Background+Information+for+Understanding

=**Background Information for Understanding** __**Of Mice and Men**__= __**California**__ 1. Why was California called The Golden State? 2. When was gold found in California? 3. What kind of people, other than farmers and migrant workers, lived in Soledad, CA? 4. Why is California the setting for Steinbeck's writing. 5. When was Disneyland created? Why did Walt Disney build it in California? California has the most gangs ( Tony. April 29,2011)
 * They found gold there.(Savannah C. April 29,2011)
 * Found in 1848-1855 (Peyton W., April 29, 2011)
 * John Steinbeck lived in California and wrote about some of his life experiences. (Taylor B. April 29,2011)
 * This is the setting because Steinbeck lived in California (Chris L. April 29, 2011)
 * Disneyland was created in 1954. (Gabby R.. April 29,2011)
 * Disneyland was built in california because it had cheaper land and created in July 17, 1955. (Bell S. May11,2011)
 * This is an opinion that currently has no evidence to support it. Also, it is important to keep in mind that for the purposes of reading Of Mice and Men, your information needs to be specific to the 1930s. Were there gangs in California in the 1930s? If no, then this post is not relevant as it is currently written. How might someone revise this to make it more specific and applicable? (Sutton: May 5)

__**The Roaring Twenties**__ 1. Is it called the Roaring Twenties because so much was going on? Why is it called the Roaring Twenties? 2. Did women have any rights during the 1920's? What rights did they have? __**The Great Depression**__ 1. Were the really wealthy people affected a lot by the Great Depression? 2. Why did the government not even try to fix everything? 3. Why did the economy crash? __**The Dust Bowl**__ 1. What finally ended the Dust Bowl? When did enough moisture return to end the drought? The Dust Bowl ended because the drought ended. (Stone April 29, 2011) 2. During the Dust Bowl, where did the people from the Great Plains migrate to? 3. How did people deal with the dust storms? 4. How did the Dust Bowl start? When did it start? What caused it? 5. Did the Dust Bowl only effect the Plains states? 6. Why don't we have dust storms, like the ones that caused the Dust Bowl, now? __**Migrant workers**__ 1. What were migrant workers? 2. How many people went to California to be migrant workers? 3. Were there any foreign migrant workers?
 * The Roaroing Twenties was a decade of economical growth for the United States. Investing in stocks was the buisness at the time, and the income was spent on luxeries, which kept the ecenomy fueled. (Tristan R. May 5, 2011)
 * The decade was also reffered as the "golden twenties" and that's when the ecomony crashed, and during world war 1. (Natalie S. April 29, 2011)
 * In the 1920's there was a women's right movement. The 1920's began with the ratification of woman suffrage in the United States and proceeded through the "Jazz Age." However it was not until the thirties that women really saw a significant change. (Tristan F. April 29, 2011)
 * In 1922, married women in Alberta were finally given the right to own property in her own name. (Cruz April 29 2011)
 * On Aug. 26th, 1920, the amdendment granting women the right to vote was signed and made official. Women had recieved the right to vote. (Donniraie M. May 1, 2011)
 * The wealthier people were affected by the Great Depression becase they were nopt able to get loans from the banks, so they ended up losing a lot of money. (Madison Brown)
 * Weathlier people were definitely impacted by the Great Depression because they most likely had a lot of money tied up in the stock market. When the stock market crashed they most likely lost the most money. (Jackson M. April 29,2011)
 * They didnt try to fix eerything because they did'nt know how (Bell S. May 18,2011)
 * They wanted the rich to be in control (Dylan H. April 29,2011)
 * The economy crash was caused by many reasons inlucing the stock market crash of 1929. ( Eric V. April 29, 2011)
 * The stock market crashed because the investment practices used to beef up the stock market were not substantive enough to sustain it (or pay out the earnings in real cash), so when people started pulling their funds, it was like an avalanche. (Sutton: May 5)
 * In 1939 there was finally enough moisture to end the drought. (Cruz April 29, 2011)
 * During the Dust Bowl people from the Great Plains mainly migrated to California, because it was considered "where the American dream came true" (Olivia. April 29, 2011)
 * You don't go out by yourself, you stay with a group of people otherwise you will get picked up into the storm. (Melissa M. May 1, 2011)
 * The Dust Bowl began when after the stock market crashed in the late 1920's and early 1930's. It happend because during the economical crysis, food and groceries were low priced at the time. This was good for the consumers, but bad for the farmers. With the low income they were making, and the high prices of suplies to manage their farms increasing, they simply did not have enough money to run their farms. Once the farmers stopped tending to their farms, the soil became dried out due to the drought and to lack of care. This old dry soil turned into fine dust. Whenever the winds over the plain states came by the dusty feilds, they would pick up the dust and creat massive dust storms. (Tristan R. May 5, 2011)
 * The Dust Bowl started in 1931 by a bunch of dead plands and dirt being kicked up by wind after a drought (Tyler April 29, 2011)
 * Correction: the Dust Bowl began Sunday, April 14, 1935. This anomoly was caused by over-farming the top soil in the plains, this caused the soil to be so loose, winds, erosion and other natural causes; can easily move the soil. Wind was the most common, thus, giant dust storms were the disaster. (Matt A April 29, 2011)
 * Most plains states had more farms so it would effect their living. (Dylan H. April 29, 2011)
 * We don't have dust storms like these anymore because we have trees to hold down the soil (Katelynn W. April 29th 2001)
 * workers who move from farm to farm (Haley H. April 29, 2011)
 * 1.3 americans moved to california looking for work. (Jon. April 29, 2011)
 * There were Mexican migrant workers. (Peyton W. April 29, 2011)
 * [[image:http://www.westcler.org/GH/curlessmatt/arthistory/19/LangeMigrantWorker1936.jpg width="421" height="548"]]This is a very famous picture of an example of migrant workers (CASEY L./ May 12)

__**John Steinbeck**__ 1. Is Steinbeck still alive? If not, when did he die? 2. How old was Steinbeck when he wrote __Of Mice and Men__? 3. What other books has Steinbeck written? How many books did he write? 4. How does __Of Mice and Men__ connect with communism? 5. Did Steinbeck have a family? Who were they?
 * No, he died in 1968. (Malyssa:April 29, 2011)
 * Steinbeck was 35 years old and wrote the book in 1937. ( Michael, period 4, April 29 2011 )
 * Cup of Gold, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, Cannery Row, To God Unknown, Tortilla Flat and many more. he wrote 19 books(Justin Last Initial please, for credit! Date ?)
 * John Steinbeck wrote about 32 books. (Donniraie M. May 1, 2011)
 * John Steinbecks fathers name was John Ernst Steinbeck and his mothers name was Olive Hamilton Steinbeck she was a school teacher and his father was a country teasurer. He also had two older sisters, named Esther and Elizabeth also one younger sister named Mary. (Bre J. April 29, 2011)

6. If Steinbeck's family was well-to-do, then why did he work on the farms with the migrant workers?
 * John Steinbeck worked with the migrant workers because everyone was poor and most people lost their jobs during the Great Depression. (Joe C: April 29, 2011)
 * But his father was an accountant; they did have money. Consider how working on the farms contributed to Steinbeck's writing; for example, how working alongside the migrant workers helped him to capture their lives and patterns of speech. (Sutton: May 5)
 * Why did Steinbeck mostly write about Migrant workers? (CASEY L./ may 12)