I. Biography
Born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California, John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. grew up with three sisters and a love for words that grew with age. When Steinbeck turned nine, his aunt gave him Le Morte d’Arthur, by Thomas Malory and Steinbeck commented “‘When I first read it, I must have been already enamored of words because the old and obsolete words delighted me,’”. Steinbeck wrote for his high school newspaper and had decided he would be a writer when he claimed that he knew he wanted to be a writer by the time he turned fourteen (“John Steinbeck Biography”).
Steinbeck left his hometown of Salinas, California to attend Stanford University, which he attended for six years without receiving a degree. Steinbeck had taken classes that interested him, ranging from biology to creative writing to history (“John Steinbeck Biography”). In 1925 Steinbeck decided to move to New York, but only stayed one year. In 1929, three years after returning home to California, Steinbeck published his first novel, Cup of Gold.
A year after Cup of Gold was published, Steinbeck married Carol Henning and continued writing while she worked to support them (“John Steinbeck …show more content…
Steinbeck wrote characters who were dreamers as well as characters who were realists. Ultimately, the two types of characters ended up relying on each other, suggesting Steinbeck’s idea that it is good to be a dreamer, but some realism is necessary to maintain a balance. As Steinbeck 's career progressed, he addressed the reality and dream balance through having the reality be the action of the a dream and the path towards achieving it. In the beginning of his career, before the Great Depression, Steinbeck’s work had a historical romance type theme to them, but once he began to incorporate the reality of the dream, his work became much more successful (Carpenter
Born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California, John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. grew up with three sisters and a love for words that grew with age. When Steinbeck turned nine, his aunt gave him Le Morte d’Arthur, by Thomas Malory and Steinbeck commented “‘When I first read it, I must have been already enamored of words because the old and obsolete words delighted me,’”. Steinbeck wrote for his high school newspaper and had decided he would be a writer when he claimed that he knew he wanted to be a writer by the time he turned fourteen (“John Steinbeck Biography”).
Steinbeck left his hometown of Salinas, California to attend Stanford University, which he attended for six years without receiving a degree. Steinbeck had taken classes that interested him, ranging from biology to creative writing to history (“John Steinbeck Biography”). In 1925 Steinbeck decided to move to New York, but only stayed one year. In 1929, three years after returning home to California, Steinbeck published his first novel, Cup of Gold.
A year after Cup of Gold was published, Steinbeck married Carol Henning and continued writing while she worked to support them (“John Steinbeck …show more content…
Steinbeck wrote characters who were dreamers as well as characters who were realists. Ultimately, the two types of characters ended up relying on each other, suggesting Steinbeck’s idea that it is good to be a dreamer, but some realism is necessary to maintain a balance. As Steinbeck 's career progressed, he addressed the reality and dream balance through having the reality be the action of the a dream and the path towards achieving it. In the beginning of his career, before the Great Depression, Steinbeck’s work had a historical romance type theme to them, but once he began to incorporate the reality of the dream, his work became much more successful (Carpenter