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Context - Coggle Diagram

- - - - The poem is about a mouse who builds a nest in a wheat field ready for the winter, but is destroyed by a ploughman.
      - This poem is linked to the events of OMAM because George and Lennie's plan for happiness and safety is also destroyed, leading to pain and suffering at the end of the novel
      - The lines mean:
        The best laid plans of mice and men
        Often go wrong
        Anf leave use with nothing but grief and pain
        Instead of the joy that was promised
- - - - Many normal Americans had started investing in the stock exchange and borrowing money to do so
      - Stock prises rose unsuustainably
      - In October 1929, investors began to seel their shares en masse, with 12.9 million shares sold on "Black Thursday" (24th October 1929) and 16 million shares sold on "Black Tuesday" *29th October 1929)
      - Too many goods were being made and not enough were being bought
      - Food prices were dropping, affecting farmers' incomes
      - There were too may small banks, which did not have the funds to manage when masses of customers withdrew savings in the autumn of 1929. Following the Wall Street Crash, the USA recalled the huge loans that it had made to several European countries, meaning that the European economy was also affected by the Great Depression.
- - - - This resulted in crops being very poor in these areas, which was coupled with falling prices for food.
      - Small farmers were affected particularly badly by these conditions
        
        Many small farmers were in debt because they would borrow money from banks to buy seeds and then pay back the loans when the crops came in; during the Dust Bowl, farmers could not pay back these loans and could also not afford to feed themselves and their families. In worst case scenarios, this led to banks repossesing farms, making the farmers and their families homeless.
      - As a result many farmers migrated to California (The Golden State) to look for work, as this state was percieved to have spare land and a lot of work.
        
        However, because so many people moved to California (an estimated 1.3 million), work was not so easy to find. Ranch workers like George and Lennie often moved from one place to another looking for work, as jobs on ranches would be temporary and seasonal.
        
        Wages for men like these were low and jobs were scarce, so the lifestyle that they lived was very insecure.
        
        Without work, people would have no way of supporting themselves.This is why the dream is so important to George and Lennie: it would give them a sense of safety and independence.