John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was born on February 27, 1902, in
Salinas, California. His father was John Steinbeck senior, treasurer of
Monterey County. His mother, Olive Hamilton, was a schoolteacher.
His mother met his father while working on his farm. He wanted to
become a famous writer from the age of 14, so he wrote many poems
and stories that reflected and documented the hardships of society during
the Depression. Olive encouraged his writing.
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John Steinbeck worked as a manual laborer before achieving
success as a writer. He developed ideas for characters from the people he
worked with, noticing their living conditions. Steinbeck attended
Stanford University, but didn’t graduate.
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It sold 26,000 copies
in the first year.
Dubious Battle was written in 1936. It was his first story about the
strikes of the Migratory fruit pickers on California plantations. Of Mice
and Men, was his next migrant farmworker theme story. This was a
tragedy about a giant named Lennie and his friend George, who was
always trying to cheer him up, talking about getting a place of their own,
until he shoots the big fellow save him from a worse death by
vigilantes. The first draft was chewed up by Steinbeck’s dog Max.
In 1939 he published his most famous work, The Grapes of
Wrath, another tale of devastation and death. He wrote about the
families of Oklahoma farmers who moved from the dustbowl of
mismanaged farmland, unable to earn a living during economic disaster.
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Oakies who moved to California where they became migratory workers,
became victims of injustice and rejection instead of finding the Promised
Land. Steinbeck’s migrant farmworker books are violently sad and
depressing. John’s wife Carol suggested the title name for The Grapes
of Wrath. It sold 10,000 copies per week, earning public empathy as
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John met Hollywood singer, Gwyndolyn
Conger, divorced Carol, and married Gwyn. John and Gwyn had two
children, Thomas and John Steinbeck IV.
John Steinbeck III traveled to Mexico with his marine biologist
friend Edward F. Ricketts. Together they wrote the Sea of Cortez in
1941, describing the coast of Baja. They collected photos
of marine life and wrote a nature documentary.
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The Pearl, symbolizing destructive greed, was based on the native
people that Steinbeck and Ricketts met at the Sea of Cortez. Steinbeck
was told about the Pearl of Great Price on that trip to Mexico.
Ed Ricketts inspired the marine biologist character in Cannery Row,
set in Monterey sardine factories of 1945 depression.
Steinbeck wrote East of Eden while married to his third wife,
Elaine, in New York. The good Abra character represents his wife
Elaine. The horrible Cathy character was based on Gwyndolyn, in effort
to process his relationship karma after she left him. Cathy was the
missing mother of the symbolic twins Caleb and Aron, representing the
jealousy feud of Cain and Able. East of Eden described
the Salinas Valley. Steinbeck told Elaine that this book was