of mice and men an adaptation john steinbeck

While the Great Depression was more of a national catastrophe, the Dust Bowl was regional and specific to certain parts of America, which destroyed large acres of farmlands and caused other agricultural damages.

The historical dust storms which devastated the major parts of midwestern America also had a strong influence on Steinbeck’s ideas for the book ‘ Of Mice and Men’. These migrants, of which Steinbeck was part, traveled across the plains of different states in search of jobs that were very few, outnumbered, and unbelievably competitive. The event led to millions losing their jobs and source of livelihood and caused ensuing mass migration from badly affected regions, such as Texas and Kansas, to mildly affected ones like California. The creation of peasant characters such as George and Lennie are in some way the author’s idea of reliving his tough experience during this time, seeing as he was among the migrant workers who searched for and did various kinds of odd jobs at farms around Central Valley, California, in a quest to get back on track economically.įrom 1929 to 1940, the United States suffered what was known as the Great Depression, an event that saw its economy hit by an unprecedented decline caused by the collapse of the stock market. John Steinbeck was born during the times that the Great Depression began taking its toll on American society it particularly had a more severe impact on the working class or the society’s most vulnerable. The author had some infusion of real-life, firsthand experience of these times in which he himself lived. Putting together a piece that is as deep and revealing as the book ‘ Of Mice and Men’ goes beyond mere fictional creativity for Steinbeck. Published during the 1930s, just in the thick of a historic economic collapse in the United States, ‘ Of Mice and Men‘ documents the struggle for freedom and self-sustenance for the ordinary people in a dispensation that is largely dependent on the agricultural sector.

Of mice and men an adaptation john steinbeck