...John Steinbeck John Steinbeck’s career as a writer led, led him to becoming a great American Novelist. When Steinbeck started his literary after dropping out of college, he was going nowhere. His work showed his inexperience, and it would be years before his writing would mature. Once he gained the experience he needed, his books were becoming top sellers and he became a distinguished author. The focus of his works was to reveal conditions in American work life. He particularly helped express what the conditions for farm hands were like. What made John Steinbeck a great American author is how he tried to help improve American’s life with his writing throughout his life. It is this focus is what makes him a true American author. “John Steinbeck was born February 17, 1902 in Salinas, California” (Gale). He was raised in a large family, “He was the only son and the third of four children of Olive (Hamilton) Steinbeck, a school teacher and John Ernst Steinbeck, manager and eventually owner of the Sperry Flour Mill, later treasurer of Monterey County” (Bernhard). His family was wealthy and down to earth allowing young Steinbeck an easy childhood, leaving a lasting impression in his literature. “The Salinas Valley, the rugged hills surrounding it, and the coastal flats bordering Monterey Bay … later became the backdrop for much of his fiction” (Bernhard). Both of Steinbeck’s parents actively stimulated his literature, but “Olive (Hamilton) Steinbeck … fostered Steinbeck’s love of...
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...and refused to pay taxes by means of protesting slavery. He addresses his experiences and views on civil disobedience, which were also revisited almost a century later in John Steinbeck’s account of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, The Grapes of Wrath. This novel reflects Thoreau’s ideas about civil disobedience such as, less government involvement is better, people should make their own laws, and they should work together to fight injustice. One of Thoreau’s principle beliefs is that the less government is involved in community affairs, the better. He is in complete agreement with the claim that “government is best which governs least… [or] which governs not at all” (Thoreau...
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...the story are usually affected tremendously by the setting. The setting is the time, place, day, or location in which the story takes place. The setting reveals clues to the readers as a sense of direction of what will happen next. The plot can be affected by the setting as because it affects what will happen throughout the story. The two short stories, “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck and “Hills like White Elephant” by Ernest Hemingway displays how setting can give hints to what can possibly happen, describe the characters trait, and effect the plot. “The high grey-flannel fog of winter closed off the Salinas Valley from the sky and from all the rest of the world. On every side, it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot” (Steinbeck 581). This quote is stating that the Allen’s foothill ranch was closed off to the outside world, they are living in a rural setting. The Allen’s lived in a neat white farm house with red geraniums...
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...NORTH AMERICAN FICTION BRIEF INTRODUCTION: Before starting our study of American Fiction we must understand what American Literature is in itself and which pieces of writing we can include within this label. It is believed that when a piece is written in North America, more precisely in the USA, it would automatically be given this epithet. But it should be taken into account that this idea is quite broad and doesn’t reflect the real essence of the term. However, there is also another definition that gathers this essence: American Literature is the one that represents the Americanism, the singularity of the USA philosophy and culture. This way, instead of focusing on who the author is, it is focused on the content of the writing. In that which concerns Fiction, the following documents are the ones considered as narrative: Speeches Letters Short Stories Essays Political Documents Sermons Novels Diaries 1 FIRST LITERARY EXPRESSIONS The first documents in which the idea of Americanism is very present are the Sermons. They respond to the strict Protestantism settled in the New Continent after the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers and Puritans in the Mayflower (1620) and the Arabella (1630). They established a theocratic community whose main and only point of reference was the Bible. That is why the idea of the ‘city upon a hill’ is still very present in American mentality. As we all know...
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...are] movin’ ‘cause they got to. That’s why [we] folks always move. Movin’ cause [we] want somepin better’n what [we] got” (Steinbeck, 128). The American dream was seen as a simple concept by the immigrants in the Grapes of Wrath. According to them, “You can reach anywhere and pick an orange” (Steinbeck, 34). They thought they will just go to California and get plenty of jobs for everyone and get rich. This is highlighted in page 34,”there’s work there and it never gets cold”. What the immigrants did not know was that finding an ideal life in the west was nearly impossible. Additionally, those who were looking for an ideal life were corrupted by the system. In his book, Steinbeck said that the attainment of the American dream was nearly impossible due to the economic instability and constant government interference. The Joads found unpredictable jobs in California (Ownby 73). They failed to achieve the American dream and so they did not succeed in California. Before they migrated from Oklahoma, the Joads had a good life. They had land, a home and money. Their migration was fuelled by their hopes of finding success and a better life in California. The Grapes of Wrath is set during the great depression. The great depression was a result of the inaction by the federal government which led to failing of the financial institutions. Many people were out of work since jobs were scarce hence a rise in poverty and economic hardships. It basically focuses on the Joads family who move to...
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...John Steinbeck uses a range of languages and stylistic features to convey his ideas on powerlessness, friendship, the importance of a dream and the role of women during the Great Depression, in his novel Of Mice and Men. These features influence the reader by creating empathy and sense of inevitability. Techniques such as foreshadowing, symbolism, repetition and allusion help readers make a connection with the characters in the novel. Foreshadowing was used in the novel to show how Lennie would kill Curley’s wife and interfere with achieving the dream that George and Lennie had. Lennie accidentally killing the mice and dog as he patted them showed the strength he has which he is unable to control. This lead readers to predict that when Curley’s wife told him to pat her hair Lennie wouldn’t be able to control himself and would end up ruining the chance of having their dream. Lennie lifting up a girl’s skirt up in Weed foreshadowed that when Lennie met Curley’s wife there would be trouble which George also had doubts about hence why he was trying to protect Lennie whenever Curley’s wife said something to Lennie. The allusion of the poem, To a Mouse by...
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...The second half of the East of Eden is focused on the choice between a life of wickedness and righteousness. All people have the ability to choose between good and evil and this is John Steinbeck’s principle thematic point. This never ending battle is personified by Caleb Trask “who inherits both good and evil and in whom a genuine moral struggle takes place.” (Lisca). The choice between good and evil originated with the word Timshel, which means “thou mayest.” The Trask’s servant, Lee, talks of the importance of Timshel after the naming of the boys. “‘But thou mayest! Why that is what makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice.’” (303). It is ultimately Caleb Trask who must choose between good and evil after his actions cause the death of his brother. Indeed, Caleb Trask represents the struggle all human beings face in their lives. Each person will face a time in their lives where they must choose for themselves which path they must take....
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...America in 1942 Initially, the outbreak of World War II did not bring about any large changes in the German economy. Germany had spent six years preparing for war, and a large portion of the economy was already devoted to military production. During the war, as Germany acquired new territories (either by direct annexation or by installing puppet governments in defeated countries), these new territories were forced to sell raw materials and agricultural products to German buyers at extremely low prices. Fiction as Reconstruction of History: Narratives of the Civil War in American Literature by Reinhard Isensee Even after more than 140 years the American Civil War continues to serve as a major source of inspiration for a plethora of literature in various genres. While only amounting to a brief period in American history in terms of years, this war has proved to be one of the central moments for defining the American nation since the second half of the nineteenth century. The facets of the Civil War, its protagonists, places, events, and political, social and cultural underpinnings seem to hold an ongoing fascination for both academic studies and fictional representations. Thus, it has been considered by many the most written-about war in the United States. The War That Never Goes Away: The Significance of the Civil War for the Cultural Imagination in the United States Despite the overwhelming body of academic work on the Civil War produced in the United States (and beyond)...
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...9:35 PM Comment: Attention Getter unexpected occurs, does one turn his or her back on all that has been worked for? In an American society, there is an idea of a dream. Most people have dreams that differ from one another. Dreams are not limited only to society. Countless numbers of times in American literature, there are moments when an obstacle slows or possibly halts progression. Dreams can also be found in American literature; however, like the reality of society, barriers can be a component of having aspirations. Barriers create obstacles, whether emotional or physical, that make achieving a dream difficult or even appear to be impossible. In American literature dreams seem to be unattainable because of barriers. In all the years of literature, dreams, goals, and aspirations come in contact Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:35 PM Comment: Broad Topic Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:35 PM Comment: Narrow Topic Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:36 PM Comment: Thesis Statement Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:36 PM Comment: Clincher Sentence with a conflict. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has a dream to be with Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby has a passion for his dream so fierce that he pursues Daisy no matter what the barrier. “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his . . . heart” (Fitzgerald 101). One barrier that Gatsby encounters is he has not money...
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...“I have decided, or rather I decided several months before it started, or may be several years say, not to write propaganda in this war at all. I am willing to go to it and will send my kids to it and will give what money I have to it but I want to write just what I believe all the way through it and after it. It was the writers in the last war who wrote propaganda that finished themselves off that way. There is plenty of stuff that you believe absolutely that you can write which is useful enough without having to write propaganda….If we are fighting for what we believe in we might as well always keep on believing in what we have believed, and for me this is to write nothing that I do not think is the absolute truth.” -To Maxwell Perkins, Finca Vigia, Cuba, May 30, 1942 It would be nice to designate the Second World War with a factual title, such as The Good War, or The Best War Ever, but in retrospect neither of these titles would be an honest opinion to the military or the civilian victims of the war. Historians and journalists alike, being that one cannot be the other and therefore should never be confused but for the instance of the following should be entitled to the same mistakes, insinuate that the portrayal of the Second World War was an accurate one without the tremendous censorship and propaganda that transpired out of the First World War. Undoubtedly, to believe such an apparent statement of propaganda would be to dismiss the actions and the transformation of...
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...2007 U-20 FIFA World Cup, he could easily identify the original nationality of each player. By the end of his analysis he had tallied eight different nations from five different continents. When Damon confronted the team with the notion of the American Dream, the players spoke excitedly about how open American culture was compared to their home countries and the opportunities to pursue any career they wished (Damon 1). Despite their different origins from across the globe, on the pitch this group of first, second, and third generation immigrants were all united under one nationality. This...
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...response to literature. If a friend informs you she is reading a book you have just finished, it would be odd indeed if you did not begin swapping opinions. It is inevitable that people will ponder, discuss, and analyze the works of art that interest them. The informal criticism of friends talking about literature tends to be casual, unorganized, and subjective. Since Aristotle, Plato and other prominent literary critics, philosophers, scholars, and writers have tried to create more precise and disciplined ways of discussing literature. This day, literary criticism provides some general guidelines to help us analyze, deconstruct, interpret and evaluate different literary works. Literary critics have borrowed concepts from other disciplines, like linguistics, psychology, and anthropology, to analyze imaginative literature more perceptively. Mass media critics, such as newspaper reviewers, usually spend their time evaluating works—telling us which books are worth reading, which movies not to bother seeing. We usually see literary criticism in a book review or critical essay; however, nowadays the Internet has made all forms of criticism readily available in everything from personal blogs to social media. In this discussion, we will take a look at the different Perspectives and Techniques in Literary Criticism and how they influenced literary works. CLASSICISM Classicism is a specific genre of philosophy, expressing itself in literature, architecture, art, and music...
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...close to the truth. So I was an early reader. And what I read were British and American children's books. I was also an early writer. And when I began to write, at about the age of seven, stories in pencil with crayon illustrations that my poor mother was obligated to read, I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading. All my characters were white and blue-eyed. They played in the snow. They ate apples. (Laughter) And they talked a lot about the weather, how lovely it was that the sun had come out. (Laughter) Now, this despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria. I had never been outside Nigeria. We didn't have snow. We ate mangoes. And we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to. My characters also drank a lot of ginger beer because the characters in the British books I read drank ginger beer. Never mind that I had no idea what ginger beer was. (Laughter) And for many years afterwards, I would have a desperate desire to taste ginger beer. But that is another story. What this demonstrates, I think, is how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story, particularly as children. Because all I had read were books in which characters were foreign, I had become convinced that books, by their very nature, had to have foreigners in them, and had to be about things with which I could not personally identify. Now, things changed when I discovered African books. There weren't many of them available. And they weren't quite as easy to find as the foreign books...
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...immigrant experience defined by poverty, rootlessness and illness and culminates in a remaking of his self through writing. Also its about of what it is like to be treated as a criminal in a strange and alien society one to which the immigrant has been drawn precisely because of the attraction of its ideals. Some says, America is in the heart is a social classic from which the life experience of thousands of Filipino immigrants who were attracted to this country by its legendary promises of a better life, people beliefs specially those people who are peasants or people who live at the average status of life that when they go in abroad, they will get what they need, they will also support their family when it comes in financially needs. That’s why people then and until now influences those beliefs. “ I know deep down in my heart,” he wrote , “ that I am an exile in America . . . I feel like a criminal running away from a crime I did not commit. And this crime is that I am a Filipino in America. “ Overview of the Novel America Is in the Heart the autobiography of the Filipino poet and sometimes subtitled A Personal History describes his youth in the Philippines, his life in America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer following the harvest trail in the rural West. On how to deal and communicate with those people around him. Most importantly, Bulosan describes how American imperialism in the Philippines made the migrant experiences of Filipino's different...
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...Managerial Authority: Is It Abused or Justified? GM591 – Leadership & Organizational Behavior Managers are responsible for taking the necessary steps to provide a work environment that is free from harassment and discord and for effectively communicating individual expectations to all employees under their supervision. This reinforces the responsibility of management to foster a work environment in which employees can thrive and work together harmoniously. I was hired by Noble Investment LLC as a conflict negotiator to address the complaints that have been initiated by current and former employees in regards to unfair treatment of certain employees by a particular upper-level manager. The manager has allegedly written up and terminated employees with whom she perceives as a threat to her position because of their level of education. Before my arrival, every employee, including the complainants, were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their with the organization’s structure and culture. They were asked to answer questions such as: their level of experience and education, their feelings about the work environment, improvements that should be made, their overall view of management including fairness and effectiveness, and what they would like to see come out of this negotiating process. I then anonymously compiled the results and shared them with the Director of Human Resources and the manager in question. The results indicated that there was some possible disparity...
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