John Steinbeck opinions?

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Augustine8 said:
Having been more excited by literature recently, I have gotten really into John Steinbeck and his style of writing. His writing can be very profane, so I don’t think he’s for everyone. I’m still in high school but I just finished the Grapes of Wrath and I think I can handle it. What do you guys think about Steinbeck?
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Excellent writer. One of my favourites. Now that you’ve read ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, try ‘East of Eden’ and ‘Of Mice and Men’.
 
By the way, what happens to Grendel’s mother at the end of "Beowulf’?
 
I liked East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath but hated The Red Pony.

He totally lost me when the pony got sick by being out in the wet and cold. Please, straggles is a contagious illness. The only way the pony could catch it was from other horses, where were the other sick horses? Also thought it was stupid to leave the barn door open twice. I never met a horse owner or farmer who was that negligent about their animals. Steinbeck didn’t know much about living on a farm with animals.
 
Not to mention that the whole trope of a child’s beloved animal friend dying in some tragic way is the most clichéd plot ever. When I was a kid, I learned pretty quickly to skip to the end of any book about kids having a close relationship with an animal, see if/ how it died, and then usually not read the rest of the book. Because who wants to read that depressing stuff?
 
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Augustine8 said:
Having been more excited by literature recently, I have gotten really into John Steinbeck and his style of writing. His writing can be very profane, so I don’t think he’s for everyone. I’m still in high school but I just finished the Grapes of Wrath and I think I can handle it. What do you guys think about Steinbeck?
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Excellent writer. Yes, his characters are full of flaws, some serious, but also express much charity. I read some of his novels and saw movies of others.
  • Of Mice and Men (movie - 1939)
  • Grapes of Wrath (movie - 1940)
  • Tortilla Flat (movie - 1942)
  • The Pearl of Great Price (book)
  • Sweet Thursday (book)
 
I read an article about “Of Mice and Men”, and thought what a senior English teacher said was very interesting. She said the relationship between main characters George and Lennie was the topic that provoked the most debate in her classes. She said a lot of students jump to the conclusion that the two main characters must be gay as they travel together, and that, she thinks, is due to modern representations of male relationships…
 
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I’m sorry you suffered a death. Five members of my family died in the last couple years and I myself don’t find reading “The Red Pony” or its ilk to be helpful in dealing with that. If it makes you feel better, great. More for you.
 
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tuscany said:
She said a lot of students jump to the conclusion that the two main characters must be gay as they travel together,
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My dear, didn’t you know, that any two characters who appear in the same scene together, for any reason and under any circumstance…

ARE TOTALLY DATING!!!
 
I feel so strongly about that, too! I can usually handle the people dying better than the animals…except small children.

I hate having to hold a book over my head because I can’t read through my tears…it’s very uncomfortable!
 
Saw of Mice and Men (1939 movie) when I was 11 (1962) … and was traumatized for weeks. In contrast to the OTHER things on TV at the time … none of the multiple tragedies ever had a happy ending. Read it this year with a 9th grade AP Lit class.

While some might view O.M.a.M as a perfect storm story for justifying euthanasia (animals … and a person) … I was struck by the fact that the euthanizing TOOL in two of the cases … was a Lugar (German gun).

At the time Steinbeck wrote the story, 1936, the Nazis were in power in Germany and using Euthanasia liberally (particularly re: the disabled). Making a Lugar the tool … could it be Steinbeck did NOT favor the Euthanasia being pushed as a social plus by the Nazis (and Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger) at that time?

Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, since, despite my childhood trauma, I like Steinbeck and see him as a bit of an American Charles Dickens in his addressing and personalizing social injustices.
 
In thinking about “Of Mice and Men”, which is just about the only Steinbeck work I sort of liked, I vaguely remembered I saw a Bugs Bunny cartoon parody of it once, so I looked and found out it had been parodied by Looney Toons and other cartoons over and over. These are just a few of the “Of Mice and Men” cartoon allusions available on Youtube. I also remember it being parodied in an Archie Comic when I was a kid, I think it was an issue of Josie and the Pussycats where the band meets a young hippie type George and his large dim pal Lennie who act pretty much like in the book. What gets me about some of these is that the parody is persisting well into generations of kids who may never even read the original book.

 
I read Of Mice and Men. I didn’t really care for it. Then again, I admit to having minimal education on interpreting themes and symbolism in literature, so maybe that was because I do not have the knowledge required to fully appreciate it.

I have not read any of his other works so I cannot speak to them.
 
I’ve read all his works, and he has been one of my favorite authors. Tortilla Flat is my favorite. The Grapes of Wrath, my least. Actually, it might be the only one I didn’t like. I still found it a good read, but I saw such despair in it without light of any hope. Maybe I should reread them all and see if I still feel the same.
 
CaptFun said:
I like Steinbeck and see him as a bit of an American Charles Dickens in his addressing and personalizing social injustices.
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I don’t like Steinbeck, but he is the closest thing the Americans have to Dickens with his social commentary.
 
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