What you need to know before reading

1. What you need to know before reading

2. John Steinbeck • Born in Salinas, California, in 1902. • Most famous novels include Tortilla Flat, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, and The Grapes of Wrath. • Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1939. • Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962. • Died in 1968.

3. Of Mice and Men • Published in 1937. • Set during the Great Depression in Salinas, California. • About two migrant farm workers, George and Lennie, who are chasing the American Dream. • Lennie is mentally handicapped.

4. The Great Depression • The stock market crashed on October 24, 1929, now called “Black Thursday”. • An estimated $30 billion in stock values were lost by mid-November. • Millions of people lost their jobs, businesses, and homes. • Although Franklin Roosevelt instituted the New Deal in 1933, unemployment was still high. • In 1941, America became involved in World War 2, which created many jobs for Americans.

5. Rights for the Mentally Ill • In the 1900s, there was much prejudice against the mentally ill. • Procedures intended to “fix” mental retardation: • Hypnotism • Electrotherapy • Lobotomy • In 1946, the National Mental Health Act was signed and allowed for more research. • Deinstitutionalization occurred in the mid-1960s.

6. Civil Rights • 13th amendment ended slavery. • 14th amendment granted African Americans citizenship. • 15th amendment gave African Americans the right to vote. • Racial tension and membership in the Ku Klux Klan was high in the 1920s. • Until 1965, Jim Crow laws created second-class status to African Americans.