MAROIU AMELIA-DIANA MASTER STUDII ANGLO-AMERICANE ANUL AL II-LEA

John Ernst Steinbeck-a voice of the land

John Ernst Steinbeck is one of the most valuable American writers. In his novels, he generally described the rural life of the 20th century. He spent his childhood, in a small rural town, working on nearby ranches and later with migrant workers on Spreckels ranch. He became aware of the harsher aspects of migrant life and the darker side of human nature, which supplied him with material expressed in such works as Of Mice and Men. The rural life, with its habits and particularities was a very common subject in that period. It offered a lot of inspiration to the writers, especially for those who were connected to it. Of Mice and Men tells the tragic story of two displaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression. These two work in California during the Great DepressionGeorge Milton, an intelligent yet cynical man, and Lennie Small, a man of large stature and great strength but degraded mental abilityare on their way to another part of California. They hope to one day attain their shared dream of settling down on their own piece of land. Lennie's part of the dream is merely to tend to (and touch) soft rabbits on the farm. As the narration goes furter, some things comes up in their path and their life is changed bit by bit. Finally, George ends by shooting Lennie in the back of the head. Steinbeck emphasizes dreams throughout the book. George aspires to independence, to be his own boss, to have a homestead, and most importantly to be "somebody". Lennie aspires to be with George on his independent homestead, and to quench his fixation on soft objects. Candy aspires to reassert his responsibility lost with the death of his dog, and for security for his old age on George's homestead. Crooks aspires to a small homestead where he can express self-respect, acceptance, and security. Curley's wife dreams to be an actress, to satisfy her desire for fame lost when she married Curley. Loneliness is a significant factor in several characters' lives. Despite the need for companionship, Steinbeck emphasizes how the nature of loneliness is sustained though the barriers established from acting inhuman to one another.
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Steinbeck's characters are often powerless, due to intellectual, economic, and social circumstances. Lennie possesses the greatest physical strength of any character, which should therefore establish a sense of respect as he is employed as a ranch hand. However, his intellectual handicap undercuts this and results in his powerlessness. Economic powerlessness is established as many of the ranch hands are victims of the Great Depression. As George, Candy and Crooks are positive, action- oriented characters, they wish to purchase a homestead, but because of the Depression, they are unable to generate enough money. Lennie is the only one who is basically unable to take care of himself, but the other characters would do this in the improved circumstances they seek. Since they can not do so, the real danger of Lennie's mental handicap comes to the fore. Fate is felt most heavily as the characters' aspirations are destroyed as George is unable to protect Lennie (who is a real danger). Somehow, Steinbeck shows that the dreams and asprirations are not possible anymore, which leads to the conclusion that The American Dream becomes also an illusion. The Grapes of Wrath, another novel centered around the rural life, focus on the Joads, a poor family of sharecroppers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, and changes in financial and agricultural industries. Due to their nearly hopeless situation, and in part because they were trapped in the Dust Bowl, the Joads set out for California. Along with thousands of other "Okies", they sought jobs, land, dignity, and a future.Again, the American Dream appear in the background of the story, but being addapted to this social group. The narrative begins just after Tom Joad is paroled from McAlester prison for homicide. Heading home, he found it deserted: his family was preapring to move. He join them and go to California.But htey find, on the road that tere are others doing the same risky step, and that could mean their hopes are not so real as they thought. The end of the novel remain hopeless, as they have to run away even from California. The story, as they live close to a pligrims life, reminds of the Jewish people, who wandered fourty years in the dessert, looking for the Promised Land. The difference is that they reached it, while those who remained alive from this family are forced to move again and still live in poverty. The unity that was usually related to the rural is lost in The Grapes of Wrath, the family, the commnuity lose their values and the result is obvious: the villagers need to go find another place to live; as for the family, after facing death, they have to adopt a new life style, and become pilgrims again.
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The values they believed in dont exist any longer; there are two social strata: the rich one and those who tried everything but failed in the attempt, like this family did. The house being flooded is symbolic, because it could predict the death of their hope, the losing of their meaning in life. The novel developed from a series of seven articles Steinbeck wrote on migrant workers from the Midwest in California's agriculture industry. East of Eden is often described as Steinbeck's most ambitious novel. Although The Grapes of Wrath is generally acknowledged as John Steinbecks masterpiece, he later considered East of Eden as his big book, for which he felt all the others were merely practice. First known by its working title, The Salinas Valley, then given its present title, East of Eden, on June 11, 1951, this epic saga of California, which relates the contrapuntal tales of the Trask and the Hamilton families, was considered by Steinbeck to be the capstone of his career as a novelist: I think perhaps it is the only book I have ever written. I think there is only one book to a man, he wrote in the journal that documents the daily vicissitudes of his attempt to find symbols for the wordlessness1 It brings to life the intricate details of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, and their interwoven stories. The novel was originally addressed to Steinbeck's young sons, Thom and John (then 6 and 4 respectively). Steinbeck wanted to describe the Salinas Valleyfor them in detail: the sights, sounds, smells, and colors. The Hamilton family in the novel is said to be based on the real-life family of Samuel Hamilton, Steinbeck's maternal grandfather. A young John Steinbeck also appears briefly in the novel as a minor character. The story is primarily set in the Salinas Valley, California, between the beginning of the 20th century and the end of World War I, though some chapters are in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the story goes as far back as the American Civil War. In the beginning of East of Eden, before introducing his characters, John Steinbeck carefully establishes the setting with a description of the Salinas Valley in Central California. Then he outlines the story of the warmhearted inventor and farmer Samuel Hamilton and his wife Liza, immigrants from Ireland. He describes how they raise their nine children on a rough, infertile piece of land. As the Hamilton children begin to grow up and leave the nest, a wealthy stranger, Adam Trask, purchases the best ranch in the Valley. A parallel story introduces a girl named Cathy Ames, who grows up in a town not far from the brothers' family farm. Cathy is described as having a "malformed soul"; she is cold
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published as Journal of a Novel, 1969

and calculating, prone to violence, and uses her sexuality to manipulate and control men. She leaves home one evening after setting fire to her family's home, killing both of her parents The book explores themes of depravity, beneficence, love, and the struggle for acceptance, greatness, and the capacity for self-destruction and especially of guilt and freedom. It ties these themes together with references to and many parallels with the biblical Book of Genesis (the story of Cain and Abel). Steinbeck's inspiration for the novel comes from the fourth chapter of Genesis, verses one through sixteen, which recounts the story of Cain and Abel. The title, East of Eden, was chosen by Steinbeck from Genesis, Chapter 4, verse 16: "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden" (King James Version). Steinbeck's allusion to Cain and Abel is furthered by the naming of various characters; the first letters of the names of the main characters start with C, A, or both (Charles and Adam, Caleb and Aron, Cathy Ames). The story describes the consequences of someone who want to surpass his own condition. It contains the same message as other novel of Steinbeck did: someone could really die in the attempt of taking many possessions; or, even if he doesnt, the consequences will affect his life. There is emphasized the idea of the family and the relations between brothers and a mother and her children. The family, as a hole, lost its meaning and its myth; its not longer a private place. Steinbeck was one of the writers who presented the rural life of that period, but he did it in a realistic way. His novels consist of real life transcript into words. The construction of the phrases, the style, and the tendency to objectivity are the characteristics that made Steinbeck an important writer and his novels almost a chronicle of the rural life.

Bibliography
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George, Stephen K. John Steinbeck. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature John Steinbeck Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck East of Eden

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