John Steinbeck was born to middle-lower class family in the farming community of Salinas, California. John's
Steinbeck
Imagine... your town is suddenly stricken with poverty. Your family business goes under because the economy of your local community can no longer support it. Herds of your closest friends continually move out of the town you grew up in due to a severe shortage of work. The basic necessities of life are so scarce that everyone around you reverts to their animalistic urges to survive. Those who you have came to trust, betray you and your family for selfish reasons. This chaos was typical every day life during the youth of one of America's greatest writers, John Steinbeck. The environment that engulfed John Stein beck's early life shaped his literary style to focus on the economic hardships of rural labor and man's every day struggles with natural urges.
John Steinbeck was born to middle-lower class family in the farming community of Salinas, California. John's father, who was a businessman and politician, experienced great difficulty maintaining a successful business in their small town. John watched his father fail at many endeavors including managing a flour plant and opening a feed and grain store as well as the political corruption his father faced as County Treasurer (Shillinglaw). No matter how much financial adversity John's family faced, his father always kept a sunny disposition and took the family on frequent trips across California. These small towns and cities John and his family would visit, later served to be the local of his future novels such as: East of Eden and The Red Pony(Fontenrose, 2). John even used his home town of Salinas to serve as the setting for the short story, The Chrysanthemums(Charters 705). Here John was able to see the effects of the early twentieth-century economy on the every day farmers in his home state.
John was always very enthusiastic about school, and enjoyed all subjects as well as many extra circular activities such as football. as a child, he was always encouraged to pursue intellectual interests by his mother who was a schoolteacher. John's interests
slowly began to shift toward literature and he became very well-read for a high school student. By 1920, John was enrolled at Stanford University where he studied English and European Literature on top of his involvement in many English and poetry clubs. The president of the English club spoke highly of Steinbeck and claimed, "had no other interests or talents that I could make out. He was a writer, but he was that and nothing else"(Benson 69).
During breaks between semesters, John worked a variety of odd jobs on ranches, mills, and road gangs. He was ...
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slowly began to shift toward literature and he became very well-read for a high school student. By 1920, John was enrolled at Stanford University where he studied English and European Literature on top of his involvement in many English and poetry clubs. The president of the English club spoke highly of Steinbeck and claimed, "had no other interests or talents that I could make out. He was a writer, but he was that and nothing else"(Benson 69).
During breaks between semesters, John worked a variety of odd jobs on ranches, mills, and road gangs. He was known as a very personable man, and worked well with those of a lower socio-economic class than his own (Fontenrose 5). For a period of time John aimlessly switched occupations (including a Newspaper reporter) and returned home to California. John followed the same trend of temporary employment while he pursued his writing. John wrote countless pieces of fiction that publisher's refused to invest in. It wasn't until 1929 when John's first book, Cup of Gold, was published. This piece was a fictitious biography about Morgan the pirate and did not draw the revenue that John would have hoped for(Fontenrose 12-18).
A year later John married Carol Henning and began to accelerate his production of novels. He moved to Pacific Grove, California where he gathered information about his next novel. In 1935 John wrote Tortilla Flat, A story that followed a group of Hispanic men through hardships and triumphs in the poor town of Tortilla Flat. The story
was so compelling that John was awarded the California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal for best novel by a California author. John now had the public's eye(Shillinglaw).
John wrote one more novel before he published one of his most famous pieces, Of Mice and Men in 1937. This book followed two characters, Lenny and Carl, on their quest to find work and save money as they traveled through rural America in the 1950's(Fontenrose 53-59). Steinbeck's ability to relate to the ordinary working man in America in times of depression earned him the New York Drama award a year later. John published one more work the following year, The Long valley(Shillinglaw). This piece incorporated one of his more famous short stories, The Chrysanthemims.
In The Chrysanthemums, the plot is based around a woman named Elisa Allen, who lives on a quiet farm with her husband and has an incredible gift of gardening. One day a drifter who mends metal appliances, stumbles upon her farm. She begins to talk to the stranger about his cross-country voyages that he makes every year. She considers if she could have done something exciting herself and develops a feeling of discontentment. The story ends when she asks her husband about the activities of women in town, and she begins to cry because she knows she will never satisfy her quest for excitement(Charters 706-714).
By 1938, Steinbeck had done enough practical life research to write his most notable piece, The Grapes of Wrath. This story was published at a very appropriate point in time, during the post great depression era. This story focused on the Joad family, who was a typical agricultural based family living in rural America during the great depression. Tom Joad, who was just released from prison for killing a man, travels with
his family from the destitute region of Oklahoma to promising the fields of California in hope of finding migrant work. During the journey, the Joad family meets a variety of people including an ex-minister named Jim Casy. On the voyage, the family has to endure theft, murder, and schemes to swindle them out of money. This coupled with Tom's four years in prison, causes him to take a cold and unsympathetic view towards the world and anyone who isn't family(Frontenrose 72-80). As the trip progresses, Jim preaches to Tom about spiritual concepts such as helping thy neighbor. Tom is reluctant to accept Jim's views at first, but begins to consider their validity when Jim takes the blame in Tom's stead for knocking a police officer unconscious. When Casy is murdered by a sheriff for organizing a strike to help migrant workers, Tom abandons his selfish ways and takes on the burden of helping other needy people out of compassion.
In 1940 John Steinbeck was awarded the Pulitzer Prize award for The Grapes of Wrath. The main theme, the outcry of mistreated migrant workers, related to so many of the nation's farmers who experienced these injustices firsthand (Shillinglaw). The secondary theme of Tom's rebirth as a caring man, allowed this piece to remain timeless so that all can enjoy this work. This type of coupling two main themes, one usually consisting of poor farmers facing economic adversity, and man's struggle to overcome innate human urges is common in Steinbeck's writing. Steinbeck believed in the dual existence of human beings. He believe that humans functioned in two ways, as an animal, and as an individual(Hayshi 39). Some examples of his philosophy can be seen are in his novels and short stories, such as: The Pearl, and The Winter of our Discontent.
After the completion of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck decided to take trip to the Sea of Cortez with a long time friend, Ed Ricketts. Ricketts and Steinbeck kept detailed travel logs while they studied the ecology of marine life. In 1941 Steinbeck and Ricketts published The Sea of Cortez, which was a two-part book about the voyage and the specimens collected during the expedition. The Sea of Cortez was quite different than most of Steinbeck's other works because it focused on the ecology of Marine life, but Steinbeck felt it was necessary to combat the boredom of his typical writing(Astro 57-88).
In December of 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and Steinbeck Immediately began working as a war correspondent while working on non-fiction pieces about the war. He published two notable pieces during the war which included: The moon is down and Cannery Row. The Moon is Down was a story about the invasion of a small Scandinavian village that was popular among resistance armies in Europe. Cannery Row was written for a group of American Soldiers that Steinbeck met during the war. This piece was designed to be a humorous feel-good story about a group of hobos in Monetary(Shillinglaw).
In between the years of 1944 and 1952, Steinbeck published a series of novels as he endured many hardships in his personal life. In 1948, his best friend Ed Ricketts died in a terrible car accident. Steinbeck did not cope well with the accident, which may have contributed to his divorce of his second wife, Gwyndolyn Conger(George 28). During the eight year span he published his most prominent piece East of Eden(1952). East of Eden followed two families for three generations who are drawn to the fertile California
farmlands, and contains many biblical references. Steinbeck uses the hopeful theme that man can triumph over sin as the center of the novel(Marks 107).
Steinbeck's later works did not meet the quality of his 1930's novels and were attacked by critics. John attempted to write one last novel that he hoped would reach Americans as he did in previous works. In 1960, John published The Winter of Discontent which attacked contemporary American ideals an longed for conservative ideals. This piece, which did not achieve the notoriety that Steinbeck hoped for, would be his last novel before his death in 1968(Shillinglaw).
Steinbeck witnessed his home town crumble due to financial strain as a child. He felt the effects of the poor economy as his father bounced from job to job trying to make ends meet. In Steinbeck's early adulthood he worked odd jobs with the poorest of the poor, staying in touch with the injustices these people faced everyday and witnessing how humans react in times of need. The environment that engulfed John Stein beck's early life shaped his literary style to focus on the economic hardships of rural labor and man's every day struggles with natural urges.