John Steinbeck - Research Paper Example

The lower part of the Salinas valley was a shipping center. The demographic and the geographic location characteristics of John Steinbeck’s hometown were great factors that influenced a majority of his novels and indicated his characters had a strong identification with the land. Steinbeck even wrote to George Albee in 1933 telling him that he wanted to write the story of the entire valley, all the small towns and farms and all the ranches located in the wilder hills. Steinbeck had a comfortable childhood period in Salinas, though as a teenager his family faced numerous setbacks.

His adorable father who had been working as a manager in Sperry Flour lost his job. He worked out his second option of opening a grain and feeds store, but unfortunately it failed too. Eventually, he was in a position to secure a job in Monterey County as the treasurer. Steinbeck loved his pony, which he named Jill, and this inspired him to write his later novel entitled “The Red Pony”. His writing career was greatly affected by his childhood events. On his ninth birthday, someone gave him a copy of Thomas Malory’s work, and he admits that when he first read it, he was charmed of words because the old fashioned words delighted him (Steinbeck 97).

He keenly read the stories of King Arthur, and together with his sister, they would visualize the towers of Camelot amidst the sandstone erosions alongside the Pastures of Heaven where his aunt resided. Twenty years down the line, he adopted Arthurian tropes besides chapter headings of his novel Tortilla Flat. Steinbeck in his career would travel to England to prepare how the Arthurian tales would be updated for modernity. His mission wasn’t complete until his demise but his Noble Knights and Acts of King Arthur were later published posthumously.

As a teenager, John Steinbeck displayed a robust interest in writing and in his high school days, he would work until the