How Did John Steinbeck Influence The World

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John Steinbeck had a philosophy that writers must believe that what they are doing is the most important thing in the world and they must hold to this illusion even when they know it is not true. This philosophy of Steinbeck’s may have been what motivated him to become the renowned author he is recognized as today: the author of numerous novels that have become classic books for this generation. However, John Steinbeck also experienced many hardships and influences. Steinbeck incorporated influences from his childhood years, background, and the Great Depression into his writing.
Steinbeck’s childhood was spent mostly in Salinas, California, where he was born on February 27th, 1902. As a teenager, he had already decided that he wanted to be a writer, and …show more content…

Steinbeck interviewed a couple men who had suffered through the hardships of losing their farms and “the migrants' stories of humiliation and hardship stayed with Steinbeck long after the newspaper series ran.” This time period was right around when John Steinbeck began to become serious about his writing, so after meeting people who had endured losing their farms, homes, or jobs and been forced to move to California, he incorporated the effects of the Great Depression on American farmers into his writings. Steinbeck wanted to focus on what was happening around the reader and help people endure the harsh times by writing to establish a sense of understanding between all people affected by the depression and drought. These ideas and influences can be seen in books such as Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, which he wrote and published during the time when many families migrated from the Plains to California seeking new opportunities for jobs and homes (Shmoop Editorial

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