WHAT WAS STEINBECK'S SOCIETY LIKE?
- Family was middle class as a child - moderate educated: Father - County Treasurer, Mother - Teacher
- Grew up in Salinas, California - rich migration and immigration
- Roaring 20's brought fortune to many
- Bad economy during the Great Depression of the 1930's
- Bad harvesting of crops during the Dust Bowl - ecological and agricultural damage
- War-frenzied America during WWII & Korean War
- While looking for work, lived among the lower class
- Strong desire for many to be successful
- Work was harsh and strenuous - Industrial progress was improving
- Segregated America - rising themes of racism & struggle for personal independence
- American society enjoyed dissolute life - centered around wine, lust, theft - Moral decline in America
- Women were stay at home mom's and generally didn't work
"If you're in trouble, or hunt or need - go to the poor people. They're the only ones that'll help - the only ones."