Of Mice and Men
Pre-search of information
The Great Depression
http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression
The unemployment rate was at a staggering high in 1933, where 25% of all Americans were unemployed. This equates to 1 in every 4 people without a job.
The American Dream
Back in the days of the great depression, the American Dream may have been less optimistic, what with an economic depression. The people who were in America at the time were working hard and for some that payed off. During the depression, author James Truslow Adams wrote a book titled, "The Epic of America" where he says, "...dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone," which shows that the Americans, even in the depression, felt they knew it would all be better if they just worked hard .
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/american-dream/students/thedream.html
John Steinbeck
Later in life he wrote several novellas and a few novels. One of which, the Grapes of Wrath was one of the reasons the FBI investigated him after he was not allowed into the military. He even won the Nobel prize. in 1962
http://www.steinbeck.org/pages/john-steinbeck-biography
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-facts.html