John Steinbeck was born in salinas califorina in 1902. He went to stanford university, but only lasted three years. In his youth he worked as a ranch hand and a fruit picker. John Steinbeck wrote many books his most famous works include Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes Of Wath. Some people catagorize Steinbeck as being a writer of nateralism and realism. John Steinbeck was a model example of the realist and nateralist of his generation.
He often wrote about the things that were going on in th late 20’s and 30’s, like most noteably the depression and his characters often dealt with the real life problems of the time. His characters often, illiterate and weak minded are essentially good people. when steinbeck’s characters are esablished severly on the land , they are hared working and good hearted. when there agricultural activities are disrupted, as when the joads are driven from oklahoma in The Grapes of Wrath, or when a seductive woman get in the way of the agricultural dream of lennie and george in Of Mice and Men tragedy and misfortune are often the result.
Steinbeck presentd scenes of great crulty and passion in his books, his characters often use profanity beacuse they know no other way of speaking, it’s sort of a manerism with them. the reason for this is that profanity is often found inthe speach of illiterate people. Foul language in some groups is as much a convention as politness is in other groups. Stienbeck’s characters are seldom cruel, and are more likely to be gentle. If they commit crimes it is usually through an accident as in Grapes of Wrath or stupidity as in of Mice and Men, and they regret there act as soon as they relize their full implications.
Several of his book are attemps to create folklore. He makes use of rhytm and repetition, in Of mice and Men Lennie’s theme of “George … are we gonna have rabbits George? ” is like a reacurring motif. His descriptions of nature are highly chareged with imagery. He sometimes feels the same compassion for the sea and hills as he does toward his characters. it might just be Steinbeck’s point that humble and illiterate people may have their tragedies too.
