamilton
Steinbeck, was a former schoolteacher. John died in
1968.
After World War I, economic forces brought many poor and migrant agricultural workers from the Great Plains states, such as Oklahoma, Texas,
California. Following World War I, a recession led to a drop in the market price of farm crops, which meant that farmers were forced to produce more goods in order to earn the same amount of money.
The stock market crash of 1929 only made matters worse. Banks were forced to foreclose on mortgages and collect debts.
Unable to pay their bank, many farmers lost their property and were forced to find other work.
Of Mice and Men teaches a lesson about the nature of human existence.
Nearly all of the characters, including
George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and
Curley’s wife, admit, at one time or another, to having a profound sense of loneliness. Each desires the comfort of a friend. Curley’s wife admits to Candy, Crooks, and Lennie that she is unhappily married, and
Crooks tells Lennie that life is no good without a companion to turn to in times of confusion and need.
The characters are helpless by their isolation, and yet, even at their weakest, they seek to