John Steinbeck's Experience and Writing

At the age of thirteen, most children are still naïve to their future self-professions. However, in 1915, a boy at the mere age of thirteen was encouraged by his English teacher to become a writer (French 1). Unbeknownst to the teacher, the boy would arguably become a writer on equal terms to D.H. Lawrence, John Keats, or William Faulkner. The boy in question is John Steinbeck. Though Steinbeck’s era was a time of isolation and sorrow, between the economy and global conflicts the desperate times allowed many opportunities for Steinbeck. For example, he would intentionally immerse himself in unfavorable conditions that others experienced without a choice. In particular, the experiences with the Great Depression and World War II allowed John Steinbeck to change the world with a pen and paper.

Perhaps the biggest influence in Steinbeck’s writing can be seen from his experiences of the Great Depression while he lived in California. Before Steinbeck made his living as a writer, he would experience the world from various points of views as he worked jobs such as a surveyor, bricklayer, ranch hand, and a store clerk (John Steinbeck). Seeing the world from the perspective of a hard laborer allowed Steinbeck to form his initial views that would become the basis for his early stories. The crisis that grasped California during 1930-1936 was the Dust Bowl, which according to a website dedicated to the great depression states “a million acres of farmland across the Plains became worthless due to severe drought and overfarming” (Causes of). Because of the despairing situation, Steinbeck was able to experience the severity first hand on many occasions.

In fact, in 1935, Steinbeck was allowed to spend a week in Weedpatch where a camp wa...

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... to realize before it is too late.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. John Steinbeck. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2008. Print.

"Causes Of The Great Depression | The Great Depression | Causes, Effects, Timelines." Causes Of The Great Depression | The Great Depression | Causes, Effects, Timelines. Croft Communications. Web. 09 May 2012.

French, Warren G. John Steinbeck's Nonfiction Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1996. Print.

John (Ernst) Steinbeck." Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 May 2012.

Noble, Donald R. The Steinbeck Question: New Essays in Criticism. Troy, NY: Whitston Pub., 1993. Print.

Tedlock, E. W., and C. V. Wicker. Steinbeck and His Critics. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1957. Print.

Swisher, Clarice. Readings on John Steinbeck. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 1996. Print.