1930s America and the American Dream

The life of a travelling farm worker was hard.  After the stock market crashed in 1929, many famers couldn't afford to keep their farms and workers lost their jobs.  In some parts of America, drought and over-farming had led to the formation of a 'dust bowl', where the land wasn't fertile enough to grow crops.  Many of the farm workers travelled to California where the climate and soil were better, taking only what they could carry on their backs.  Travelling farm workers moved from farm to farm looking for work.  In return they got a bed, food and a small wage.  George and Lennie are examples of travelling farrm workers.  They took temporary jobs wherever they could find them and moved on when the work was finished.  They often travelled alone.

In the 1920s, film became one of the biggest forms of mass entertainment.  Film stars…