JOHN STEINBECKAN AMERICAN VOICE

THE BASICS

• FEB. 27, 1902 IN SALINAS CALIFORNIA

• FATHER WAS A MANAGER AT A FLOUR MILL AND MOM WAS A SCHOOL TEACHER.

• SALINAS WAS A PROSPEROUS FARM COMMUNITY

• HE USED THE SALINAS VALLEY AS THE SETTING IN A LOT OF HIS WRITING

EARLY LIFE

• YOUNG STEINBECK WAS AN AVID READER

• ON HIS NINTH BIRTHDAY, HIS AUNT MOLLIE GAVE HIM A COPY OF THOMAS MALORY’S LE MORTE D’ARTHUR

• THE LEGENDS WITHIN HAD A LARGE IMPACT ON HIS WRITING AND HIS OUTLOOK ON LIFE

EARLY ADOLESCENCE

• STEINBECK SHOWED A STRONG INTEREST AND TALENT IN WRITING

• HE WOULD STAY UP LATE INTO THE NIGHT WRITING OR READING HIS WRITING TO HIS FRIENDS

• HE IS QUOTED AS STATING THAT HE WOULD “WRITE LITTLE STORIES AND LITTLE PIECES AND SEND THEM OUT TO MAGAZINES UNDER A FALSE NAME AND I NEVER PUT A RETURN ADDRESS ON THEM…I WONDER WHAT I WAS THINKING OF? I WAS SCARED TO DEATH TO GET A REJECTION SLIP, BUT MORE, TO GET AN ACCEPTANCE.”

COLLEGE YEARS

• STEINBECK ENROLLED IN STANFORD UNIVERSITY TO DEVELOP HIS WRITING ABILITY

• IN COLLEGE HE ENROLLED IN A BIOLOGY COURSE AND WAS ENAMORED WITH MARINE BIOLOGY

• HIS INTEREST IN ECOLOGY IS EVIDENT IN TWO OF HIS NOVELS: THE SEA OF CORTEZ AND THE PEARL

• THOUGH HE ATTENDED COLLEGE OFF AND ON FOR SIX YEARS, HE LEFT STANFORD IN 1925 WITHOUT RECEIVING A DEGREE.

MISSES AND HITS

• STEINBECK WAS NOT AN OVERNIGHT SUCCESS; UNTIL 1935 THINGS WERE PRETTY BLEAK

• A NUMBER A NOVELS WERE CRITICALLY AND COMMERCIALLY UNSUCCESSFUL

• IN 1935, TORTILLA FLAT WAS HIS FIRST SUCCESSFUL NOVEL IT SHARES MANY SIMILARITIES AND PARALLELS WITH LE MORTE D’ARTHUR

• OF MICE AND MEN, THE GRAPES OF WRATH

THE GRAPES OF WRATH

• STEINBECK’S MOST SUCCESSFUL NOVEL IS THE GRAPES OF WRATH

• IT IS ALSO HIS MOST CONTROVERSIAL

• THE JOAD FAMILY

• IN OKLAHOMA (THE BOOK MADE THE STATE LOOK POVERTY STRICKEN), IN CALIFORNIA (THE BOOK MADE FARMERS AND GROWERS SEEM GREEDY AND SELFISH)

• THE BOOK WAS BANNED IN PARTS OF THE COUNTRY; STEINBECK SHUNNED PUBLICITY AND BECAME ILL

THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA AND LA PAZ• BECAUSE OF THE NEGATIVE PUBLICITY OF THE GRAPES OF WRATH,

STEINBECK JOINED HIS MARINE BIOLOGIST FRIEND, ED RICKETTS, TO STUDY MARINE LIFE AROUND THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA AND LA PAZ

• WHILE STUDYING THE MARINE WILDLIFE, STEINBECK WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE TWO MORE NOVELS. ONE IS CALLED THE SEA OF CORTEZ THE OTHER THE PEARL

• THE PEARL IS A NOVEL THAT STEINBECK WROTE BASED ON A MEXICAN FOLKTALE ABOUT A PEARL DIVER NAMED KINO.

THE PEARL

• THE PEARL IS A PARABLE

• A SHORT SIMPLE WORK WITH VERY LITTLE DIALOG THAT ILLUSTRATES A LESSON OR A LARGER TRUTH

• THE TRUTHS ARE OFTEN ON THE SUBJECT ON GOOD VS. EVIL

THE PEARL

• THE PEARL HAS A NUMBER OF THEMES AND TOPICS

• MONEY, POSSESSIONS, AND GREED

• SOCIAL OPPRESSION

• GOOD VS. EVIL

• APPEARANCE VS. REALITY

THE PEARL CONTINUED

• PAY ATTENTION TO THE DIFFERENT CONFLICTS IN THE TEXT

• MAN VS. NATURE

• MAN VS. MAN

• MAN VS. SOCIETY

• MAN VS. SELF

NOBEL PRIZE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

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