John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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.

Silvah 2

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.

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.

Silvah 5

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

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.

Silvah 6

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