Of Mice and Men : Background Information

Question 1

Steinbeck

Answer 1

• wrote OMAM in 1937
• 1930’s context (great depression, trying times, California)
• drew on his experiences as a farm laborer and his observations of the migrant labor camps
• chose the title after the poem “To a Mouse” by Robert Burn
• poem depicts a mouse trying in vain to protect his home from a huge plow=farm workers desperately trying to achieve their material prosperity but failing due to the circumstances beyond their control
• “the best-laid plans of Mice and Men go awry”: no matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it. carries the connotation that one shouldn’t expect for things to always turn out to plan
• the book was written because he wanted to show how people were affected by the depression and what they had to do in order to survive
• showed how people had to make hard decisions for themselves/others as he was aware of the economic injustices

Question 2

-FEMINIST/GENDER CRITICISM THEORY-

Answer 2

-there are two types of women portrayed in OMAM, good and dead or evil and alive
Aunt Clara:
-good and dead
-Lennies aunt
-represents the respected women of the time period
Curley’s Wife:
-evil and alive for most of the story
-when her true self shines through, she’s killed and becomes good and dead
-referred to in derogatory terms like “tart” and “bitch”
-represents the temptress of the time period
-misunderstood

Question 3

-PSYCHOANALYTICAL CRITICISM THEORY-

exploring the way the mind works and what persuades a person to behave

Answer 3

-Sigmund Freud:
ID: unconscious mind is in it’s primal state of mind and the choices are made by primal instincts
Superego: greater good and it’s impact on society
Ego: rational thought process (looks at personal and overall outcome)
-George:
unconscious mind is dominated by his ego
-Lennie:
unconscious mind is controlled by his ID

Question 4

-MARXISM THEORY-

Answer 4

-“means of production in society controls society”
-bourgeoisie:
top of the hierarchy
own factory
The Boss
-proletariat:
bottom of hierarchy
operator of factory
itinerant workers
-indictment of socialism
-ranch could be seen as a socialist utopia corrupted by the boss
-struggle of the lower class trying to achieve something deemed easily obtainable by the higher class
-segregation of African Americans
-old=ignored
-laborers are exploited