John Steinbeck Essay example:
John Steinbeck was born February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California. His parents, Olive and John Ernst Steinbeck were of Irish and German ancestry. John’s father served as the Monterey County treasurer, and his mother was a former school teacher.
John lived in a farm-like environment with many small ranches and canneries, with his two older sisters Esther and Elizabeth, and Mary, the youngest child. As she raised John, Olive would sometimes try to get John to achieve more than he did. She taught John to read at an early age. He enjoyed such books as Robin Hood, Treasure Island, and The Legends of King Arthur. In one of his favorite books he scribbled that he wanted to become a writer.
When John entered high school, he became junior officer of the Student Training Corps. He organized drills and rifle practices. His teachers encouraged him to develop his writing skills, and he even submitted a few stories for publication before graduation from high school. He had a successful high school career but when he enrolled in Leland Stanford Junior University, he failed several courses, and completed only three courses the first year.
In the summer of 1923, he and his sister enrolled in a marine biology course at a research facility. He enjoyed the scientific work and potentially could have become a biologist, but decided that literature was better for him. He returned to Stanford and finished the semester. Then John decided to work along with his friend Dook, at Pacific Grove, in the Spreckles factory for twelve hour shifts. They had a hard time and barely earned enough money for their trip back to Salinas. He again enrolled for a final semester at Stanford in 1925, but he never received a college degree because of his devotion to writing.
As John began to grow up, he was trying to survive with his poor financial situation. With little work available, he came upon a job in a fish hatchery, where he raised trout in the Californian Rivers. Here, he conducted a tour of the premises, and on one of these tours he met two sisters, Carol and Idell Henning. He began to fall in love with Carol immediately. He took her out, and their dates were successful enough for him to follow her to San Francisco where they were eventually married. Together there, they gathered most of their material for Cannery Row, and Tortilla Flat, which sold 100,000 copies before it was officially released.
At Christmas in 1939, Carol found out she would soon become a mother, but John had mixed feelings, and they agreed that she would have an abortion. Then, as their marriage began to fail, John drove out one night and met with Gwyndolyn Conger, without telling Carol. He made this a regular routine until he eventually told Carol about the whole thing. Surprisingly, Carol did not give up on the marriage, but with John’s love for Gwyn, she realized the situation was hopeless, and moved out. They divorced in 1942.
During World War II, when he was short on money, John agreed to visit twenty airfields to report on training of bomber crews preparing for war. He also volunteered for the Foreign Information Service (FIS) leading the fight against Nazi wartime propaganda, and interviewed refugees from Europe to write government radio broadcasts. Along with many writers, he joined a committee organized by the Eisenhower administration to increase communications between the U. S. and the Soviet Union.
John and Gwyn decided to get married in March of 1943. Busy with work, he had little time for Gwyn, and decided to put his new short sequel to Tortilla Flat on hold. They traveled to Mexico for a vacation and to work on the marriage. There, he wrote the folktale, The Pearl. When they returned, John found himself in a similar situation to the one earlier in his life. Gwyn was pregnant. She gave birth to Thomas Steinbeck and they started their family in his old town in Monterey County, where Thomas could grow up in the country. Then, on June 12, 1946, Gwyn gave birth to little John Steinbeck IV. Again, John got caught up in his work, and his relationship with Gwyn began to deteriorate. After yet another loud argument between Gwyn and John, Gwyn ran away to California, taking the children with her. John decided it was best to follow his family to Los Angeles, and accept the fact that their marriage was ending. They filed for a divorce in 1948.
As he regained his confidence in himself and reasserted control of his life, he began dating again. He was introduced to Elaine Scott, his third and final love. Elaine visited at John’s beach house near Malibu, California, where he was rewriting the Zapata script. They got married in December of 1950. From this point on his career went very well. Earlier, he had sold only a few thousand copies of his books, including Grapes of Wrath, which was a best seller for two years. At that time, he was at the high point of his career. With his new work, East of Eden, he was doing even better. East of Eden soared to the top of best seller lists. He earned more than three million dollars in the first month of sales for Viva Zapata!
When he wanted to take a break from writing, he began to help out with the government. In 1957, he traveled through Europe to help improve relationships between the U. S. embassies and European governments. However, he had a stroke in 1959 and stayed in the hospital for ten days. His health proved to be just not as good as when he was younger.
He began writing a new novel, The Winter of Our Discontent. It was released in 1961, and was considered his best work in years. However, he was getting old and with his many health problems, be began to believe that he was running out of time and energy. He thought he wouldn’t be writing any more books. At this very time, he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962, “for realistic and imaginative writings, distinguished as they are by a sympathetic humor and a social perception,” according to Warren C. French.
Other awards he won include his two gold medals for best novel by a Californian, the New York Critics’ Circle Award for Of Mice and Men, the American Booksellers’ Award, and the Pulitzer Prize Fiction Award for Grapes of Wrath.
John died on December 20, 1968, weakened by a heart attack, several strokes arteriosclerosis, and emphysema. He was buried in the Garden of Memories Cemetery family plot in Salinas, California. Hundreds of people attended his funeral where actor Henry Fonda read some of John’s favorite poems during the ceremony. With over ten successful books written, one can conclude that John Ernst Steinbeck led a very fulfilling life and career as an author.
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