Of_Mice_and_Men_Group_1

=//Of Mice and Men// Group 1 Erin Weiss :) Aileen Arvidsson, Elizabeth Howson.=  //Author.// John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902 of German and Irish ancestry. His father, John Steinbeck, Sr., served as the County Treasurer while his mother, Olive (Hamilton) Steinbeck, a former school teacher, fostered Steinbeck's love of reading and the written word. During summers he worked as a hired hand on nearby ranches, nourishing his impression of the California countryside and its people. After graduating from Salinas High School in 1919, Steinbeck attended Stanford University. Originally an English major, he pursued a program of independent study and his attendance was sporadic. During this time he worked periodically at various jobs and left Stanford permanently in 1925 to pursue his writing career in New York. However, he was unsuccessful in getting any of his writing published and finally returned to California. Steinbeck married his first wife, Carol Henning in 1930. They lived in Pacific Grove where much of the material for //Tortilla Flat// and //Cannery Row// was gathered. //Tortilla Flat// (1935) marked the turning point in Steinbeck's literary career. It received the California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal for best novel by a California author. Steinbeck continued writing, relying upon extensive research and his personal observation of the human condition for his stories. //The Grapes of Wrath// (1939) won the Pulitzer Prize.

During World War II, Steinbeck was a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune. Some of his dispatches were later collected and made into //Once There Was a War.//

John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 “...for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humor and a keen social perception.”

Throughout his life John Steinbeck remained a private person who shunned publicity. He died December 20, 1968, in New York City and is survived by his third wife, Elaine (Scott) Steinbeck and one son, Thomas. His ashes were placed in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Salinas.

//Of Mice and Men setting.// The novel Of Mice and Men took place in many different locations. Of Mice and Men took place in the south of San Francisco in Salinas Valley California. This novel took place during the great depression of the 1930's. Lennie and George had traveled all over and they landed up in three different locations. When they had taken the bus to go to the other ranch because they had been kicked out, they were dropped off along the banks of the Salinas River which was on the way to the ranch. When Lennie and George had arrived at the new ranch that they were going to work at Candy had brought them to their new bunkhouse. After that they were taken to the barn where the pups were being held until they were able to leave and be free and safe. So the three places that the setting took places was the Salinas Valley River, the barn at the ranch and the bunkhouse which was located on the ranch. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Mice_and_Men [|www.sparknotes.com/lit/micemen/] [|www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Belmont_HS/mice/] http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Steinbeck/mice.html) 

Backround Information. The backround information is that the book is set during the Great Depression. The book is set in three different places. The Great Depression had left many people jobless, homeless and bankrupt. The Dust Bowl had taken place during the Great Depression, it had lasted a least a decade. Work had been very hard to find and keep. Farmers had kept farming and farming and yet nothing would grow. The sky could darken for days and no sunlight would been seen.It had been caused by a misuse of land. (power points on shared drive and websites; http://www.bellmore-merrick.k12.ny.us/mice.html) 

//Plot.// In this novel there are two migrant workers traveling from place to place in search of a job that they can keep. It is known to be that George Milton and Lennie Small travel around together. In the beginning of the story, Lennie (a big, goofy guy) was being taken care of by his Aunt Clara. But towards the middle of the book his Aunt Clara she had left and no one was there to take care of Lennie. So George came around to the challenging job. Aunt Clara was trying to explain how Lennie is to George because Lennie was not the typical kind oif a guy just to do something that he was told to do. He was a middle aged man who was mentally retarded. He was "as string as bull "said by George. They both had a dream but it was more Lennies dream than Georges. They wanted the "AMERICAN DREAM ". They wanted to own a ranch, and get Lennie soft rabbits that he could tend. They traveled to this new ranch because of the fact that Lennie had touched a woman's dress back in Weed; he was falsely accused of rape. So they had to flee the town of Weed. At the new ranch that they got to they meet some people. One of the people that they meet is Candy. Candy is a one handed fellow who also works on the ranch. Oncy he finds out that they want to buy a ranch, Candy wants to pitch in and help they accomplish all of their dreams while Candy gets a cut in it to. Their dream turns to shreds when Lennie kills Curlys wife. Almost the whole ranch turned their backs on Lennie and George because of this. Towards the end of the book George wants to spare Lennie a painful death and decides to shoot him in the back of the head just like when they shot Curlys dog in the back of the head. They wanted to put him out of his misery. George also knew that they would kill Lennie anyway, so he was the one that wanted to do it. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Mice_and_Men [|www.sparknotes.com/lit/micemen/] [|www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Belmont_HS/mice/] http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Steinbeck/mice.html) //Major Characters. // **Lennie:** big, strong, mentally retarded. Wants to own a farm with George, loves petting nice things. **George:** small, quick witted. Kind, cares and looks out for lennie. Does not like people picking on lennie. Has big dreams. Pessimistic. **Candy;** works on the new ranch. Lost his hand. Is going to help George and lennie with the farm. Had a dog who was shot by Carlson because he was old and smelly. **Slim:** in charge of lennie and George when they were working at the ranch. Had a dog who had puppies and gave one to lennie. He is greatly respected. **Curly**: the boss's son. He was small and tiny and think's he is the strongest and hates to be picked on, very defenses. <span style="COLOR: rgb(178,15,219); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">**Crooks:** a black ranch hand. He has a messed up back. And asked lennie if he could help out on the farm George and him are going to buy. (book, brain) <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">

//Quotes.// "A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green. The water is warm too, for it has slipped twinkling over the yellow sands in the sunlight before reaching the narrow pool." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Ch. 1 <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">"Evening of a hot day started the little wind to moving among the leaves. The shade climbed up the hills toward the top. On the sand banks the rabbits sat as quietly as little gray, sculptured stones." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Ch. 1 <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. . . . With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don't have to sit in no bar room blowin' in our jack jus' because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Ch. 1 <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">"Whatever we ain't got, that's what you want. God a'mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an' work, an no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Ch. 1 <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">"All kin's a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We'd jus' live there. We'd belong there. There wouldn't be no more runnin' round the country and gettin' fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we'd have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">"I ain't got no people. I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain't no good. They don't have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin' to fight all the time. . . 'Course Lennie's a God damn nuisance most of the time, but you get used to goin' around with a guy an' you can't get rid of him." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and THMen <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">"We could live offa the fatta the lan'." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Ch. 3 <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">"S'pose you didn't have nobody. S'pose you couldn't go into the bunk house and play rummy 'cause you was black. How'd you like that? S'pose you had to sit out here an' read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, but then you got to read books. Books ain't no good. A guy needs somebody - to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Ch. 4 <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">"I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an' on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an' that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an' they quit an' go on; an' every damn one of 'em's got a little piece of land in his head. An' never a God damn one of 'em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but it's jus' in their head." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Ch. 4 <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,235,47); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif">"Never you mind. A guy got to sometimes." - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Ch.<span style="COLOR: rgb(14,246,72)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(20,190,47)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(20,43,239); FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif"> 6 (http://classiclit.about.com/od/ofmiceandmensteinbeck/a/aa_ofmicequotes.htm )

<span style="COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"> THEME There were many themes throughout the novel. Some of the major characters had many themes with themselves. For example Lennie and George wanted THE AMERICAN DREAM. The American Dream to them was to save up enough money between the two of them and to buy a ranch. On that ranch they would want to cook for themselves, take care of the property. George promised Lennie if they did get the ranch that Lennie could tend the rabbits. The American Dream also included a white picket fence to keep out the animals and anybody that was not supposed to be there. Another theme that was expressed in Of Mice And Men was loneliness. Candie adored his dog to death. He was an old man who had no one in his life and everyday he would be thankful that he had a friend in his life and that was his dog that was also very old and on the verge of dying. Towards the end of the book his dog gets shot. He was very traumatized. That just broke his heart, but he realized that if his dog was going to get shot the owner of the of the dog which was him should of done it. But it was too late. There is also a theme of friendship. When Lennie had accidentally killed Curly’s wife, they all wanted revenge. So in return they all decided that they would lynch Lennie. But as a friend George thought that vhe would want to put him out of his misery. So George decided that he would shot Lennie instead. There was one more theme that was in the novel Of Mice And Men and that was innocence. Lennie did not understand why he should of not go into Crooks room. As you can see there were many themes throughout the novel Of Mice And Men.