“impoverished and malnourished” to write the book Cup of Gold, which was also highly unsuccessful (John Steinbeck Biography). Steinbeck married Carol Henning on January 14th, 1930, but in 1943 the divorced. Less than one month later, Steinbeck married Gwendolyn Conger who would have his only two children, Thomas and John Steinbeck Jr.. Hired by the New York Herald Tribune, Steinbeck was sent to Europe to report on the war (John Steinbeck Biography). After the was, John’s longtime friend Ed Ricketts was hit by a train and died. When he returned from the funeral Gwyn asked to be divorced. These consecutive blows to Steinbeck caused him to go into a long depression. To distract himself from these devastations, he attempted to drown himself in
