Gatsby's 20s were among the most affluent times America, indeed the world, has ever experienced. But in October 1929, that facade of affluence came crumbling down. America's wealth vanished like so much dust. The novels of John Steinbeck often reflected this fall from grace, this era of intense suffering and poverty. Monday we will begin Of Mice and Men, a novel of living hand to mouth, in which George and Lenny have a dream, an American Dream not that dissimilar to Gatsby's, maybe without the excess, but one of potential, hope, fairness or merely the desire to put food in one's mouth.

Amidst the decay, America was poised to rebound, and through the efforts of FDR and workfare-like programs such as the WPA, America came back in a big way. These photos depict the WPA murals in the RCA Building in New York (Now the GE Building in Rockefeller Center, or "30 Rock"). The WPA, or Works Progress Administration, was the public funding venue of FDR's New Deal. The artistic community had already become inspired during the '20s and '30s by the revitalization of the Italian Renaissance fresco style by the Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueriros. Certain visionary U.S. politicians decided to combine the creativity of the new art movements with the values of the American people, and the WPA was conceived. The WPA created more than 5000 jobs for artists in an effort to not only create employment but to beautify public spaces. Much of this artwork as well expressed a surreal sensibility, one of fantasy and majesty and grandeur; a world far removed from Steinbeck yet still intrinsically connected.

At times, relationships and connections from one aspect of life to another may be difficult to comprehend. Such may be the thread that connects the title of Steinbeck's novel to the poem of its origin "To A Mouse" by Robert Burns. For five points extra credit, clarify this thread. In a short essay, explain why Steinbeck chose this line from Burns' poem. Keep in mind as you attempt this, the conversational Scottish "brogue" of "To A Mouse" is extremely difficult to decipher.