John Steinbeck’s ‘dance’ between two worlds
Early years and career
Born on Feb 27, in Salinas, California, John Steinbeck was an American novelist who earned his fame as ‘an analyst of the American soul’. As riveting as his books are, the famed novelist was best known for his landmark work, entitled The Grapes of Wrath (published back in 1939), the focus of which falls upon many social and economic issues.
The family of the notable author was a typical American one – John’s father, after whom he was named, tried his best at a few jobs in order to keep the wolf out of the door while his mother, named Olive, was a schoolteacher.
Mostly, John grew up happy and joyful with immense appreciation of that small Californian town he was born in. Shy, but really bright, Steinbeck took a liking for writing at the very age of 14. Soon, he started engaging himself in writing poems and stories locked in his bedroom.
Even though he did enroll himself at Stanford University – one of the most prestigious universities even today – he was not the best example and role model at school. The notable-to-be author kept drifting in and out of the university until 1925 when he was through with it; and that time it was for good.
After he failed as a student, he focused his attention on writing as he first tried himself as a freelance writer. Once he moved to the big world aka New York City he tried his hand at several different positions – as a construction worker and as a reporter at a local newspaper – but returned to California where he worked as a caretaker. This period of his life turned quite beneficially for him – his first ever novel, Cup of Gold, came to light.
With his first and follow-up novels, John didn’t grip people’s attention, but kept pushing and pushing himself into writing until coming up with Tortilla Flat – a humorous work about “paisano life” – which brought him genuine luck and success.
The author’s tone in his first successful work is somewhat more serious, telling the story of a young American-Mexican man, named Danny and his notorious friends under whose bad influence he got involved into many criminal adventures. To many of us, including the novelist himself, this work is considered a retelling one of the Arthurian legends, while to others it still remains a stereotypical one.
Put in a nutshell, Tortilla Flat happened to be his first-ever commercially successful novel which earned him a whole deal of criticism thanks to the author’s portrayal of a bunch of people, called ‘Paisanos’, who belong to a certain race.
Later on, Steinbeck struck a nerve with a few other famed works“Of Mice and Man”, “Travels with Charley”, “East of Eden” and last, but not least his most refined work, which eventually won him his Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award “The Grapes of Wrath”.
Published back in 1937, “Of Mice and Man” is a novel revealing the hardships of a typical American migrant ranch workers, moving from a place to place in search of a better life and job opportunities at the peak of the Great Depression, swiping through the United States of America.
Regardless of the unstoppable criticism towards the novel along with all the negative feedback it receives for being an offensive work rich in vulgarity and racist language, “Of Mice and Man” manages to win its way among the Most Challenged Books of 21st Century.
“East of Eden” (1952) is often regarded as Steinbeck’s most ambitious work, originally addressing his quite young sons, named John and Tom. The plot of the novel is set in his home town Salinas as he strives to describe it in as many details as possible.
All in all, the author lays his eyes on love, self-destruction, charity, depravity, freedom, guilt, as well as on the struggle for greatness and acceptance. All these themes are tied together in “East of Eden”, also referring to the biblical work, entitled, Book of Genesis, the fourth chapter of which served the author as a source of inspiration for the novel itself.
“Travels with Charley: In search of America”, published in 1962, is an iconic book retracing the Steinbeck’s road trip across the country. His “travels” start from Long Island and go through Maine, Seattle, California, then New Orleans and end in New York City.
Only accompanied by his poodle Charley, the genuine truth behind that trip was believed to be linked to his last desire to travel across the country and contemplate its beauty once more before he dies. As for that, rumor still has it that the real reason of his trip was the author’s belief of his dying.
John Steinbeck’s „dance” between two worlds in “The Grapes of Wrath”
Considered his finest and world-recognized work, the outstanding novel published in 1939 unraveled the story of a typical American family originally from Oklahoma and their struggle to find a new life in California during the Great Depression.
The prominent novel captures the discontent and angst of the nation at the peak of the Great Depression in the time of which the heavy industrialization of farming allows the rich landowners to gain greater profits from lands. The high-powered machines contributed to moving laborers off their own fields as the whole process proves itself to be a dreadful one.
The man’s connection to the lands is a major topic in “the Grapes of Wrath” , so when they leave their lands behind they lose a part of themselves as well. These poor farmers who have always been there, at the fields, are entirely robbed of their dreams and hopes as they are forced to spend their lives on the road with no notion of what tomorrow may hold for them.
For the most part, John Steinbeck’s focus falls upon the injustice, misfortune and lost dreams of the ordinary people. “The Grapes of Wrath” is a reflection of the lives of the poor ones, losing their homes, lands, happiness and dreams along the way, and a story about one’s tragedy, hardships, the prize of the survival, social conflicts and last, but not least – the bravery and determination of women in times of despair and deadlock.