Of Mice and Men- Context

Hello, I hope you're having a wonderful day.

In today’s post, I’d love to tell ya’ll that we will be looking together at the novel Of mice and men. 

So, for today will be discussing context.

Firstly, what is context? And why is it important?

Context is the background information, the people at the time, how they thought, and what they believed. Context is essential in literature as it helps us to further understand the text we are reading.

What is the American Dream?

• The American dream is the belief that anyone can attain success regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into.
• The American dream is believed to be achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard-working, rather than by chance.

• John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men in 1936, during the Great Depression.
• The Great Depression was a period of economic crisis and stagnation, when there were very high levels of poverty and unemployment, and when farming communities in particular suffered greatly.
• Many farmers and farm workers who had lost their jobs in other states travelled west to try to find work on the farms and ranches of California, just like George and Lennie.
• As there were so many of these workers looking for employment, they were limited to unreliable migrant jobs which paid badly and were often at the mercy of dishonest bosses and property owners.
• An example of such a boss can be seen in f mice and men in the figure of Curley. 
• Of Mice and Men criticizes the economic situation of the USA at the time: poor characters like George and Lennie are not helped to improve their lives.
• Instead, the situation traps them and exploits their labor.
• George and Lennie dream of owning and working their own land, rather than working for someone else.
• However, it is clear that this dream, the American Dream is impossible to achieve in the world of Of Mice and Men.
• Injustice is one of the most important themes in Of Mice and Men.
• The injustice in the novel can often be linked to the context of the Great Depression and Steinbeck's criticism of the American society around him.

Women in 1930s

Jobs

• Most women were still in traditionally female job, working as secretaries or bookkeepers.
• Only 12% of married women had jobs at the end of the 1930s.
• Racial minority woman remained in the lowest paid job, often as domestic servants.

Rights

• Women did not use their vote to gain more power by voting as a group, but instead followed their husbands' decisions.
• Only two women were in the House of Representatives, part of the central government, in 1928.
• Women did not achieve equal pay, in December 1927, the average women earned about $12 less than a man.

Society's views

• Women's freedom increased.
• Divorce rates rose from 10% to around 17%.
• Birth rates fell to 21.3 births per 1000 people.
• Increasing number of electrical appliances, such as the vacuum cleaner, which made household jobs easier. 

Racism in the 1930s

The Jim Crow Laws

• The South passed a series of laws, together known as the Jim Crow Laws to segregate society.
• So starting from 1918, black people sat in different parts of restaurants, travelled on different railway carriages and used different toilets.
• Their educational opportunities were limited by the availability of black students.
• The Jim Crow Laws believed it was okay to be separated as long as you are equal.

The Ku Klux Klan

• The KK formed after the American Civil War to defend white supremacy over black people.
• Its members attacked and intimidated black people because they did not want them to vote to have their own politicians.
• The KKK had many core values such as: that White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) were a superior race of people who needed to fight to survive, and that immigration should stop, because it brought foreigners into the USA who threatened the power of WASPs.

Discrimination in employment

• The lack of good equality education meant that most black people were forced into unskilled factory work, farm labour or domestic services.
• Black people were the most likely to lose their jobs when the economy struggled. For example: many black farm workers lost their jobs in the 1920s after the dust bowl.

I hope you found this blog helpful, I enjoyed writing this. Please be sure to comment down below for any inquiries, and your opinions. Thanks for reading.