From the words of John Steinbeck himself, "The most important things in life are work and women." Through his keen social perception and natural ability to write, he grew and developed into one of the most distinguished authors of all time. Steinbeck 's early writing experience, the economic issues during his time, and his relationships with women engendered him to write his most unique and noteworthy novels.
Born in Salinas, California in 1902, John Steinbeck was an average boy. His family was free of pressing, serious issues and he grew up in a middle-class town with a medium-sized home. Very early on, Steinbeck found the one hobby that set him apart from his peers. Delving into writing at an early age, he acquired an indubitable devotion he would never abandon. He was dogmatic in his desire to be an author and focused his attention on English literature and writing. He spent hours in his room producing countless poems and novels, creating a fictional world of his own imagination. An average student at best, Steinbeck excelled in English and wrote papers far above his level (Daniels). His high school English teachers praised his work frequently,
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Though he persevered to attend a prestigious university, he was academically unmotivated and repulsed by the idea of college. He merely went to appease his parents and sharpen his writing skills (Shillinglaw). Unwilling to waste his collegiate experience, he enrolled only in the classes that piqued his interest, neglecting the core classes and requirements. Though his academic stint was not promising, he learned valuable writing skills and was exposed to writing and literature at a collegiate level. After six years of attending Stanford, Steinbeck left with no degree. Though he proved to be undisciplined and tunnel visioned throughout his stint at Stanford, he thoroughly solidified his writing vision and passion (“John
John Steinbeck is a brilliant storyteller capable of crafting such vibrant and captivating literary works that one can effortlessly exit their own life and enter another. John Steinbeck has a passion for divulging the flaws of human nature and he is not afraid to write about the raw and tragic misfortune that plagued the lives of people like the Okies in the Grapes of Wrath and residents of Cannery Row. He was also a brilliant commentator who contributed brilliant opinions on the political and social systems in our world. In heart wrenching words he tells us the story of peoples lives, which were full of love, corruption, faith and growth. However in the novels of Cannery Row and The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck specifically attempts to convey the thematic elements of socialism, survival and the role of women to blatantly present the lifestyle of down trodden migrant workers and the diverse ecosystem of prostitutes, marine biologists, store owners and drunks in a way that is unapologetic and mentally stimulating.
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.
I. John Steinbeck used his personal experiences as a laborer to write many of his novels like Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.
John Steinbeck was perhaps the best author of all time. He was the winner of a Nobel Prize, and among other accomplishments, Steinbeck published nineteen novels and made many movies during his lifetime. All of his experience and knowledge are shown through his novels. A reader can tell, just in reading a novel by Steinbeck, that he had been through a lot throughout his life. Also, Steinbeck worked very hard to accomplish everything that he did during his lifetime. Nothing came very easily to him, and he had to earn everything he owned. This helped him in his writing, because he was able to write about real people and real experiences. John Steinbeck got his inspiration from life experiences, people he knew, and places he had gone.
The quote that inspired John Steinbeck was the best laid schemes often go off track can be seen in the novel of Mice and Men. When Curley's wife met a man in her childhood that offered her to be an actress but the chance went away and she later died. Then Curley wanted to be a professional boxer but the dream never happened and he became a farmer then got his hand broken for trying to be tough. George and Lennie were going to buy a farm to live off the fat of the land then Lennie had to get in trouble and George had to give up the dream and kill Lennie for what he had done.
Steinbeck has become one of my favorite writers -- for the love he has for his characters, the loveliness of his language, and the clear-eyed conviction with which he writes. Originally, I failed to see the beauty in Steinbeck's people, though it is plainly there. Perhaps I hadn't seen enough of the world myself, yet. There was a lot I didn't understand about people.
Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck) and The Things They Carried both contains events that trigger people to escape the reality of the moment into fantasy and show the psychological battles within. Escaping into a fantasy, you have the ability to change a horrific event into “happily ever after.”
In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck explores human relationships through characters who are barely fleshed out beyond the boundary of a stereotype. Many of the minor characters even have names which reflect their status as a symbol of their position rather than thinking, feeling people. Crooks, the African American stable buck, represents the "crooked" thinking of the majority toward other races during the time period while Curley's wife represents only that- the wife of a man. Her character serves to show the place of women in a man's society. Likewise, the two main characters, George and Lennie, each serve as a symbol of psychological and physical traits which complement each other to show how important human relationships are, regardless of the traits a person may possess. All human beings develop relationships with others because those relationships fill particular needs. Those needs may be physical, economic, psychological, or social.
Born 1902 in California, John Steinbeck grew up in a hard time for America. The Great Depression hit in 1929, leaving thousands of American people jobless, homeless, and poor. Along with this, the Dust Bowl occurred in 1931, which also killed and starved thousands. During this time period, many people did not have a home, and moved from farm to farm in order to feed themselves. John Steinbeck was one of the hundreds of thousands of migrant farm workers during this time. All of Steinbeck’s books are based off of American history, and migrant farm workers in the eyes of the people. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses the characters Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife to contribute to the overall theme of loneliness.
John Steinbeck's novels expressed an ecological world view that has only recently begun to accumulate proponents. This holistic view grew during an era when such thinking was unpopular, and one must wonder how this growth could have occurred in a climate which was hostile for it. Some investigation shows that the seeds for this view already existed in his childhood and were nurtured through his exposure to ideas in marine biology.
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 and Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK Jr.) have both gone down in American literature as some of the most influential authors, but why? Steinbeck was an influential author throughout the 20th century with pieces in many genres. On the flip side is Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights leader in the fight against racial discrimination. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the style of these two authors, it is necessary to compare them on the bases of repetition, tone, and purpose.
Curly and Lennie, two men that traveled together everywhere they went. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck describes friendship, dreams, and personality to describe Lennie and Curly adventures.
John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California. He had a pretty average childhood with a supportive family and a decent education. While growing up his mother, Olive Hamilton, was a major factor in his education, since she was a schoolteacher and made it her duty to educate him. His mother most likely was the reason he developed a love of reading and literature and ended up going to Stanford. In his child there were only two major events that affected his writing. These were when he worked on a ranch with migrant workers, and when his father’s business failed and the family was temporarily thrust into poverty. These two events most likely sparked his interest in the poor lives of the migrant workers. His experiences on the ranch taught him about the harsh and impoverished lives of the migrant workers and his experience of being in poverty enabled him to understand what life is like when one is poor, as the migrant workers were. This understanding inspired some of his most famous writings such as: Of Mice and Men, In Dubious Battle and The Grapes of Wrath. These experiences also allowed him to add a sense of realism to the stories. After graduating from his public high school in 1919 Steinbeck went to Stanford. He went there for 5 years before dropping out without a degree and moving to New York. The following years were highly tumultuous for Steinbeck and he held many odd jobs while trying to get his writing published. In 1935 he finally got his first big break when his critically acclaimed novel, Tortilla Flats, was published. After this he became quite successful and well known although the skill in his writing seems to fall after WWII. After researching his life I decided to focus on using his most famous n...
John Steinbeck is one of the few American writers who can be discussed in relation to the