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Question: A question about salinas river and of mice and men!!?
Hi,

i was wondering why the author of "Of Mice and Men", John Steinbeck used Salinas river as the setting of this story!.

I know that Salinas valley was the place that he was born and grew up, but I want to know the exact reason why he used that place as the setting of this story!.

Thank you so much!.

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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I'm not sure that there is an exact reason!. He grew up, worked, and lived in Salinas for a good chunk of time, so I suppose that influence was bound to come up in his work!. He uses it as the setting for East of Eden, as well, which is very closely based upon his own family history, suggesting that there was probably a personal reason for using this same setting in Of Mice and Men!.

I found this quote from Steinbeck himself, "I was a bindlestiff myself for quite a spell!. I worked in the same country that the story is laid in!. The characters are composites to a certain extent!. Lennie was a real person!. He's in an insane asylum in California right now!. I worked alongside him for many weeks!. He didn't kill a girl!. He killed a ranch foreman!. Got sore because the boss had fired his pal and stuck a pitchfork right through his stomach!. I hate to tell you how many times I saw him do it!. We couldn't stop him until it was too late!." It sounds as if this experience inspired him to write, and so he used where it happened and his knowledge of that area to his benefit!.

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