Teaching Resource
Of Mice and Men and Migrant Farm Workers of the Great Depression
Overview
John Steinbeck’s famous hobos, George and Lennie, bring the migrant farm experience of the Great Depression to life in the celebrated classic of American literature, Of Mice and Men. Part of the huge grain growing industry of the American west, Depression Era itinerant farm workers like George and Lennie, mostly single men, traveled by boxcar from farm to farm in search of work and ever since have populated the landscape of the American cultural milieu. Depictions of these hobos are found in many varieties of art...