Of Mice And Men AU w/ OC Insert [W.I.P]

Context/Background info on Martíns life

Martín's Mother, Rosá, was born in 1890 in Peru, & his Father, Andrés, was born in 1888. They met in the city of Paita. After getting to know each other for a while, they soon married. When Rosá was 24, she gave birth to Martín on April 21, 1914, during the rise & tensions of The Great World War. By the time Martín was 4, 1918, Peru's economy was impacted by the aftermath of the war. Inflation rose, Food shortages, as well strikes occurred due to unfair pay & working conditions, including Andrés's job as maintenance, repairing the docks/piers at Peru Paita Ports. His pay was cut due to the lack of imports, & infrastructure repairs were postponed. His family was struggling to get by.

In February 1919, Peru's economy failed to improve, So Andrés & Rosá decided to go to Panama to find a better place to live & open job opportunities. Andrés was able to enter the Steamship w/ his family since he already worked for them. They paid for the majority of the coverage but had to make up the rest by working & assisting w/ the ship's tasks & labor for the trip which took 8 days. Once they reached Panama, Martín's family got off at Balboa port district & their family moved further to Panama City to make a living there. His father was able to take a job by the canal zones, under the conditions of the "Gold Roll" vs. "Silver Roll" System, since they discovered Americans working there too (under U.S administration)

Up until 1925 when Martín was 11, Panama's economic tension between labor workers & the government increased. The strikes & unfair wages they were once escaping from came back. Andrés lost his job when other workers began a strike, delaying the Canal work. The U.S. military got involved attempting to push back those who were protesting. Their family once again, struggles in a harsh environment. With no other choice, Martín's family went w/ other migrants who assumed their best chance at living was in America. 

The travel was difficult & harsh, mostly done on foot w/ a few options to train-hop from place to place, sneak past borders, & risk getting deported. The journey took months up until February 1926, when Martín's family reached Guatemala. But then, a couple of people from their travel group began to grow significantly ill, including Rosá. While they were traveling, they got bit by a mosquito which they didn't know then, was carrying a parasite causing Rosá to get Malaria. She grew extremely sick until she couldn't go on. Martín & Andrés were devastated knowing they couldn't do anything to help, having little money to seek medical care. 

1926 February 26, Rosá passed away in her sleep at age 35, as well as the others who caught Malaria.

As time passed, Andrés & Martín would finally reach Mexico. But after everything they've endured, they settled in the city of Chihuahua, searching for open jobs & a place to stay. By age 14, Martín worked alongside his father. They gained experience in agriculture, working in places like Haciendas. In June of 1929, Martín was 15. One day, when he was done feeding the livestock, he accidentally forgot to close the gate, leaving them to escape causing one to die from roaming onto the road. Martín was fired on the spot, but Andrés quit since he couldn't work w/o his son. Jobless & w/o a place to stay, they figured they could travel to the U.S. as their last chance.

Crossing the border, they landed in Arizona. Martín & Andrés didn't understand any English. Martín was lucky enough to quickly pick up on the language, as for Andrés who struggled. The new environment dominated by white people was a culture shock for them both, facing discrimination. They realized America wasn't as great as the stories they heard back home.

In August of 1929, everything changed when The Great Depression hit. Many lost their jobs & money, finding it difficult to make a living. Martín & Andrés were desperate, their chances of finding a job continued to narrow, & to top it all off, the Mexican Repatriation Act was deporting Mexicans or anyone of Latin descent for that matter, citizen or not. 

1930 Martín was now 16. Martín & his dad resorted to stealing the necessities they needed to survive, especially food. And one incident, Andrés stole bread from a bakery, which alerted the people around them trying to catch him. A mob formed while Martín & Andrés ran away, ending up on the train tracks, hopping on the cart to escape them. Eventually, that train took them out of the state & into another, California.

Navigating the new environment, Andrés & Martín went on a non-stop search for jobs that would accept them. They knew they had to stay on the low since they were still at risk of getting deported, but eventually, after months went by, Andrés finally got work slips for him and Martín to work at a ranch together named "Tyler Ranch."