“I think I would like to write the story of this whole valley, of all the little towns and all the farms and the ranches in the wider hills. I can see how I would like to do it so that it would be the valley of the world.” Writing about his childhood home of Salinas Valley in 1933, American author John Steinbeck made clear his fascination with the land. Coming of age in the early twentieth century, Steinbeck was surrounded by farm laborers who traveled the Valley looking for work. Witnessing their daily struggles, he quickly developed empathy for and understanding of them. In fact, during Steinbeck's six years of off-and-on study at Stanford University, he spent time working on the Spreckels Sugar Ranches, sleeping in the bunkhouses, and eating in the cookhouses alongside the men. It was through this firsthand experience that Steinbeck observed the itinerant laborers’ suffering and vulnerability that inspired his later works, including Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

By turning inward and considering the plight of the common worker, Steinbeck successfully achieved his objective of presenting his hometown as “the valley of the world.” He wrote about the imperfect American Dream, of migrant laborers searching in vain for work, and of the insurmountable hurdles in caring for one's family during the Great Depression. By writing plainly about life's harsh realities, Steinbeck, like many American writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians during the 1930s, created art that was both accessible and understandable to the wider public. As Charlotte Hadella aptly asserts, Of Mice and Men “is not just an American drama that takes place in a particular region of the country at a particular time in history; it is a human drama for all places and all times.” Drawing from real situations, Steinbeck created stories with raw emotion couched in the language of the everyday American.

Despite writing about such socially relevant themes, however, Steinbeck refrained from accusation or criticism and avoided offering solutions. Instead, he was inspired largely by Ed Ricketts's theory of nonteleological thinking—a philosophy that does not focus on cause and effect, but rather existence itself.