John Steinbeck grew up in a booming farming community in Salinas, California; Steinbeck’s father was a manager of a flour mill, and his mother was a former school teacher. He had a comfortable childhood until his teenage years when his father lost his job at the flour mill and opened a feed and grain store that would fail. The Steinbeck family’s finances did not begin to stabilize until John Steinbeck was in college at Stanford University when Steinbeck’s father became the county’s treasurer. John Steinbeck’s own family dynamics have had an impact on the role of family that he establishes for the protagonist in his novel The Winter of Our Discontent. Aspects of Steinbeck’s family background are similar to the protagonist’s, Ethan Hawley, family dynamic; Steinbeck much like Ethan came from an initially stable family until adversity was encountered. The difference between the Steinbeck family and the Hawleys is that the Steinbecks fought …show more content…
Cristopher Kocela, a critic from The South Atlantic Review, questions Ethan Hawley’s ability to make good morals in the following quotation: “Ambiguity in the terms "good" and "bad" here emphasizes the slippage between moral and economic value that Ethan finds everywhere in his researches into family history (Kocela). Ethan’s emotions cause his morals to be distorted; He is good man, but when his emotional environment tenses, he makes bad decisions that challenge his moral principles. Another critic, Jeffery Schultz, talks more about Ethan’s morals in the following critique of the novel: “He decides to set aside his strict morality to rehabilitate the family fortune (Schultz). Ethan Hawley has high moral standards; he wants to be a honest, honorable man, but his desire to get back his family’s fortune triumphs his morals. This novel is shows that emotions control one’s morals especially when one is desperate to take back the fortune and reputation of their
After reading the novel and watching the movie “Of Mice and Men”, I have learned about the lifestyle of migrant workers in California during the 1930s, which I did not know about before studying the novel. California back in the 1930s is very different from what I pictured it to be as the conditions of life weren’t that good. This is also the first novel that I have read in my years as a student that contains so much foreshadowing. Never before had I read a book where the author produced so much foreshadowing in such a short book. Steinbeck uses Lennie as a source of motivation and hope in achieving the dream farm that George, Candy, Crooks and Lennie himself desire.
Steinbeck displays through the dialogue and characterizations that these characters experience isolation because of both social barriers and personal choice. Crooks being an African-American on the ranch, full of whites, struggles racially which causes his withdrawal from the society. Crooks explains to Lennie his when he’s accompanied by him “ A guy goes nuts if he ain 't got nobody. Don 't make no difference who the guy is long’s
John Steinbeck grew up in Salinas Valley, California where his appreciation for nature grew daily. He was the only boy amongst three sisters in addition to his wise mother, Olive Hamilton, and successful father, John Steinbeck Sr.. The locals of the Salinas Valley greatly honored the Steinbeck family. In addition to growing older, John’s personality began to unravel, especially two aspects: his clever spirit and sensitivity (Williams 6). His quick-witted personality led him to attend Stanford University for an English degree at the age of 19. Wanting to get involved at college, John joined an English club in which he could share his personal writings.
John Steinbeck, in the novel, Grapes of Wrath, identifies the hardships and struggle to portray the positive aspects of the human spirit amongst the struggle of the migrant farmers and the devastation of the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck supports his defense by providing the reader with imagery, symbolism and intense biblical allusions. The author’s purpose is to illustrate the migrant farmers in order to fully exploit their positive aspects in the midst of hardships. Steinbeck writes in a passionate tone for an audience that requires further understanding of the situation.
The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.
In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story. Lennie is a victim of social injustice due to the fact that he is mentally disabled. He is not treated fairly when he was accused of rape.
John Steinbeck has a style of writing unparalleled in history and in the modern world. In the same way, his philosophies are also unparalleled, with his focus in socialism not extending to communism or abnegation of spiritualism. His ideal world is utopian, holding the dust bowl migrant at the same level as the yeoman farmer was held in Jeffersonian times. In The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck Steinbeck, who posses impregnable technique, conveys his message of a group working tirelessly for the betterment of the community.
Loneliness and Alienation in “Of Mice and Men” In John Steinbeck’s novel, “Of Mice and Men”, many characters were plagued with loneliness and alienation, and most characters were in need of acceptance. The harsh time period of the Great Depression affected three characters in, “Of Mice and Men” greatly. Three characters that are plagued by loneliness and alienation and are in need of acceptance the most include George Milton; the protagonist of the novel, Crooks; the negro stable buck with a crooked back, and Curley’s wife; a young woman who just wants somebody to talk to. In this essay, you will learn why George, Crooks, and Curley’s wife were the loneliest and why other characters were not plagued with loneliness and alienation as much as these three characters. George Milton is the protagonist of the novel.
The Holbrooks’ condition hardly resulted from their own actions or inactions. They were clearly the victims of a capitalist system that exploited its workers for profit without concern for their safety. At its worst, the system poisoned even the social and domestic relations among the family. Thus, in this protest novel, Olsen depicts the main themes of poverty, labor exploitation, and visible and underlying hardships throughout the Holbrooks’ journey to avoid the suffering from increased deprivation and mental anguish: “For example, Yonnondio demonstrates how economic status has a direct effect on behavior. When times are good— such as when the Holbrooks begin their life on the farm— Jim and Anna are happier together and kinder to their children.
During the early 1930s America’s economy was suffering in The Great Depression which in turn affected America’s people causing starvation, poverty, both physical and emotional stress, and a high rate of men leaving their families; leaving both men and women feeling hopeless and lonely. During this time author John Steinbeck, wrote “Of Mice and Men”; this book takes place at a ranch in Salinas Valley, California where he tells the story of two friends George and Lennie. Throughout the book you get a sense of poverty and the humanity of the characters. In “Of Mice and Men”, author John Steinbeck portrays how loneliness affects everyone in the 1930s by using the characters relationships with one another.
John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, is a compelling story that has captured and embodied the struggle and loneliness felt by many during the Great Depression. While desire for the American Dream is prominent in the novel, Steinbeck is able to demonstrate the wants from different social classes through the construction of characters such as George Milton and Curley’s wife. With these characters, Steinbeck successfully displays the difference in ideas, values and attitudes of certain social classes in the 1930’s and the illustrates the rarity of achieving the American Dream. Steinbeck wrote this novel during the Great Depression, when America was suffering greatly by the disastrous crash of the stock market. From this point in time, separation of the different classes became
Grapes of Wrath clearly illustrate the class struggle between workers and the upper class. Steinbeck displays the discrimination between the migrant people and landowners. Migrant workers are handled worse than animals, family’s or “Okies” are starving as food is wasted by the wealthy and the landowners maintain control through violence. “What do you want us to do? We can't take less share of the crop – we're half starved now.
Through using the farm to represent the American Dream, Steinbeck brings forward issues from difficulties the mentally ill have to prejudices against African Americans. Lennie’s illness did not take away from his quality of work, but other men’s attitudes towards him made keeping a job more difficult, hindering his American Dream. Lennie and George’s previous job had been at Weed until Lennie had gotten into trouble.
In this novel, John Steinbeck examines how wealth does not bring contentment to one's life, and that America is turning into a materialistic society. Ethan Hawley finds he is stuck between two personalities. He displays the "the old world charm" (Steinbeck 39) of being honest, but he lives in a world that corruption is considered normal in society. Ethan views the people of New Baytown as disingenuous because they are more interested in earning more money than the feelings of others. When he notices how the others treat Danny, the town drunk, he realizes that they dismiss others that do not fit in the same class as them.
In John Steinbeck's short novel, The Red Pony, there is a family of four that live a not poor but good life. It seems that they live in the mountains. Their names were Dad, Mom, Billy, and Jody. Jody was the youngest kid. Jody wanted just a pony and he got it