Of Mice And Men, Underlying Messages

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Andrew LaFave English 112 Final Research Paper Of Mice and Men: Steinbeck’s Underlying Messages In 1937, John Steinbeck published a novel, Of Mice and Men, which reflected the life of migrant workers of his time. The book is a story of two migrant workers, George and Lennie, that dream of someday living on a farm of their own. Steinbeck tells this parable of two men traveling through their lives and maintaining the eternal hope of a better life while having to face the reality of shattered dreams. Steinbeck is a master at using themes to portray this story and to emphasize the messages he wants to get across to the reader. Steinbeck addresses the underlying message of the human condition and the importance of relationships, and uses the characters in the novel to illustrate the hopes and dreams of Americans in the 1930’s. Still widely read today, Of Mice and Men takes place during the 1930’s, south of San Francisco in the Salinas Valley of California, where Steinbeck spent his own life. The book was largely influenced by the conditions of the Great Depression in the 1930’s, therefore addressing the real hopes and dreams of working-class America. The economic recession, barren farmland, droughts and dust storms caused many people to leave the once lush lands of the Midwest. Due the Great Depression, many people left their farms and moved to cities, or farther west to California. The hard times of the Great Depression brought people together, yearning for companionship and commitment. Hoping for a better life, these people still had economic problems and labor strife. The family-owned farms were bought out by large companies and became corporate farms. Machines took over most of the hand labor that previously was essential to the success of the farms. Fewer men were needed to run the farms (Bower 277). Jobs became limited and hard to find.

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