Born February 27, 1902
Died December 20, 1968
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was born in Salinas, California in February of 1902.His father was the county treasurer, while his mother was a school teacher.It was Steinbeck's mother, Olive, who instilled in him his passion for literature.John lived in the small town of Salinas until he graduated from highschool.He then relocated to Stanford in order to attend the university there.He invested very little time in furthering his education,however,and left without a degree.
In 1925, he moved to New York City, where he had high hopes of becoming a published author.He had no success for quite a while,and started taking up odd jobs to make ends meet.If it wasn't for his father, who later gave him a house and enough money to seriously focus on his writing career, Steinbeck would've had a much more difficult time.
John Steinbeck published his first successful novel,Tortilla Flat, in 1935.He went on to publish around 24 more highly successful novels.He was given many awards and honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize for literature.He passed away due to heart disease on December 20,1968.
One of Steinbeck's greatest works is
East of Eden
Published in 1952
The novel is set in Steinbeck's hometown-the Salinas Valley and uses real people,including some of Steinbeck's own family.It tells the story of Adam Trask.Adam lives with his father who became a widower while Adam was still in his infancy,due to Mrs. Trask's suicide.Adam's father remarries a much younger girl named Alice,who gives birth to Adam's younger half brother, Charles.Adam's father is a distant man,who never shows affection and is obsessed with the military.He raises his sons in a boot camp,of sorts.Adam is also at odds with his brother,Charles, who has violent tendancies.Charles dislikes Adam,because he feels that their father favors Adam more than him.One night,when the boys are teenagers, Charles goes on a rampage and tries to kill Adam.After beating Adam,Charles goes to look for a hatchet,and Adam hides until he can get back to the house.Seeking to separate the boys,Adam's father gets Adam to enlist in the military.
After serving in the military for several years, Adam begins to make his way back home,at Charles' request.He takes his time,and is picked up on vagrancy charges,but eventually he gets back to Massachusetts.Things are awkward between Adam and Charles,the latter trying to make up for lost time but still posessing a quick temper.Both Alice and Cyrus have passed away by this time.Cyrus Trask died a supposed war hero,a career which both of his sons believe he developed based on lies.So,there is a large sum of money to be split between Adam and Charles.They argue about the money,and neither of them touch it for a while.
One day,a battered,dying young woman crawls to their house for help.They give her a room in their house,and have a doctor treat her.She can't even speak for a long time due to a broken jaw,but when she can, she tells them that her name is Cathy.Adam,besotted, spends all of his time taking care of her, not knowing that she is a blackmailing murderer who killed her own family in cold blood.Cathy finds Adam to be a nuisance,but she's in no position to take care of herself,and she has no intention of telling him the truth.Adam asks Cathy to marry him,she accepts because she needs protection.Adam decides to move with his new wife to the Salinas Valley.Cathy quickly becomes pregnant with twins.Adam,overjoyed,goes about making plans and developing their new land,deaf to his wife's claims that she's leaving as soon as the babies are born.When she actually does give birth,Adam tries to convince her to stay,but she shoots him in the shoulder and walks away.
Adam raises his sons,Aaron and Caleb "Cal," with the help of his Chinese servant, Lee.He never tells them who their mother is.The story unfolds like that of Cain and Abel as the twins get older.Cal is always jealous of Aaron, who is a better person than him.The two become more distant as they grow up,with Cal purposely doing things to make Aaron angry and sad.When Cal discovers that his mother,now going by "Kate," is running a whore house in town, he brings Aaron to her brothel and shows him that she truly is their mother.Aaron,who is very religious,goes into shock and feels like he has lost all meaning and purpose.He enlists in the army and gets killed.Kate,who is always in pain due to arthritis among other things,also suffers from the aftermath of her meeting with her sons.She slowly goes insane and becomes paranoid.She poisons herself,believing to be inside the story of Alice and Wonderland as she dies.For a while, Adam has no idea where Aaron has gone,or that it was Cal who drove him to it.When he recieves the telegram saying that Aaron is dead,Adam has a stroke.He is bedridden for a long time,without any hope of recovery.
Cal feels extremely guilty about his brother and confesses to his father,asking Adam to forgive him.Adam simply says the word "Timshel" which means "thou mayest," insinuating that it is up to Cal to forgive himself if he wishes to feel happy.
Steinbeck's novel,East of Eden, was also made into a movie in 1955, starring James Dean.
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