John Steinbeck

Samira Mack

College Writing

November 5th, 2015

John Steinbeck, born on a farm in California 1902, is most famous for his books focusing on the impact that the great depression left on America. Although he is the author of twenty nine published books, his career had a rough start. He knew that he always wanted to be a writer, so he finished high school and went to Stanford University to study English. While attending college, he would occasionally leave to do work to pay for school, but dropped out all together after 6 years. Working as a migrant worker got him hands on experience on the harsh living conditions to come after the great depression.

"A Life In Letters", is a book of letters written by Steinbeck to people in his life, including but not limited to other writers, family, and friends. He wrote letters everyday, saying he preferred writing to face-to-face communication because he "didn't trust speech as communication for anything except love, desire, or hustling”. He wrote letters before starting his actual work, because he claimed it got the creative "juices" flowing. Writing letters was also an alternative to traveling to visit friends because of difficulties caused by the depression, it was the best way to keep in contact. It soon became an uncontrollable hobby for Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck was married three times and had two sons. He liked to keep his personal life out of his stories, but 1952 novel "East of Eden" was a reflection of his divorce and death of a close friend who  helped him write a book. Steinbeck's writing style was mainly short stories, novels, and nonfiction. Impacted by the depression, he wrote about complications of finding work and surviving in a post depression society. He used settings and characters from real life to inspire stories. His best works are based on the tragic Dust Bowl and Great Depression. When working on a new project, he would try to find as much information as possible to make it as accurate as possible, including writing to newspapers for articles and information needed for future projects. He got most of his information for these books through personal experiences, interviews on the working class and newspaper research.

 Steinbeck noticed the unsatisfying living conditions of workers while he worked on a farm in high school, which inspired his 1935 novel, "Tortilla Flat". Throughout his life he conducted a series of interviews and traveled with migrant workers affected by the dust bowl, inspiring the 1937 novel, "Of Mice and Men".  His most famous book to date is 1939 novel, "The Grapes of Wrath", a story of a farm family, heavily impacted by the dust bowl, who move to California for a new start. The goal of these stories were to gain awareness of the tragedies and recognize people that society overlooked. Steinbeck tried to get other people to understand other's lives to spark a change. He believed that, even though a little harsh, facing the problem was the first step to improving them.