Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Doga's John Steibeck
9
John Steinbeck
(27 Feb 1902 - December 20 1968)
Early Life
Steinbeck studied Stanford University, Stanford, California, sporadically between 1920 and 1926, but did not obtain a diploma. Before his books were popular, he spent a substantial amount of time supporting himself as a manual laborer while writing, and his knowledge lent credibility to his descriptions of the workers' lives in his stories. He lived a lot of his childhood in Monterey City, California, which was later the location for some of his novels.
Steinbeck was raised by humble means. His dad, John Ernst Steinbeck, honed his skills at a variety of different jobs to keep his family fed: he operated a feed-and-grain business, ran a flour mill, and worked as treasurer of Monterey County. His mom, Olive Hamilton Steinbeck, was an older school teacher.
For the most part, Steinbeck — who lived with 3 sisters — has had a healthy adolescence. He was reserved but smart. He developed an early love of the land and, in particular, California's Salinas Valley, which would greatly influence his later writing. According to accounts, Steinbeck wanted to become a novelist at the age of 14, mostly locked up in his bedroom to write poetry and tales.
Writing Career
Steinbeck's first book, Cup of Gold (1929), was preceded by The Pastures of Heaven (1932) and To a God Unknown (1933), neither of which was popular. He first became famous with Tortilla Flat (1935), an empathetic tale about Mexican Americans. The tone of mild humour, in his next book, In Dubious Combat (1936), turned to one of unrelenting grimness, a classic account of the strike by farm workers and a group of Marxist labor leaders who orchestrated it. The novel Of Mice and Men (1937), which also featured in play and film adaptations, is a sad tale about the strange, complicated relationship between migrants.
Writing Career
Pictures
Family Life
Steinbeck was married to his second wife, Gwyndolyn Conger, from 1943 to 1948. They had two sons together, Thomas and John. In 1950, he married his third wife, Elaine Anderson Scott. The couple remained together until their death in 1968.
Family Life
Novel Theme and Topics
Themes
American Dream: In of Mice and Man and The Grapes of Wrath the characters try to pursue the American dream and fail. In both of his books characters try to go to California but things do not end good for them.
Power of Unity: In both of the books mentioned above, characters find power in unity. In Of Mice and Men john and Lenny unite to survive In the Grapes of Wrath the farmers are powerless alone and work together to fight the system that holds them back and unity makes them their life less agonizing.
Ideology
Due to him living during the Great Depression which was a time where significant amount of Americans saw socialism as a role model to create a humane society. Due to the suffering caused by the Great Depression. He was influenced by Socialist ideas and his writing reflects these ideas.
In the grapes of Wrath uses the symbol of Grapes which symbolize the burden that is placed on the farmers by the governments greed. But eventually the grapes will be ready to be harvested for the vintage. Soon enough the farmers will be ready for a revolution.
Why he is unique
Why he is famous
The first explanation why Steinbeck is significant is his description of the core aspects of American life and culture. He spoke about the plight of migrant workers, small farmers, and those leading socially precarious lives. The most critical reason for Steinbeck's popularity, though, is the consistency of his prose.
He utilized intercalary chapters to give social and historical backgroundto create a sense of context. These chapters zoom out from the characters to the society and make the reader see that the problems affect not only the characters, but the society as a whole.
This technique overwhelms the audience and m,akes them feel not only sypathetic for the characters but the whole society to encourage the readers to battle the flaws of the society.
An intercalary chapter in literature interrupts the story to provide clarification.
3 interesting facts about John Steinbeck and his work.
Title
He used up to 60 pencils a day and used 300 pencil to write the East of Eden.
The Grapes of Wrath was criticized by the associated farms of California by being a Communist propoganda. Ironically, the book was banned by the Communists in Russia because it shows that even the poorest in US could afford a car.
The character "Lennie" was based on a real person. Steinbeck said Lennie is in an insane assylum right now.