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Life Of John Steinbeck Essays

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John Steinbeck was a writer who used naturalism in his works to to bring awareness about problems in society that he dealt with in his own life. He frequently dealt with the economic and social problems of migrant workers in
California and how they dealt with everyday life. He wrote through his fiction about what he knew and what affected him personally. Specifically, he wrote a novella entitled, Of Mice and Men, about two California migrant workers,
George Milton and Lennie Small, who are trying desperately to earn enough money to buy a couple of acres of their own so that they won’t have to keep running from there problems all the time. Naturalism was a literary movement throughout the U.S. and Europe in the late 19th century to the …show more content…

At age 35, because of the success of Of
Mice and Men, it was named a Book-of-the-Month Club choice and
Steinbeck was named as one of Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Year.
Also, Steinbeck was asked to write articles about migrant workers for magazines and newspapers, bringing further awareness to the hardships of the migrant workers (LIS 7 ). In Of Mice and Men , Steinbeck wrote about two laborers, George Milton and Lennie Small. George is a small, slender and smart man; Lennie is a large, clumsy mentally challenged man who is physically strong. George had promised Lennie’s Aunt Clara that he would take care of Lennie when she died. They have traveled from Weed,
California, to work together on a ranch in Soledad. Lennie and George have fled from Weed because Lennie was accused of trying to assault a girl. He was touching her dress and when he stroked it too hard she screamed and he hung on to her in fear. George and Lennie have a dream, to earn enough money so that they can have a place to call their own. They want to have rabbits “An’ live off the fatta the lan’” (STE 5). They arrive in Soledad and meet The Boss, and his son Curley. George and Lennie also meet Slim, the ranch hand who seems to have authority in the bunkhouse, Curley’s wife, and
Candy, the old swamper. Candy has a dog, it’s very old and dirty, and smells up the bunkhouse; so when Slim’s dog has puppies, they convince Candy to let them kill the old dog and give him one of the new puppies. The night

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