Southern California

The novel, like many of the works of author John Steinbeck, is set in the agriculturally oriented valleys and plains of Southern California, a traditionally fertile area hit hard by the dry, hot conditions of the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

The Salinas River

The Salinas River, in Southern California, is another oft-recurring element of setting in the work of this author. The first and final chapters of Of Mice and Men take place by a small pond on the banks of the river.

The Clearing by the Pond

This is where the first and last scenes of the novel are set, where Lennie and George mark the beginning of a new phase in their lives and, at the end of the novel, where they mark the ending of Lennie’s life and of George’s dreams.

The Pile of Ashes

In the clearing by the...