What was Great Depression’s Effect on John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men?

John Steinbeck is an American author who is well known with the Pulitzer winning novels Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. He not only wrote enduring books but novels that can be considered as being a history book that covers the struggle of workers with a commentary quality. Although many critics have specified their imperfect body and flaws, they entered the worldwide classics. Each generation has found something new and relevant about themselves that speaks to their life. This is the quality of Steinbeck’s works as it bespeaks to the reader. I have a huge interest on Steinbeck’s works and after reading some of his novels, I have realized how Great Depression had a subversive effect on each characters of the book. This triggered my curiosity which then I have taken these two particular books Grapes of Wrath and Of mice and Men to examine the Great Depression’s effects. The era that these books have been written is lately 1930’s. In these times Great Depression had subversive affects on the relationships and individuals themselves. The gap between rich and poor, have widened resulting in the restlessness of workers and tenants. This caused Steinbeck to take this struggle of poor, as a subject. A camaraderie who tries to gain their personal independence and a family who tries not to fall apart under the pressure of poverty are the characters Steinbeck used to show the Great Depressions effects. The aspects I will put down while examining these effects are: belonging issue, the role of friends, importance of money, nurturing wife/mother role and society’s pressure on individuals. While writing the essay I have tried to prove all the ideas I have put forth by giving evidences from books to justify my statements