In the 1930’s John Steinbeck wrote the novel Of Men and Mice. He wrote

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In the 1930’s John Steinbeck wrote the novel Of Men and Mice. He wrote the book in the middle of the great American depression. During this great time of loss over 15 million people lost there jobs. OF MEN AND MICE In the 1930’s John Steinbeck wrote the novel “Of Men and Mice”. He wrote the book in the middle of the great American depression. During this great time of loss over 15 million people lost there jobs and were made redundant. All these people were left to find whatever work they could, all with no income or government support such as benefits or social security. The health service was no longer on a work plan so people were suffering in their masses because they could not afford to pay the service costs. California at that time was quite a rich state so many flocked there to find work. “Of Men and Mice” is set in Salinas in California. Salinas is on the coast of California and is quite a fruitful county and a lot of people will have gone to work on the ranches there like Lennie and George. John Steinbeck wrote “Of Men and Mice” in a socialistic point of view to capture what was going on in these times. He captured what was going on around him and turned it into a novel of two men doing exactly what millions of others were doing at that time going from place to place, ranch to ranch. This is how millions lived for many years to come. John Steinbeck felt that the government had let the public down buy not supporting them in their time of need. Lennie is described as “a huge man, shapeless of face with large pale eyes.” Just from this you can tell that he is abnormally big for these times. However George is described as “small, quick and dark of face with restless eyes and sharp, strong features.” This tells us that the man is smaller and skinnier than Lennie with more defined features. Lennie is said to be big and clumsy, so big even he is described as a bear “dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags its paws.” Steinbeck then refers him to again “Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water….” This then emphasise just how big he is being compared to a bear again. But whilst being like a bear he is also like a child “I forgot, Lennie said softly, I tried not to forget, honest I did George.” This makes Lennie sound like a child not only because of the language

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