John Steinbeck and the 1930's (Intro before Of Mice and Men)

1. John Steinbeck:
Author of “Of Mice and Men”
A Man and His Times

2. Facts About the 1930’s
Population: 123,188,000in 48 states
Life expectancy:Males-58.1 Female-61.6
Average yearly Salary: 1,368
Food Prices:Milk 14 cents a qt.; Bread 9 cents a
loaf;Round steak 42 cents a pound
Unemployment rises 28% percent

3. The Great
Depression
The Social
Security Act
The Scottsboro
Boys Trials
The
Hindenbergh
The Lindbergh
Kidnapping

4. Literature and FiLm
 the the 1930s
oF hobbit
J.r.r. toLkien
 Gone With the
Wind
mitcheLL,
marGaret
 YounG man oF
manhattan
kathrine brush
 dr. seuss the cat
in the hat
 VoGue maGazine
 snoW White and
the seVen
dWarFs

5. Famous People Born In The 1930’S
♦ James Earl Jones/born in
1931/actor
♦ Sam Cooke/January 27,
1935/singer
♦ Gene Hackman/January
30, 1930/actor
♦ Dudley Moore/April
19, 1935/actor
♦ Peter Jennings/born in
1935/News Broadcaster
♦ Elvis Presley/1935
♦ Tina Turner/1939

6. Pastimes, Games, and Music
♦ Monopoly
♦ Campbell Shopping Game
♦ Standard Oil Checkers
♦ Congress designated The Star
Spangled Banner as the
national anthem
♦ Big Bands such as Duke
Ellington

7. Coined Words From the 1930s
♦ Muzak
♦ Cool Girl
♦ Micro Wave
♦ Punk
♦ One-Armed-Bandit
♦ Dig
♦ Dude
♦ Black-market

8. Famous People of the
Shirley 1930’s
Temple – child actress
Joan Crawford - actress
Walt Disney
Amelia Earhart
•Jesse Owens - an African
American athlete who won four gold
medals in track-an-field at the 1936
Olympics in Berlin and put to shame
Hitler's Aryan superiority message
Charles Lindberg – first man
to fly around the world solo
Will Rogers

9. •John Steinbeck was born in
Salinas, California on
February 27,1902.
•His mother was from Ireland and
his father was from St. Augustine
•Married his first wife, Carol
Henning, in 1930
•Two sons, Thomas and John IV
•During WWII, he wrote articles
about the war as a correspondent
for the New York Herald Tribune
•Died on Dec. 20, 1968 in Sag
Harbor, N.Y.

10. ♦ He lived in Monterey
County, CA for early part
of his life
♦ At the age of 14, he
wanted to be a writer
♦ Attended Salinas HS
♦ His dad worked as a
county treasurer
♦ His mom was a teacher
♦ He attended Standford
University in 1919 and quit
1925 without a degree

11. ♦ The greatest award he
won during his life time
was the Nobel Prize in
1962
♦ His first novel was Cup
of Gold
♦ Tortilla Flat marked
turning point of his
writing career in 1935
♦ His most popular books
include Of Mice and Men
and The Grapes of
Wrath,
♦ Won the Pulitzer Prize
for his book Grapes of
Wrath in 1940

12. •His stories come from all
types of common working
people including:
immigrants, hoboes, and
especially migrant workers.
•The people in his novels
come from different places
in search of a happier life
and jobs in California.
•He writes about the
hardships in life these
people had to endure in
order to survive.

13. •The stor y takes place in
the Salinas Valley.
•This is one of the places
that was NOT affected by
the Gr eat Depr ession.
•Its nickname is “The
Salad Bowl of the Wor ld”.
•It consists of lar ge far ms.

14. The Novel: Of Mice and Men
♦ Classic tale of
friendship (Lenny
and George)
♦ Set in the
Salinas Valley
♦ Migrant workers
♦ Hard look at
social issues that
still exist

15. •During the 1930’s, people
went to California to find jobs
in farming because of the
drought/Great Depression.
•The people were poor.
•The demand for workers
went up, so they hired more
people and lowered wages.
•Bringing home a wage is
more important than dignity
and fairness in the workplace

16. Rights of the Handicapped
♦ Basically they had no rights
and could only do limited
things and were often
confined to holding cells
♦ Handicapped people part of
“freak shows”
♦ Individuals that were
mentally retarded
were also considered to be an
unacceptable part of society.
♦ Eugenics
♦ Some people now believe that
capital punishment of people
with mental retardation
should be prohibited
♦ Less likely to receive
probation or parole

17. African Americans in the 1930’s
♦ Jim Crow Laws
– majority of American states enforced
segregation
– could impose legal punishments on people
for consorting with members of another
race.
– most common types of laws forbade
intermarriage and ordered business owners
and public institutions to keep their black
and white clientele separated.
♦ 1939 the NAACP Legal Defense and Education
Fund was established
♦ The Harlem Renaissance
– allowed African Americans to flee the violence
and racism of the KKK and lynch law and the
abject poverty of share-cropping
♦ Civil Rights movement doesn’t gain prominence
for 10+ years – the times they were a changin’