John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas California, shortly after the end of the Civil War. His mother was a schoolteacher in the public school system in Salinas. Steinbeck grew up in the fertile California where he found the materials for most of his novels, and short stories. Steinbeck demonstrated a great imagination, which was kindled by writing at a very early age partly due to his mother, the schoolteacher, whom read to him at a very early at the many great works of literature.
During his teen years, Steinbeck played various sports in high school, worked numerous part time, dead end jobs, and wondered around the fertile valley. The lessons, and observations he made while wandering provided much of the material for his later works. Steinbeck entered Stanford University in 1920, and even though he attended the school until 1925, he never graduated. Lacking the desire to acquire a formal degree from the Stanford University, Steinbeck wandered to New York to pursue a writing career. While working on his writing, and while receiving an endless supply of rejection slips, Steinbeck worked odd jobs. The New York American newspaper was where Steinbeck held a job, writing various articles, for some time before the newspaper went bankrupt. The failure of the newspaper and endless supply of rejection letter forced Steinbeck to return to California, broken but still hopeful.
Steinbeck’s first novel, Cup of Gold, was published in 1929, two months before the horrific stock market crash, causing the novel to nearly unnoticed with barely fifteen hundred copies selling. 1930 was a very important year for Steinbeck in two areas. First he married Carol Henning and the newlyweds settled in Pacific Grove, which he often wrote of. There, Steinbeck met Ed Ricketts whose friendship strongly influenced Steinbeck’s works.
During the Great Depression of the nineteen thirties Steinbeck knew many people who were considered to be the cross section of society, and shared many of the problems of the times with them. His father like many men, helped is family through the depression with a small house and twenty-five dollars a week. Throughout the depression era Steinbeck wrote of people struggling to make ends meet around the California, Mexico region. One of Steinbeck works, Tortilla Flat, marked a turning point in Steinbeck’s literary career.
John Steinbeck was born in 1902, in California's Salinas Valley, a region that would eventually serve as the setting for Of Mice and Men, as well as many of his other works. He studied literature and writing at Stanford University. He then moved to New York City and worked as a laborer and journalist for five years, until he completed his first novel in 1929, Cup of Gold. With the publication of Tortilla Flat in 1935, Steinbeck achieved fame and became a popular author. He wrote many novels about the California laboring class. Two of his more famous novels included Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck got the title for Of Mice and Men from a line of Robert Burns, a Scottish poet, “The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry." In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck includes the theme of loyalty and sacrifice between friends. Steinbeck illustrates the loyalty and sacrifice between friends through the friendship of Lennie and George.
8. First of all, he was born in Salinas Valley in California. Second, he was spent his whole childhood in Salina Valley, and the sense of the geography and demographics of the valley had stamped in his sensibilities. He was very enjoying the labor in farm.
The urinary tract consists of two kidneys, to ureters, urethra, and the urinary bladder. The urinary system works to remove waste from the body, maintain homeostasis of water, blood pressure, and regulate the body’s pH levels. The kidneys regulate several important internal conditions by excreting substances out into the body. After urine has been produced in the kidneys it is then transported to the urinary bladder via the ureters. The urinary bladder then holds the urine until the body is ready for excretion through the urethra.
Of Mice and Men is one of John Steinbeck’s major novellas. It tells of George Milton and his mentally-handicapped friend, Lennie Small. George, a short, shrewd operator is the foil to Lennie: a humongous, infantile oaf whose last name “Small” embodies nothing but utter irony, for he is not by any means small. Similar to the majority of Steinbeck’s books, Of Mice and Men’s setting is in the Salinas Valley, California— however, this one takes place in the 1930s. The novel revolves around the idea of the American dream and the hurdles the characters face in their quest to achieve it. The novella takes place during the great depression. During that horrid period, each individual has their own idea of the American dream. Steinbeck touches on several themes related to the dream such as the actual dream itself, loneliness, powerlessness, and the future’s unpredictability. Steinbeck adequately utilizes these themes to depict the unfeasibility of the American dream.
"My country is different from the rest of the world. It seems to be one of those pregnant places from which come wonders...I was born to it and my father was. Our bodies come from this soil-our bones come…from the limestone of our mountains and our blood is distilled from the juices of this Earth. I tell you now that my country is hundred miles long and about fifty wide; is unique in the world" (Steinbeck 1933: 17). He spent his early childhood in California and truly, he never left his place as he wrote about it in most of his work. He was a keen observer but often mischievous. In Salinas Valley, he had the most blissful growing up years with his two elder sisters, Beth and Esther. His younger sister, Mary loved him to the extent of adoration. His family was never wealthy but they were reputed citizens of the small town with a population of 3,000 people. His parents often engaged themselves in the community activities. When his father was a treasurer and then his mother, Mrs. Olive Steinbeck was a member of 'the Order of the Eastern Star' club and founder of 'The Wanderers', women's club. Mrs. Olive had to travel vicariously for her social works. In this way, the elder Steinbecks established their identities by spreading roots deep in the
Every great writer creates powerful images and presents story lines that draw their readers deep into the pages of their books, however; any writer would be hard pressed to do so without incorporating their own feelings, trials and tribulations into the plots and John Steinbeck is no exception. Through his appreciation for adventure and willingness to indulge in it, Steinbeck found a myriad of fascinating people in addition to experiences that he was eager to share. Past various negative criticisms and frequent rejections of his work, he manages to provide relatable characters capable of deep connections to those who enter into the realms of his tales. John Steinbeck's early life experiences influenced his portrayals of women, his love of the land, and his intimate connection to the plight of lower social classes, themes which translate into his work.
Following Stanford, Steinbeck tried to go for it as a self-employed writer. He moved to New York City for a short time where he found a job as a construction worker and a newspaper reporter, but then went back to California where he took a job as a custodian in Lake Tahoe. It was during this time that Steinbeck wrote his first book, Cup of Gold and met and married his first wife Carol Henning. In the next 10 years, with Carol's support and money he continued to put a lot of work into his writing. Other books and stories that Steinbeck later wrote such as; The Pastures of Heaven and To a God Unknown, received negative reviews. It wasn't until Tortilla Flat a fun...
John Steinbeck was a major literary figure in the 20th century and continues to be widely read in the twenty-first century. Steinbeck was born on February 27,1902 (About John Steinbeck) in the Salinas Valley of California. (Laskov) "His father, John Steinbeck, Sr. was the County Treasurer and his mother, Olive Hamilton Steinbeck, was a former school teacher. As a youth, he worked as a ranch hand and fruit picker. (John Steinbeck [2])". "He attended the local high school and studied marine biology at Stanford University between 1920 and 1926, but did not take a degree" (John Steinbeck [1]). Steinbeck's fascination with science and biology is evident in most of his works such as in this quote from the Grapes of Wrath: "Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up in the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments." (Steinbeck 165) As Steinbeck began his writing career, he took many other jobs to support himself. For a short time, he worked at the American in New York City, and then returned to California where he worked various jobs such as a painter and fruit-picker before taking a job as a caretaker for a Lake Tahoe Estate. (John Steinbeck [1]) His job as a caretaker allowed him time to write and by the time he left the job in 1930 he had already published his first book, Cup of Gold (1929) and married his first wife Carol Henning (John Steinbeck [2]). After his marriage he moved to Pacific Grove, California where, in the early 1930s, Steinbeck met Edward Ricketts, a marine biologist, whose views on the interdependence of all life deeply influenced Steinbeck's novel To a God Unknown (1933). (John Steinbeck [2])
John Steinbeck focused most of his work in the rural, California setting, which was the home of his childhood. John Steinbeck was “born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California, the third child of Olive Hamilton, former school teacher, and John Ernst Steinbeck, Monterey County treasurer” (National Steinbeck 1). It is rumored that Steinbeck decided at a young age to become a writer and only attended college at the request of his parents. Unsatisfied, he received some post-secondary education at Stanford University, dropped out, and became a vagabond who gleaned life experiences from various jobs and travels. These experiences along with his summer jobs on farms and ranches during his childhood equated to a rich life experience for his first and subsequent novels. His travels took him to New York but eventually returned to California to the state he dearly loved.
Whenever I was asked if I was having rice for lunch today, I felt a sense of a macroaggression in that question. However, I understood that it was not meant to be insulting but was a common stereotype among Asian Americans. This stereotype assumes that we always eat this source of refined carbohydrates because it is commonly seen among most of our meals. However, what society seems to disregard is that our meals are more varied than just having rice each time. In fact, many Asian American dishes can range from complex soups and intricate side dishes composed of fermented beans, steamed fish, pickled cabbages, and more. By regarding these different sides to our diet, society cannot assume that the Asian American diet is completely “consumed” by rice. Rice does serve as a basis of the diet, but is not the larger component of every meal nor is it present each time. I do agree that rice is inherently part of our culture, which makes this stereotype partly true, but it cannot be fixed into all aspects of our
“Writing was indeed his passion, not only during the Stanford years but throughout his life” (Shillinglaw 1). Steinbeck’s one and only passion was writing, even at a young age. When he was a young boy his moth...
“We are left alone, without excuse. This is what I mean when I say that man is condemned to be free” (Sartre 32). Radical freedom and responsibility is the central notion of Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy. However, Sartre himself raises objections about his philosophy, but he overcomes these obvious objections. In this paper I will argue that man creates their own essence through their choices and that our values and choices are important because they allow man to be free and create their own existence. I will first do this by explaining Jean-Paul Sartre’s quote, then by thoroughly stating Sartre’s theory, and then by opposing objections raised against Sartre’s theory.
In his defense of existentialism, Sartre first defines the unifying factor of existentialism, (for both atheist and deist alike), as the belief that existence precedes essence. To help illustrate his point he presents the example of a paper knife, an object that possess a set of qualities that enable it to carry out its purpose. He states that it would not have been created without a particular purpose, therefore its essence precedes its existence. (Sartre) Sartre rejects this idea when it comes to mankind and declares that humans in themselves have no nature and define themselves after coming into existence. This stems from his atheistic worldview, in which the rejection of a higher power leads him to accept the fact that humans are the “Creator”, the first to exist, and it is our job to give meaning to the rest of the world.
Sartre based his views on the basic ideas of existentialism. The idea that existence precedes essence is the central factor in the atheistic view of man. The belief that existence precedes essence states that there is "no pre-existing concept of man." (2) In the existentialist view, man is what he makes of himself.
The social setting of the novel is also important, as it could later explain characters attitudes towards other people. It is set in the U.S. in the 1930s; this is the time of the Great Depression. This was a result of the First World War. It affected the rich and poor alike, factory workers and farmers, bankers and stockbrokers. In short, it affected everyone; no one was left untouched. But of all the people hurt, farmers were the worst off. John Steinbeck chose to write about farmers hoping that Americans would recognize their troubles and correct the situation. The great depression is known to be the worst economic disaster in the U.S history. For this reason the depression caused many people to change their ideas about the government and economy.