National Steinbeck Center

Today, most families are faced with hardships, but Jeannette Walls and John Steinbeck wrote some of the best examples of endurance in their novels The Glass Castle and The Grapes of Wrath. In The Glass Castle, Walls wrote about her childhood and problems that were unique to her family. Steinbeck wrote about a very common issue that tenant farmers faced during the dust bowl and Great Depression of the 1930’s. He wrote of a fictional family, the Joads. The Walls and Joad family both lived their…

Literature means many different things to many different people. It can be an escape from reality, to gaining knowledge by reading the Encyclopedia. Books, or literature, could be anything with words that have meaning, but to critic Roland Barthes 'literature is the questions minus the answer, ' he means that within each piece of literature there are questions that the book leaves with you. Although, many times you must read between the lines or look deeper into the text itself. Many books…

Though The Pearl (by Steinbeck) is, on the surface, viewed as a prejudice and sexist book, there are different ways it can be read and interpreted. It is the story of a pear diver named Kino, and it demonstrates how mans’ nature can make him evil and greedy. The book sets general gender roles for the characters depicted. It also shows the function of the social class of the time. Even still, The Pearl shows that women are smart and strong when it comes to protecting the family. The Pearl is a…

Of mice and men was a story written by John Steinbeck. Publish in 1937. The story takes place during the Great depression. Based on two migrant ranch workers in California, New Jersey. George Milton and Lennie Small goes from work site to work site looking for job opportunities so that somehow, one day they can save enough money up and invest it into their own farm. George met Lennie when he work at Lennie’s aunt farm. But soon Lennie aunt got sick and George promised her. That he will take care…

Tragedy is the catalyst of adversity. People often attempt to right wrongs that have occurred, whether they be by their own hand or by the power of circumstance. Unfortunately, not all wrongs are remedied as planned by those who seek rectification. Heywood Broun once said, “The tragedy of life is not that the man loses, but that he almost wins,” which is especially true in the case of Kino. The tragic incident of his son, Coyotito, being bitten by a venomous snake incited Kino to desperately…

were in. George goes on to tell Lennie about how he had gone up to a woman to touch her dress because it looked pretty and soft and when the woman pulled away he gripped down and wouldn 't let go just as he had done with countless small animals (Steinbeck 6). This conversation is consistent with today 's situation surrounding the mentally disabled. In the modern day people affected by mental illness causing forgetfulness and short term memory loss rely on their care takers to remind them of…

the oppression of women in society. This short story by John Steinbeck is about a thirty-five-year-old woman named Elisa who has an intense love for gardening. Although she is a great and extremely capable gardener, she is forced by her husband to apply her skills only on the tasks that are dictated to her role as a woman in society. As a result of this, she is forbidden from helping him with the farm’s harvest for the season. Steinbeck uses several other examples in addition to the one above to…

Decisions. In the story Of Mice and Men, George one of the main protagonist, makes a daring decision to kill his best friend for the best of things. George and Lennie have faced many outcomes that lead to problems in their relationship, and George must take the initiative to make what 's best for the both of them. George makes the best decision to kill Lennie. George cares too much for Lennie to have him suffer anymore, so George won 't have to protect Lennie, and won’t have to disappoint anyone…

Throughout the novel “Of Mice and Men” there were a lot of notable themes, but none more prominent than disability. In the novel, John Steinbeck displays various forms of disabilities including mental disability, race, and gender. Steinbeck also analyzes the affects that these disabilities have on the characters of the novel and their roles in society. Whether we analyze the relationships that the characters have with the disabled, or how their disability hinders them professionally or socially…

John Ford, the director of the film, The Grapes of Wrath, produced a classic masterpiece based off of John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel which was published in 1939. According to Lisa Cornwell, “The films in this category for the most part are centered on a universal and timeless concern that in turn helps those films achieve the enduring excellence that qualifies them as classics” (5). As viewers watch the film, the constant theme of human suffering related to the social problems of…