John Steinbeck: Experiencing the Dust Bowl Essay -- essays research pa

The 1930s were a decade of great change politically, economically, and socially. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl wore raw the jitteriness of the people, and our true strength was shown. From it arose John Steinbeck, a storyteller of the Okies and their hardships. His books, especially The Grapes of Wrath, are reflections of what really went on in the 1930s. John Steinbeck did not write about what he had previously read, he instead wrote what he experienced through his travels with the migrator workers. His method was not to present himself notebook in hand and interview people. sort of he worked and trave lead with the migrants as one of them, living as they did and arousing no suspicion from employers militantly alert against agitators of any kind. (Lisca 14) John Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath was derived from his personal experiences and his journeys with the migrant workers.John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in the town of Salinas, California. Salinas was an a gricultural trading center with ties to the farms and ranches in the area. Steinbecks father, John Steinbeck Sr., was in the flour-milling business and through it support his family of three daughters and one son. Steinbeck was a good student and a great writer even at an early age he wrote stories for his high school day paper. (Lisca 1-4)The experiences that were most influential to Steinbeck were not at school, moreover instead came from his home and the countryside. He read his mothers books, which included the titles of Crime and Punishment, Paradise lost and The Return of the Native. Another major influence was the countryside of California that surrounded him all his childhood. He went with Good 2his family to his mothers family ranch, where Steinbeck was surrounded by nature, and these kinds of trips led him to write such books as East of Eden and The Red Pony. (Lisca 3-5)Later in life, Steinbeck wrote a book called In Dubious Battle, which make him known as sympathetic t o the labor conditions in California. Because of this, Steinbeck accepted assignments to write articles about the migrants working in California. Steinbeck had been aware of the labor problems in his state of California, but for these articles he wanted to experience it firsthand. For inspiration for his articles, and also what would turn out to be the inspiration for Grapes of Wrath, he visited t... ...out Ive tried to make the subscriber participate in the actuality, what he takes from it will be scaled entirely on his own depth or hollowness. There are five layers in this book, a reader will find as many as he can and he wont find more than he has in himself. (DeMott xiii).John Steinbeck was not observing these peoples plight, but was instead living and feeling it. Steinbeck could have only been considered an observer in that he did not have to experience it. Throughout his experiences living and working with the migrants he not only became interested or aware of the cause, but he became inclined to the cause and it became a part of him. Good 5Works CitedDeMott, Robert. Introduction. The Grapes of Wrath. By John Steinbeck. New York Penguin Books, 1939.Lisca, Peter. John Steinbeck Nature and Myth. New York Thomas Y. Cromwell Company, 1978.Steinbeck, Elaine, and Robert Wallsten. Steinbeck A disembodied spirit in Letters. New York Penguin Books, 1989Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. 20th century ed. New York Penguin Books, 1939.Steinbeck, John. Working Days The Journals of Grapes of Wrath. Ed. Robert DeMott. New York Penguin Books, 1989.