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Comparing The Great Depression In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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As times flies, values change, although some infact stay the same. Furthermore, is what was really considered valuable during the Great Depression era, still valued today? The great depression was a very long economic downfall that brought forth depression, hence the name Great Depression. It started after the Stock Market Crash which resulted in a huge loss of money. This cause many people of that time period to value having shelter, food, and family. According to Of Mice and Men, Lennie and George value having a better life than what they have. In a quote from the book, George says, “O.K. Someday—we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and—”. During this time period, many did have a suitable shelter, therefore it caused Lennie and George to want just that. In another quote from Of Mice and Men, George says, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no …show more content…

In “Mice of Men”, George says, “O.K. Someday—we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and—” This shows that even though George and Lennie have a place to sleep, he wants something small and simple to call their own. When Kohls states, “But by any standard, Americans are materialistic.”, it demonstrates that in this time in age, good is never good enough. In conclusion, although values change as time evolves, some such as money, remain valuable. In Of Mice and Men, the characters valued money. Still now, to this very day people value money. People of the Great Depression era seemed to have valued money a little more than we do today, due to the low supply of it. It seems as if they were more grateful and happy with the little they had. Meanwhile, we will never be satisfied with the little simple things we get out of

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The Great Depression was a time when mostly everyone started to loss their their money,business, and homes. Many people lost their jobs and that made them go to their local banks and withdraw their money, but the banks did not have their money, all the people that wanted there money back lost it all because the bankes went broke. The people were now poor and the government didn't help them. Saving and investing was really important in that time.

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The great depression was basically an economic downturn which lasted from 1929 to the early 1940s, it was an over-the-top stock market and a drought that hit the South. In an attempt to end the Great Depression, the U.S. government took direct action to help fix the economy. With this help, the Great Depression finally ended with the increased production needed for World War II. The great depression began right after the stock market crash on October 1929 causing a huge panic on Wall Street, this caused many investors to be wiped out. Several years later you could see that the consumer spending and investment dropped causing a decline on the industries and high unemployment was at its peak laying of millions of workers, by 1933 about 15 million people were unemployed

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In modern society, as Americans we often take money for granted. However, as stated both directly and indirectly in this work, there is much more to life than economics. We are fortunate enough to live in a community that does not discriminate based on financial standing to the extent that it once did. Nonetheless, it does not matter what your current financial standing is as long as you have people that care about you. The Youngers in A Raisin in the Sun always attempted to help each other whether they were in financial prosperity or turmoil.

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“...As they move wearily from harvest to harvest, there is one urge and one overwhelming need, to acquire a little land again, and to settle on it and stop their wandering”. Steinbeck says this in The Harvest Gypsies to express how the american dream was desired greatly by wanderers in California during The Great Depression. In the book Of Mice And Men, by John Steinbeck, Lennie’s life was very similar to the wanders in The Harvest Gypsies. He was a wander in California and had a dream of owning a ranch. He failed to achieve his dream of the ranch.

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In of Mice and Men, George has to sacrifice having a normal life and not having to move from farm to farm because of having to take care of Lennie all of the time. Lennie cannot control his own strength which leads to his downfall. In the end of the novel, Lennie ultimately has to sacrifice having his companion by shooting Lennie. In the world, companionships don’t always last and people who are often alone are envious of the relationships that do end up lasting. Many of the men including, Curley, Candy, and Crooks are alone and sacrifice having what they dream of because of all the work they must do.

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While sitting with both Lennie and George, Crooks quote, “a guy gets too lonely, an’ he gets sick” (Steinbeck). The readers gains the knowledge that no one at the ranch talks or interact with Crooks. He has been isolated his entire life. And after the arrival of Lennie and George, he realizes that two men who are different can be close friends. The dream of Lennie and George is to buy their own ranch, live together and have their own

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1. Great Depression: What is the Great Depression and how was it caused? The Great depression is a tragic event that had happened during 1929 to 1939. It was a “worldwide economic depression”.

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Examine how far George and Lennie are loyal to each other throughout 'Of mice and men' In the novella 'Of Mice and Men', by the well-known author, John Steinbeck, the reader is introduced to a varied range of different characters on the ranch; within this realm loyalty between George and Lennie plays a significant role in the lonely itinerant lifestyle. The characters in this short novel act in a world of their own, having no connections to any other type of society; through this Steinbeck can strongly depict the theme of loyalty and friendship in dire situations during this period of time. During the 1930's, at the ranch, a predominant role of intelligent white-males is seen to retain power over lesser groups of people, of which Lennie is portrayed to be this part as he is mentally disabled. Despite this George and Lennie strike up a friendship of loyalty: showing firm and constant support. ' Guys like us got no fambly...they ain't got nobody in the worl' that gives a hoot in hell about 'em' sums up the reason why their loyalty and companionship is so vital and special to each other.

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Money can cause many problems in the our lives and relationships, such as isolation and depression. Also, people tend to look more of what they, themselves, are able to get out of people instead of looking at people for who they are. In John Steinbeck’s three novels Of Mice and Men, Tortilla Flat, and In Dubious Battle , he addresses the problems that money can create. This is what, in the end, causes most of the problems for the different characters. Of Mice and Men is about two men who look for jobs after the Great Depression.

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George is a short, smart man. He is a migrant farm worker who has to take care of his best friend Lennie who is cognitively impaired. While they were about to go to sleep near the brush calmly like a bedtime story, George said “ Someday we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and rabbits”(Steinbeck pg 14). This proves that he and Lennie is going

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People need people. Being lonely can make society go insane… especially unexpected people. In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, two unlikely paired men named George is an undersized, dark man with “sharp, strong features”; he’s quick to face when it comes to his friend Lennie. Lennie, his companion is his opposite, a sweet, dous size man with a “shapeless” face that has a mind of a child. They share a dream of buying their own piece of land, farming it, and mostly to Lennie, keeping the rabbits... but traumatic events gets in their way to make it tough for them to accomplish it.

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1723 Words | 7 Pages

Since 1931 when James Truslow Adams first created the phrase “the American Dream”, people believed that America continuously offered everyone an equal opportunity to be successful. John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, was set during the Great Depression. Farms were struck hard during the Depression, and the two main characters George and Lennie were farm hands during this time. They had experienced the misunderstandings of other farm hands in terms of Lennie’s mental disability, but they were trying to earn enough money to buy their own farm. The idea of this farm drove Lennie and George to keep working, and like many others during this time they hoped to achieve this dream.

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1187 Words | 5 Pages

In 1937, John Steinbeck wrote the novella Of Mice and Men. In the novella Steinbeck showed the audience how the Great Depression affected people, but in partially two men and the people around them. The Great Depression challenged many families in economic, social, and mental ways. The Depression affected family of all shapes and sizes, the annual yearly income for a family went from being an average 2,300 to being 1,500 yearly. The novella Of Mice and Men, it is about the journey of two men, George and Lennie, and how their lives are affected by the Great Depression.

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1391 Words | 6 Pages

Throughout the novel, Lennie and George discuss the luxuries available to them living on their own farm. During their conversations, George imagines and explains, “We'd jus' live there. We'd belong there. There wouldn't be no more runnin' round the country and gettin' fed by a Jap cook. No, sir, we'd have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk house” (Steinbeck 57).

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Well-known nineteenth-century author, William Hazlitt, in his essay, “On the Want of Money,” describes his position about wealth. Hazlitt’s purpose is to convey the irony of money; being in want of money and not having money can both cause altering effects. Hazlitt furthers his position by using rhetorical devices such as imagery, word choice, and metaphor. Hazlitt divides his essay into a parallel structure, focusing one part of his essay on the consequences of desiring money, and the other to describe the consequences of having money.

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