GCSE Bitesize: The Depression. Racism in 1930s America: Of Mice and Men Context - OxNotes GCSE Revision. Of Mice and Men Quotes. Of Mice and Men - Critical Reception. Setting | Character Census | Plot Synopsis | Critical ReceptionCultural References | Key Terms and Concepts Published in 1937, Of Mice and Men is remembered as one of Steinbeck's most important and influential novels.
Chronicling a few days in the lonely lives of two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, Of Mice and Men shows the devastating impact that the Great Depression had on many American's ability to succeed financially. Like Steinbeck's other work written during the Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath (1939), Of Mice and Men comments on the elusiveness of the American Dream and the false hope of material prosperity that is often dangled in front of the lower and middle classes. Steinbeck took the title of his novel from a line in Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse": "The best laid schemes o' mice and men/ Gang aft a-gley/ An' leave us naught but grief an' pain/ For promised joy" (Burns).
Of Mice and Men: Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is a parable about what it means to be human.
Steinbeck's story of George and Lennie's ambition of owning their own ranch, and the obstacles that stand in the way of that ambition, reveal the nature of dreams, dignity, loneliness, and sacrifice. Ultimately, Lennie, the mentally handicapped giant who makes George's dream of owning his own ranch worthwhile, ironically becomes the greatest obstacle to achieving that dream. GCSE Bitesize - Of Mice and Men.