John Steinbeck's View Of The World

Steinbeck's View of the World

John Steinbeck's novels expressed an ecological world view that has only recently begun to accumulate proponents. This holistic view grew during an era when such thinking was unpopular, and one must wonder how this growth could have occurred in a climate which was hostile for it. Some investigation shows that the seeds for this view already existed in his childhood and were nurtured through his exposure to ideas in marine biology.

While growing up in Salinas, Steinbeck had the opportunity to spend a lot of time outdoors. His uncle used to take him on fishing trips, and combined with the times he visited his maternal grand-fathers' farm near King City, it undoubtedly gave him an appreciation

Even though his grandfather's farm could not sustain crops (Steinbeck, T., 1992), the whole community was dependent on the inter-connection of living creatures within the valley. The lives of these farmers and their future production always depended on the current production of the land.

When the crops were plentiful, the harvest would bring money and food and supplies for the next year's crop. Rain had an enormous impact on the farmers. Too much or too little could be devastating to their crops or the food supply of farm animals, and they affected the farmers who were dependent them. This cycle was discussed in novels such as The Long Valley and Grapes of Wrath.

Most of the city of Salinas was built up by farmers or various support industries that come after original settlers arrived. Anything that affected the farmers would have probably been reflected in Salinas in some form. Thus, his entire upbringing was filled with an exposure to the interconnectivity of life.

An example of this was given in one of the class lectures. Slides were shown of marine life, and one of the slides was a striking example of the symbiotic relationships between these creatures. The slide showed a shrimp cleaning parasites from a fish. We were told that while the shrimp was feeding on these parasites, other fish line up behind the first fish to await their turn to be cleaned. The shrimp was fed by the fish and the fish were kept healthy by the shrimp. The relationship between the parasites, the fish, and the shrimp was a ideal example of the inter-connectivity between species in their