John Steinbeck is a classic author from the mid 20th century who wrote dozens of novels about the American experience, 7 of which were penned in the 1930's.
His most famous work, The Grapes of Wrath (which I think we're going to study) is a great example of many of the macro and micro-issues dealt with by American families in this decade. His other famous works include Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, Travels with Charlie, and Tortilla Flat. Steinbeck has a knack for creating archetypal characters that embody traditional characteristics ie. the mother, the whore, the servant, the boss ect. The conflicts that exist between and within his characters are portrayed as clear dichotomies to throw good and evil into stark contrast.
One of the most evil female characters ever created is a woman by the name of Cathy who is the wife of Adam Trask, a main character of East of Eden. As a child she is described as having a "malformed soul." She runs away as a young woman, lighting her house on fire and killing her parents. She uses her feminine wiles to manipulate men, which gets her brutally beaten by a pimp, which is the condition she is in when she shows up at Adam's front door. He falls in love with her, marries and impregnates her, and they moves to the Salinas Valley in California. There she betrays him and runs away again, this time to the largest nearby city, and becomes a madam, the proprietor of a whore-house there. The story goes on to follow her children, two boys as they grow up in the Salinas valley without the knowledge of who their mother is. Their story is a parallel of the biblical tale of Cain and Able, and the impurity of their physical source is the unknown factor in their eventual internal conflicts between good and evil. East of Eden is my second favorite Steinbeck novel, after Grapes of Wrath; here is a link for trailer for the motion picture in case anyone wants to check out the Elia Kazan directed film.
Eleanor Berton
I don't know if were are going to watch it in class, but it is interesting to note the ideological differences between Steinbeck's novel of The Grapes of Wrath and John Ford's film version of it. The novel is a thinly veiled appeal to socialism, whereas the film takes on the more conservative focus of the importance of the family unit, providing a kind of populist escapism as opposed to political awareness.
ReplyDeleteI like reading Steinbeck a lot. I think he captures something special about the American spirit. Perhaps it has something to do with how the time he was writing shaped the American personality so much.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had had time to read some Steinbeck in this class. I love the way he writes. There is something so amazing about how he strings words together and makes you love the people he tells you about. I've never seen any of the movies so seeing the trailer was really interesting. Thanks for sharing!
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