John Steinbeck Flashcards
John Steinbeck’s life’
- John Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas Valley(California), an agricultural region that inspired his works
- He had to pay for his education and he worked in stores as a clerk and for a big sugar company, gaining first hand knowledge of the labour problems he would discuss later in his political novels
- He worked in New York as a journalist and went to Europe during WW1 as a war correspondent.
- He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 for The Grapes of Wrath
- He died in 1968 in New York
What are the main themes of his novels?
Steinbeck’s novels are about ordinary men and women who fight against bleak social and economic conditions. They also struggle to resolve their personal and social conflicts in an imperfect society. He’s remembered as a proletarian novelist because in his books he denounces the struggles of the proletarian.
Which is the style of his novels?
His novels are set in a true historical background, his approach is realistic thanks to the use of a clear prose
What does ‘’ the grapes of wrath’’ deal with?
This novel deals with the migration of poor workers and share-croppers from Oklahoma because of the so-called Dust Bowl to California during the Great Depression. The Grapes of Wrath belongs to the American tradition of the open road and persona freedom. They move to the West, looking for the ‘promised land’ in search for a new life, though they know that the American dream won’t come true for most of them.
What’s ‘‘the grapes of wrath’’ plot?
After losing their farm due to the Dust Bowl, the Joad family decides to move to California, the promised land. They buy a used car and head out on Highway 66, where they meet thousands of other migrants. Some of the family members die on the road and it’s only the begging of this tragic adventure since they will not be able to live the American Dream they were seeking.
What does the migrant camp(passage) deals with?
Steinbeck here describes a day in the life of migrants. They travel together and set camps of the night, they live as a kind of community which shares pain and joy together and hope for a better future. They act like a big family, though the next morning they have to move again and they’ll probably never meet again. This highlights the precariousness of their life. They all hope to live the American Dream, sadly, this is not going to be true for most of them
