... soul can kill quicker than a germ," - John Steinbeck. This quote explains a lot about Steinbeck's life and his perspective on the time period in which he lived. The majority of the America at the time was sad, and it seemed easy for many to just give up. Steinbeck lived in a time period that was overwhelmingly ... He experienced numerous movements in his life. He was alive to see and hear about the Civil Right's Movement. He saw the movement that Franklin Roosevelt had on the American people to climb out of the depression and comfort all the people while letting them know that everything...

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• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... that he is going to live off the land like Muley. He continues to argue until the family sneaks sleeping medicine into his coffee. When Grandpa Joad falls asleep, they carry him into the truck and start the journey to California. In this chapter, the Joad's have travelled for a day and decided to camp on the side of the road when they meet the Wilson's, whose car has broke down ... . Because Granpa is really sick, the Wilson's offer their tent to him so he would be able to rest ... . Not long afterwards, he dies of a stroke. They hold a quick funeral and bury him even though it is agains...

• Word Count: 1415
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... behind to fix the car and catch up with them later. As expected, Ma refuses to accept Tom's proposal, thus exhibiting her devotion to family unity rather then fragmentation. She does not want to leave them behind for she fears that they would never see Tom and Casy on the road or in ... California. As a result, she grabs hold of a jack-handle, steps in front of the truck to block it, and threatens to fight anyone who gets in her way, especially Pa. ... sense" and that he would not give up on the family. Also, when the Joads were stopped by a blockage and forced to turn back, Tom almost l...

• Word Count: 1488
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... of life that they have each other, while Lennie and George are often seen to be something special by the outside characters in their story. Also, in The Grapes of Wrath has alternative chapters expressing personal commentary on the general state of America and gives in The Grapes of Wrath a much more encompassing feel; rather than just an isolated view of a Californian work camp, it ... George, who could only dream of one. The alternate paragraphs in The Grapes of Wrath serve to illustrate the overall context of the Depression, while in Of Mice and Men, there is only a personal and clos...

• Word Count: 1752
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a child that had the most profound affect on his writing was Morte d"Arthur, by Malory. Steinbeck wrote for the school papers in Salinas and Stanford. He could never quite obtain a degree from Stanford but during the period of his sporadic efforts to obtain a degree he found a lot of action. He had many odd jobs. He worked as a ranch hand, joined a road-building gang, worked in ... many of Steinbeck's works. Steinbeck first began to gain in popularity with the writing of the first parts of the story The Red Pony. The Red Pony is made of four interconnected stories "The Gift", "The Great...

• Word Count: 1424
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... adventures prophetic allegory. The life force which drives the turtle, drives the Joads, and in the same direction - southwest. As the turtle picks up seeds in its shell and drops them on the other side of the road, so the Joads pick up life and take it across the country to California. As the turtle survives the truck`s attempt to smash it on the highway, so the Joads endure the perils of their journey. The concurrence of animal ... and human life occurs very often in the novel, in the case of other animals too. For instance, in ... ...

• Word Count: 2399
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... were young lady again. In the end of the story, there is another occasion that illustrates Elisa's emotions reacting from a direct cause of the chrysanthemums. As Elisa and Henry were driving to dinner, Elisa spots a dark spec on the road and notices what it was immediately; it was the chrysanthemum sprouts that she had gave to the man to give to the lady down the road who he had mentioned (253 ... ). According to the narrator, "The roadster turned a bend and she saw the caravan ahead. She swung full around toward her husband so she could not ... you"re changed again" (253). She later a...

• Word Count: 1566
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... their actions will do, but do nor care, as the downfall of the migrant workers is their only concern. Steinbeck uses many symbols throughout his book to make points, from the turtle to the rain at the end. The turtle is one of the symbols that I have picked up on. They talk about how the turtle attempts to cross the road, and he is nearly crushed twice by passing motorists, and ... is flung off the road by a motorist who tried to squash the turtle in its tracks. I feel that this turtle stands ... for survival, and hope. The turtle struggles to cross the street while looking in the eyes...

• Word Count: 1597
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... their actions will do, but do nor care, as the downfall of the migrant workers is their only concern. Steinbeck uses many symbols throughout his book to make points, from the turtle to the rain at the end. The turtle is one of the symbols that I have picked up on. They talk about how the turtle attempts to cross the road, and he is nearly crushed twice by passing motorists, and ... is flung off the road by a motorist who tried to squash the turtle in its tracks. I feel that this turtle stands ... for survival, and hope. The turtle struggles to cross the street while looking in the eyes...

• Word Count: 1596
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... many people were concerned only for themselves. The nave "Okies- were not expecting people to cheat them or take advantage of how desperate they were. People along the road to California saw the "Okies- as poor, migrant beggars and thieves. When the Joads finally get on the road, they experience much traffic on the highway because lots of other farmers received the same ad Ma Joad received. In chapter ... 13, the family dog gets run over by a car, an event that foreshadows ... the death of Grandpa Joad. Grandpa Joad died of a stroke. The strain of the heat and his homesickness were too...

• Word Count: 1294
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... drink, and the Joad family begins their journey to California. The second section of the novel is about their journey to California. Highway 66 is the main road to California and is filled with migrants, or in other words, "a path of people in flight (128)." This description is seemingly in connection with the biblical story about the oppression of the Israelites by the Egyptians. At sundown on the first day ... of travel, the Joads turn off the road to camp for the night, when they meet Ivy and Sarah Wilson, a couple from Kansas that is stranded with a broken-down car. Granpa ... becom...

• Word Count: 1730
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... structured in three parts: the time at the origin of their journey, in the midst of a heavy drought; the time on the road; and the time in California where the novel ends. This division of the novel corresponds to the three stages of the biblical Exodus: the Israelites" time in bondage; the forty years of wandering in the desert wilderness; and the arrival in Canaan, the Promised Land. The plagues in Egypt, that forced the Israelites to flee, have ... the their parallel in the drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl; the Egyptian oppressors, in the bank officials ... ...

• Word Count: 1670
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... life is like for George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, and Curley's wife in John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. Two men, George and Lennie travel on a road trip to Salinas, California picking up whatever work they can find. These two men settle on a ranch and meet new people who share similar lives. They dream of owning a farm together but many incidents occur throughout ... don't care about females and that they are treated like objects. Despite Curley's wife having a husband, she is restricted from going anywhere and has no choice but to stay in the house all by her lonely self. Curley's...

• Word Count: 1301
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... books are from separate times and places and this is due to the language and setting used. In "Of Mice and Men" the language used is that of the itinerant worker this is typical of that which would have been used on the farms at the time. This helps add to the realism of the story and make it more life like. Steinback also uses a great deal of ... from Candy makes it seem almost certain to happen. However we hear throughout the book how all farm workers dream the same thing but no one has ever seen it actually happen. This is pointed out when crooks the stable boy says "I seen hundreds ...

• Word Count: 1524
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... a child that had the most profound affect on his writing was Morte d"Arthur, by Malory. Steinbeck wrote for the school papers in Salinas and Stanford. He could never quite obtain a degree from Stanford but during the period of his sporadic efforts to obtain a degree he found a lot of action. He had many odd jobs. He worked as a ranch hand, joined a road-building gang, worked in ... many of Steinbeck's works. Steinbeck first began to gain in popularity with the writing of the first parts of the story The Red Pony. The Red Pony is made of four interconnected stories "The Gift", "The Great...

• Word Count: 1379
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... -shoes. Steinbeck portrays, this well, showing the bona fide life of the itinerant workers: "Jus the usual thing. We go to old Susy's place." This shows the reader that the employees work a hard week and on the Saturday night they take their pay and go straight to the whorehouse and spend all their money for that week. The reality of life for the migrant workers was bleak, lonely and purposeless ... off dead rather than caged up like and animal. During section four in the novella Crooks joins the dream. His initial reaction when Lennie tells him of the dream farm is one of bewilderment: ...

• Word Count: 1337
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... makes clear that Lennie was completely dependent on George as George was on Lennie as they both could not survive without each other, already foreshadowing the situation George or Lennie could be nearing the end (1B, Steinbeck, Page 72-73). " "You"re nuts." Crooks was scornful. "I seen hundreds of men come by on the road and on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an" that same damn thing ... in their heads. Hundreds of them. They come, an" they quit an" go on; an" every damn one of "em's got a piece of land in their heads. And never a god damn one ... of "em ever gets it." " ...

• Word Count: 1521
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School