The document discusses several key events and issues during the Great Depression era of the 1930s that provide context for John Steinbeck's novel "Of Mice and Men": 1) The Wall Street crash of 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression, a 10-year economic downturn that affected the entire Western world. 2) During the Great Depression, many were left unemployed and isolated, clinging desperately to dreams as portrayed in "Of Mice and Men". 3) The Dust Bowl of the 1930s caused severe dust storms that damaged the environment and agriculture of the US and Canada, forcing many farmers to abandon their homes and migrate west in search of work. 4) Racism was prevalent during

1. UNDERSTANDING THE
ERA OF 1937

2. WALL STREET CRASH
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as
Black Tuesday and the Stock Market Crash of
1929, began in late October 1929 and was the
most devastating stock market crash in the
history of the United States , when taking into
consideration the full extent and duration of its
fallout .The crash signalled the beginning of
the 10-year Great Depression that affected all
Western industrialized countries.
The American Dream final blow began by the
Wall Street Crash when the value of shares on
the stock market fell dramatically . This
marked the start of the Great Depression that
swept the world in the 1930s .

3. THE GREAT DEPRESSION
The idea of “The Great Depression” is linked in the
novel with George and Lennie repeating their
dream symbolising their desperate and depressed
especially how everyone wants to join in this
dream because they are enfaced with isolation and
adversity .
• Mice and Men written in the height of
the great depression is a novel that
portrays the way in which, despite being
systematically crushed as consequence
of depressed circumstances, human
spirit still survives. The novel contains
both optimistic and pessimistic features
– the author, John Steinbeck, illustrates
how people, with the help of
companionships and dreams, can prevail
in the face of all forms of adversity, be it
unemployment, isolation, or even death !

4. THE DUSTBOWL
• This was a period of severe dust
storms that greatly damaged the
ecology and agriculture of the US and
Canadian praises during the 1930s;
severe drought and a failure to apply
dry land farming methods to prevent
wind erosion .
• The Dust Bowl forced tens of thousands of
families to abandon their farms. Many of
these families, who were often known as
Okies because so many of them came from
Oklahoma, migrated to California and other
states to find that the Great depression
had rendered economic conditions there
little better than those they had left. Author
John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men
about such people.

5. RACISM
Racism is linked with this book by it was a white
male dominated place and crooks was the only
black man in the whole ranch so was
discriminated against for his colour and the fact
that he was partly disabled also went against
him. That's also why he had a separate living
space from all the other ranch workers.