John Steinbeck's Accomplishments

An individual who does not do anything for his society will not be remembered unless one leaves a memorable mark on one’s culture. John Steinbeck was a man who was fond of writing. Throughout his entire lifetime, his main interest would be composing novels and stories for others to read. At first, he may have not been acknowledged as a good writer. But as time passed, society considered him to be one of the greatest authors that have lived. He accomplished a task that most authors would not be successful at. Steinbeck was able to convey history through his works of fiction. Through his novels, he depicted what life was like for others during the Great Depression. His perspective of the lifestyle individuals had to experience during that difficult

On the day of February 27, 1902, a child named John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was born. Throughout his early years, Steinbeck lived in the small county of Salinas. Located in California, the agricultural district known as Salinas is what Steinbeck called home. Growing up there, Steinbeck took notice of the environment around him and learned to adore it. He eventually incorporated much of Salinas’ surroundings into his future novels such as Of Mice and Men. Salinas was known to be a thriving farming community. The little towns and small ranches in the hills heavily inspired Steinbeck’s writing. Through his novels, he hopes that other individuals would see it as, “... the valley of the world” (“John Steinbeck Biography”). The beauty that Steinbeck sees within Salinas is what drives him to include much of its surroundings into his

Around when Steinbeck was nine years old, he was given a novel called Le Morte d’Arthur. This novel includes the tales and stories of King Arthur. After reading the book, Steinbeck found himself falling in love with the words that were used in its text. The novel’s way of speech and words played a large influence in his writing. In his novel, Tortilla Flat, Steinbeck would incorporate Arthurian literary devices from Le Morte d’Arthur into the writing. In addition, his childhood horse named Jill would influence Steinbeck to write The Red Pony. Furthermore, Steinbeck would work at a nearby beats farm in the summers of high school. While he was there, he began to take notice of the difficult living conditions the other workers had to go through. This observation would soon be implemented into the descriptions of the men in his later novel Tortilla Flat. During his time in college, he would also enroll at the Hopkins Marine Station located in Pacific Grove, California. There he would find himself becoming familiar with a man named William Emerson Ritter. Ritter’s idea of the super-organism caused Steinbeck to become more interested with science. This new interest would eventually lead to Steinbeck writing the Sea of Cortez. Although, the largest influence on Steinbeck’s writing is considered to be his hometown, Salinas. He believes Salinas is very beautiful and says, “I