John Steinbeck is one of the greatest storytellers of the twentieth century. His wonderful novellas The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, and The Pearl not only introduce readers to a fascinating, realistic cast of characters, and make the hills and seacoast of California and Mexico come to life, but also tell intriguing stories of the lives of real people. Steinbeck's characters are not the rich men and women of California's boom days, but are the homeless, the migrant workers, the poor fishermen, and the farmers. However, each of these people has a deceptively simple, but important story to tell, a story filled with love and pain. The stories tell us not only of the lives of the poor who seek to live off the land, but of the struggles of all people. Of Mice and Men, The Pearl and The Red Pony are a Steinbecken trilogy of naturalistic philosophy.
Ever since Midas' lust for gold, it appears to be that man has acquired a greed and appetite for wealth. Juana, the priest, and the doctor all undergo a change because of money. They are all affected by their hunger for wealth and inturn are the base for their own destruction, and the destruction of society. Steinbeck's The Pearl is a study of man's self destruction through greed. Juana, the f

Jody discovers Billy can be wrong about things as well as the weather. Gabilan is very ill, and Jody begins to fear he will never get well, but he still trusts to nurse the pony back to health. Jody spends many nights sleeping next to his pony and putting a mixture of bran, hops, carbolic acid, and a little turpentine and steaming water in Gabilan's feedbag, as Billy taught him to do. But, the pony keeps getting worse. Billy admits to Jody, "Yes, he's pretty sick." Billy attempts to help the pony's breathing by opening a hole in his head so the pus can run out. And, indeed, he appears to improve. One night Jody is sleeping in the barn, and Gabilan attempts to leave through the door which has blown open. Jody knows this is a bad sign, but brings the pony back inside. Again, Billy tries to help Gabilan's breathing, this time by putting a slit in his throat. Jody keeps the wound open so his pony can breathe. No matter how much nursing Bill and Jody provide, the pony's health does not improve. One night when Billy is staying awake to watch the pony, Gabilan's breathing quiets and Jody falls asleep. The next morning the pony is gone. Jody and his father find the dead pony in the mountains. When Billy finds Jody he is beating buzzards of Gabilan's head. This episode ends with the ranch hand, Billy, picking up the boy, Jody, and speaking of him as a man to his father who is like all humans trying to deal with death and grief.

The third chapter, "The Promise," is the story of how Jody gets a new horse. The chapter begins with the little boy Jody walking home from school. It is spring and along the way he fills his lunch bucket with horny-toads, lizards, a blue snake, and sixteen grasshoppers. When Jody arrives home he is told his father wants to see him down by the barn. Jody is afraid he has done something wrong. But, when he arrives at the lower pasture fence, he finds his father and Billy Buck looking at the mare Nellie. His father tells Jody to take Nellie up to the ridge ranch and get her bred by Jess Taylor's stallion and he can have the colt she throws. His father makes it clear that he must care for the colt and do what Bill tells him. Billy says he must be patient because the colt, if there is one, won't come for nearly a year. Jody knows that the family can barely afford the five dollars the breeding will cost, and he is willing to do whatever he must to have another horse.

Jody waits impatiently for the birth of the colt, dreaming of riding a black stallion he calls Black Demon. Jody wants to spend his time in the barn with Nellie, but his father tells him to leave it to Billy. Words burst out of Jody's mouth. "But the pony died –" Carl replies, "Don't you go blaming that on him...If Billy can't save a horse, it can't be saved."

George and Lennie come to work in the Salinas Valley where they are on the brink of achieving their dream. The itinerant workers hope to get the farm they dream of with the money earned from working on the ranch. Curleys wife's dream of becoming a famous movie star in Hollywood is as real to her as Lennie's dream of tending the rabbits is to him. George and Lennie are not like the other ranch hands in their friendship for each other; their relationship proves to be so unusual that it brings hope to the bunkhouse keeper, Candy, and Crooks, for the possibility that the dream of a home on their own farm could be fulfilled.

Finally, the greatly anticipated day arrives. Billy calls Jody to the barn, but when it is clear the colt is turned the wrong way, Billy chases the boy from the barn. He won't go, but Billy tells Jody, "Turn your face away, damn you, turn your face." Billy must cut the colt from Nellie, and she dies, but Jody has his colt. "There's your colt. I promised. And there it is. I had to do it – had to."