John Steinbeck

Transcription

1 John Steinbeck

2 "[The writer's first duty was to] set down his time as nearly as he can understand it [and serve as] the watch-dog of society... to satirize its silliness, to attack its injustices, to stigmatize its faults."

3 1902 Born in Salinas, California-used as setting for many novels attended Stanford but did not take a degree 1929-First novel published Cup of Gold 1935-Tortilla Flat= turning point of career 1939-Grapes of Wrath= Pulitzer Prize Nobel Prize in Literature in for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humor and a keen social perception. Died December 20, 1968 Uses observation and research to comment on human nature and society-activist for union, human rights, anti-war.

4 "What we have always wanted is an unchangeable, and we have found that only a compass point, a thought, an individual ideal, does not change." -JS

5 Considered the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s, John Steinbeck was the 1962 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. He studied firsthand the struggles of the migrant workers; he celebrates their labor in ritualistic terms and shows the downtrodden overcoming their many adversities through courage and dignity, and through their compassion for fellow sufferers. His prose is considered lyrical in its ability to capture the native speech, folktales and humor of a particular region.

6 John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, the center of the Californian lettuce industry, in He was of German-Irish ancestry. His father, John Ernst Steinbeck, was county treasurer and his mother, Olivia Hamilton, a teacher.

7 Steinbeck attended Salinas High School and then went on to study marine biology at Stanford University, although he never earned a degree.

8 He travelled to New York where he worked as a reporter, but was fired. He then took odd jobs including hod carrier, apprentice painter, caretaker, surveyor and fruitpicker.

9 His first novel Cup of Gold (1929), was an historical romance based on the life of the Jamaican buccaneer, Captain Henry Morgan.

10 In 1930, he married for the first time, Carol Henning (they were divorced in 1943). He was to be married twice more, to Gwyn Conger in 1943 and Elaine Anderson in 1950.

11 It was with his 1935 novel Tortilla Flat that Steinbeck won popular attention. In this and subsequent novels, he continued to write about America's dispossessed rural folk. Steinbeck had a journalist's grasp of significant detail and his novels reflect this. Of Mice and Men was published in 1937.

12 The 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath was a Pulitzer prize winner and was made into a classic film in It awakened America's social consciousness and, for this reason, was compared to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

13 During World War Two, Steinbeck became a war correspondent. Later he was to get special reporting assignments abroad.

14 Steinbeck was controversial because of his support for the underprivileged and he did not receive much acclaim for his later novels. He suffered a long period of adverse criticism in America, but remained popular in Europe.

15 In the 1960s, he made a tour of 40 states of the USA with his poodle, publishing Travels with Charley in search of America (1962) as a result of his journey. In the same year he was awarded the Nobel prize.

16 The ancient commission of the writer has not changed. He is charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement. Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (1962)

17 He died in 1968.

18 Of Mice and Men Images of Steinbeck s California 1930s: The Great Depression

19 Dustbowl Map showing the major damage in 1932

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21 This car is stuck in the once fertile land that is now bereft of topsoil

22 Hobo with bindle-stiff (home-made back pack) that carries all his possessions

23 Another view of hobo with a bindle-stiff

24 Young girl traveling with her family to California, looking for work and a new place to live

25 Families who had enough money, drove to California in a car loaded down with all the belongings they owned

26 In the 1930s, families were bigger. They pack their belongings inside and outside the only vehicle

27 People who did not have money to ride in a car often rode illegally (without tickets) on the country s railways.

28 However, most people walked the 1700 mile trip.

29 This migrant family tries to wash clothes at a migrant workers camp

30 The workday started at dawn and ended at dusk. This family shares a meager supper after a day of work

31 Migrant workers harvesting in a cotton field in California

32 Migrant workers picking peas for about.20 a day

33 Another scene from a migrant workers camp

34 Driving into a migrant workers camp

35 On this table, you see a family s dishes and all the food they have

36 The mother in this picture tries to organize the tent before leaving to work in the morning

37 For $10 a month, you could rent this migrant worker s house. Most could not afford the rent.

38 This woman typifies the young Kansas woman in California. She is 24 years old and has five children. Her husband died of exhaustion. This photo won the Pulitzer Prize in 1934.

39 The man in this photo reminds me of one of the main characters in OF MICE AND MEN the character named LENNIE

40 A dream for many: to be able to buy a lot and build a home of their own.

41 This family has just sold their tent for money to enable them toeat. This family has 7 children, and the mom (in front) is just 32 years old.

42 The best laid plans of mice and men Often go astray. --from the poem To a Mouse by Robert Burns

43 Hope Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all --Emily Dickinson (1861)

44 Dreams We are such stuff as dreams are made on. --Prospero, in The Tempest by Shakespeare

45 People need other people to be complete

46 Salinas Valley, California

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61 Novel s Style play-novelette form developed the characters through speech and actions dialogue reveals the characters to the reader common laborer language contrasts with the tender motives of George, Lennie, Candy, and Slim

62 Setting 1930s, during Depression, near Salinas River in California in keeping with the play format, the scene settings are simplistic, easy to portray on stage action takes place over a 3 day period begins and ends by the river middle scenes set in the bunkhouse interior, in Crooks crowded room, and inside the hay-filled barn

63 Point of View/Narrative Voice 3 rd person objective reader is not directly let in on the thoughts or feelings of the characters except for the gigantic rabbit s appearance in the last chapter causes the reader to draw his own conclusions about the characters

64 Characters George: trim man with dark, sharp features; quick and perceptive. Lennie makes George feel smart and needed. Lennie: huge, innocent man with a limited intellect. Incapable of living on his own. Depends entirely on George for guidance. Often described in animal terms and closely associated with animals throughout novel

65 Characters Candy:good-hearted old gossip with only one hand; wants to share in George and Lennie s dream Curley: bad-tempered, arrogant little man; always ready for a confrontation. Overly occupied with what people think of him; has no close relationships Curley s Wife: never given a name; young woman with beautiful curls who wears too much make-up. She marries to escape her home life but is lonely and bored on the ranch. Flirts with ranch hands which fuels Curley s anger.

66 Characters Slim: respected by the ranch hands who accept his word as law; kind and practical, he befriends Lennie and George Carlson: large, self-centered man; quick to take action; unaffected by the dream Crooks: proud and bitter man whose face is lined with constant pain; isolated from the other men because of his race; holds brief hope that he can be a part of the dream

67 Story told on 2 different levels: a story of 2 ranch hands in the 1930s a story of the world and how it ostracizes people based on unfounded prejudices three outcasts: Lennie, Curley s wife, Crooks isolated for being different from the normal ranch hands Allegory