“A great man is one who leaves others at a loss after he is gone” - Paul Valery. John Steinbeck was one such man. A great author whose works carry great historical significance to this day. Despite undergoing several tragedies throughout his life, he overcame and continued to pursue his literary dreams. Only through hard work and dedication did he manage to concoct masterpieces such as The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. Oftentimes the greatest minds come from the most unexpected sources. John Steinbeck was not born a rich man or a poor man. He came from an upper middle class family and had a fairly average childhood. His mother, Olive Hamilton, was a schoolteacher, and his father, John Ernst Steinbeck, was a manager at Sperry Flour Mill.
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Already known by his family as a young reader, at the age of nine he began reading about the travails of King Arthur and became instantly infatuated with the sheer imagination. He enjoyed imagining Camelot in his backyard and riding around on a prancing stallion. The small ranches in the Salinas valley were not exactly what an author needs, and “Respectable Salinas circumscribed the restless and imaginative young man” (Shillinglaw). When the time did come for him to grow up and move on to University, to appease his parents he attended Stanford. Although a clearly talented author, it seemed that graduating from university was not the right decision for him, and “Though he attended college off and on for six years, he left Stanford in 1925 without receiving a degree” (“John Steinbeck Biography”). These years were not all wasted, as he collected the knowledge which would later be needed to write and publish. John Steinbeck was no exception to this rule, and began writing to his heart’s content. Unfortunately for him, writing was not helping him with paying his bills, and he required work to do so. This work was at Spreckels Sugar at its various locations. From childhood to his 20s, Steinbeck was simply in love with writing, and would carry this passion for the rest of his
Already known by his family as a young reader, at the age of nine he began reading about the travails of King Arthur and became instantly infatuated with the sheer imagination. He enjoyed imagining Camelot in his backyard and riding around on a prancing stallion. The small ranches in the Salinas valley were not exactly what an author needs, and “Respectable Salinas circumscribed the restless and imaginative young man” (Shillinglaw). When the time did come for him to grow up and move on to University, to appease his parents he attended Stanford. Although a clearly talented author, it seemed that graduating from university was not the right decision for him, and “Though he attended college off and on for six years, he left Stanford in 1925 without receiving a degree” (“John Steinbeck Biography”). These years were not all wasted, as he collected the knowledge which would later be needed to write and publish. John Steinbeck was no exception to this rule, and began writing to his heart’s content. Unfortunately for him, writing was not helping him with paying his bills, and he required work to do so. This work was at Spreckels Sugar at its various locations. From childhood to his 20s, Steinbeck was simply in love with writing, and would carry this passion for the rest of his