John Steinbeck was an American-born author born in Salinas, California on February 27, 1902. He died in New York, New York on December 20, 1968. He is the author of two of the most popular pieces of American literature. These books, Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, are the main reasons he received the Nobel Prize of Literature and the Pulitzer Prize. His accomplishments are many but other aspects of his life are peculiar such as the fact that he never got a degree in school and that he enjoyed working manual labor jobs. Although he was a brilliant writer, John Steinbeck never finished his time as a university student. He attended Stanford with no intention of graduating with a degree, hoping to appease his parents and to further advance his writing abilities. Steinbeck did not see why it was necessary to have a degree if he wanted to be a writer. He took many classes that would help him with his writing, such as a class on short stories, a type of writing that Steinbeck was well known for. During his years at Stanford, he took up a variety of jobs including, a rancher, cotton picker, and road worker. Many of these jobs can be seen as imagery and settings throughout his books and literary pieces such as in, Of …show more content…
At first he believed it would mean the end of his writing career and was hesitant to accept the praise that came along with the award. Although, praise was not the only thing he received after being rewarded with one of the most foremost awards able to be given. Many people thought that Steinbeck did not deserve this prize. After the negative feedback received from his final novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, and the controversial Nobel Prize award, John Steinbeck never published any pieces of fiction in his final six years. Also, the novel that is considered his masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath, was published in 1939 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in