Life and works of John Steinnbeck Essay

There are many authors, poetry writers, and novelists around this world, but what make them into a famous author or writer? One of the famous American writer was John Steinbeck. He earned a Nobel prize of literature from his American classic novels that he had written in the past. The Nobel prize was not the only award that he had earned for his literature, he earned different awards for his writings also (John Stein..). John Steinbeck is a man who had overcome different obstacles and being successful in life.

John Steinbeck was an American author who won the nobel prize in 1962. He authored 27 books, including 16 novels. Most of his work that he made was in central California

John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California. John decided to be a writer at the very young age of fourteen. “John used to lock himself in his bedroom and to be alone and write stories and poem”(John Steinbeck Biography). John was the first in his family to have a striving desire to become a writer, his father did everything he could to keep food on the table and his mother was a former school teacher. To do this he worked several jobs at a time, he never got to enjoy what he does like Steinbeck went on to do. John went on to try to be a freelance writer, so he work as a construction worker and a newspaper reported in New York, New York. He wrote his first novel called The Cup of Gold while living in Lave, Tahoe working as a caretaker. John went on to marry Carol Henning. She was supportive by working several jobs to help him continue with his writing career.

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.

That novel was followed by what most people believe is Steinbeck’s best book, “Grapes Of Wrath”, which was based on articles he had written in San Francisco, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. His talks of the poor conditions eventually caught the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt, who raised the standards, telling Congress to fix the bad parts of the labor laws and camp conditions. In all 17 of his works became movies or screenplays.

Of mice and men, published in 1937 is one of the most important and influential novels of John Steinbeck. The American author was born in 1902 in Salinas, California in the United States. Salinas was a prosperous farming community in 1920’s .Therefore, the geography and demographics of Steinbeck’s place of origin greatly influenced Steinbeck’s novels and development of his characters who have a strong identification with land. Steinbeck developed strong interest in writing in early adolescence in high school and after that, he was enrolled at Stanford University in 1919 which gave him opportunity to sharpen his writing skills majoring in English. The author is widely known for writing novels including award winning The Grapes of Wrath written

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, on February 27, 1902. He studied marine biology at Stanford University and then traveled east on a freighter through the Panama Canal. Steinbeck went to New York to work as a newspaper reporter but soon returned to California and held a variety of jobs while he wrote. Steinbeck published Tortilla Flat in 1935, Of Mice and Men in 1937, and The Red Pony in 1937, which established his reputation as a forceful writer. In 1939 he wrote The Grapes of Wrath, which summoned up the despair and hardship of the early 1930's. John Steinbeck died in 1968. The Grapes of Wrath is a story about one family's hardship during the Depression and the Dust Bowl of the

“It is true that we are weak and sick and ugly and quarrelsome but if that is all we ever were, we would millenniums ago have disappeared from the face of the earth.” John Steinbeck said this of all humankind. He thought highly of us as a species, just as Dr. Stockmann did in Henrik Ibsen’s play Enemy of the People. Both men had problems in their societies, Stockmann in his town and Steinbeck in America, and both believed that humans were capable of seeing the problem and fixing it. The rest of the population did not see this as the case. They believed he was an enemy of the people and a threat to their way of life. Because of how Steinbeck expressed his views, people felt threatened by what he wrote and they called him a threat to

unable to come to terms with a world at war, though he served for a few

Steinbeck first three novels, Cup of Gold published in 1929, Pastures of Heaven published in 1932, and To a god Unknown published in 1933, went unnoticed. His novels did so bad that his first novel Cup of Gold failed to earn back the $250 his publisher gave him in advance. Steinbeck’s first novel that was noticed was Tortilla Flat published in 1935. This novel received critical acclaim and won the California Commonwealth Club Gold Medal. Steinbeck’s next novel was Of mice and Men published in 1937, this novel is about the dreams of two immigrant workers who were working on a ranch to save up money to buy their own ranch. This novel centered on themes of loneliness, racism, and the struggle for independence. Of Mice and Men was later made into a move. Steinbeck is best known for The Grapes of Wrath. It was published in 1939; the impact of the book was compared to that of Harriet Breecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Steinbeck writes The Grapes of wrath when the United States was recovering from the great depression of the 1930’s. The Grapes of Wrath was also later made into a movie by John Ford in 1940. Fleeing the publicity of this novel Steinbeck went to Mexico to film the documentary Forgotten Village. The title originated from Julia Ward Howe’s The Battle Hymn of the Republic published in 1861. In 1940 John Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel. Steinbeck’s next novels were The Sea of Cortez published

Steinbock believes that, while embryos do not have a right to life, they do deserve to be treated with respect and moral value that other cells do not have. She takes this position on the basis that while an embryo does not have an ends of its own its potential still makes it a “potent symbol of human life”. This means Steinbock does not believe an embryo deserves a Kantian picture of respect. This is how she distinguishes between respect for embryos and respect for persons. Her argument is that respect for persons entails that an individual has ends of their own but, an embryo does not have ends of their own so, respect for persons does not apply to embryos. She says this potential makes them distinct from other life and therefore justifies embryos deserving more respect than other cells. What Steinbock means by showing respect to embryos is by not using them in frivolous ways such as to teach

Having read it myself, Of Mice and Men is an interesting novel that I would recommend about two friends, George and Lennie, and their pursuit of the American dream. The Grapes of Wrath was another successful work. In fact, it was so successful that it earned Steinbeck a Pulitzer Prize for Literature (Newman and Layfield 89). Lastly, East of Eden was also a best selling novel of Steinbeck (Millichap). Many of Steinbeck’s famous novels, such as the ones mentioned, went on to be successful plays and movies as well, and in many of these plays, he would write the script. Also, Steinbeck began writing some nonfiction works after East of Eden, one of which being Travels with Charley, a work that details a three-month trip across the country with his dog

John Steinbeck moved to New York City to follow his dream of writing. For a few years Steinbeck worked two jobs to support himself. One was as a fruit picker and the other was as a journalist. In New York City he tried to establish himself as a free-lance writer, but failed. The only pleasant thing he received from New York was his wife. Steinbeck married in 1930 and decided to return to Salinas, his hometown, with his new companion. When steinbeck returned home his father, a government official in Salinas, provided the newly weds with a new home. John Steinbeck continued his on going dream of writing in his new home.

John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr., was conceived on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California, to a father, John Ernst Steinbeck, who had settled in California not long after the Civil War, and a mother, Olive Hamilton Steinbeck, who was an open teacher. Steinbeck experienced childhood in the wonderful, prolific Salinas Valley, and the clear majority of his critical books and short stories would be set in California. Arranged between the Santa Lucia run and the Gabilan Mountains, this valley in west focal California is verged on the north by Monterey Bay and on the south by San Luis Obispo. Amid his initial years, Steinbeck 's mom read to him from books, for example, Treasure Island and Robin Hood. Youthful John grew up listening to the rhythms of the Bible and listening to the enchanting stories of the Round Table from Malory 's Le Morte d 'Arthur. He would return over and over to those early impacts for images and topics.

He loved writing from a young age and knew he wanted to pursue that; “attending Stanford University, he took courses in English and marine biology but left without completing his degree, having made the decision” (“John Steinbeck” 1). His first few books were not very successful, but that did not stop him. His best-known novel was Of Mice and Men (Written in 1937) was not as popular in his time as it is now. His work is highly respected in the Literature world and still studied to this day. “He was awarded the Pulitzer Price for The Grapes of Wrath, and in 1962 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature” (“John Steinbeck” 1). Overall his work was very successful and he had a huge impact on Americans and an even bigger impact on the American voice.