John Steinback Essay, Research Paper

John Steinbeck

“Many of his books feature impoverished and dispossessed people, such as the American migrant farm workers “(Ito 7)

John Steinbeck started his career as a writer during the Great depression and this time period effected his career greatly. Many of his books, short stories, and characters were either influenced by or based on this time period.

One of Steinbeck’s greatest novels is The Grapes of Wraith. Steinbeck’s reason for writing this book was the “Okies.” The Okies were “Oklahoma farmers who, desolated by the ruin of their crops and unable to meet their mortgages were striped of their land by the federal government”(Ito 8) and had to move westward to find a new job and life. When Steinbeck read and heard about the stories of these people he became inspired to write The Grapes of Wraith. The novel was greatly influenced by the stories of these people and their courageous migration westward during the Great Depression. Steinbeck saw the unjust working conditions the Okies encountered in labor camps, which forced the Okies to unite and support one another in their struggle to survive. After Steinbeck saw this unity he wondered why the rest of Americans could not be more like the Okies. He felt deeply influenced by the Okies and their strong will to survive.

In the novel In Dubious Battle the workers in the California apple country influenced Steinbeck. The story shows how Nine hundred migratory workers “rise up in dubious battle” against the landowners.