The book is written in the early 1930s, a period also called the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a time where the U.S. which many called the land of opportunity, was turned into an economic nightmare. In Of Mice and Men we see the Great Depression from two close friends' perspectives. They have a dream of owning their own farm, where they could live and work. Many would call this dream " the American Dream".
The American Dream said that no matter if you are poor or rich you have the opportunity to be something. Many people were very critical to the American Dream. John Steinbeck was without a doubt one of them. In the book Of Mice and Men he tried to tell you that no matter how hard George and Lennie work they will never be anything more than two poor workers. In Norway we have two different literary writing forms, naturalism and realism. In Norway John Steinbeck would have been called a naturalist. The naturalistic authors believed that if you are born poor you will be poor for rest of your life.The realistic authors believed that all people are born equal and with the same chance to succeed. The message I think Steinbeck wanted to send is that no matter how hard two men like Lennie and George try to lift themselves up, they will never succeed, and die exactly the same way they were born.
