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[12 Dec 2005|07:06am] |
Companionship, loyalty, and the nature of human existence are the familiar themes that John Steinbeck brings to life in his novels. He uses his experiences and observations to create heartfelt characters and detailed settings, which provide the reader with compassion for his literature. Steinbeck’s use of realism was his primary medium for carrying out his intended dramatic and emotional effect.
Lennie, one of the main characters in Of Mice And Men, has many realistic features that permit the reader to feel sympathy towards him. He is a large, strong, man who does not know his own strength. Lennie is an innocent, helpless character who would never intend on hurting a fly, but because he is in unaware of his uncontrollable strength, he becomes an accidental killer. Lennie’s realistic qualities, such as his unintelligent nature, and large, shapeless figure, impact the reader to in moving, emotional, way. This builds a more dramatic effect when Lennie kills innocent animals, and when he himself, an innocent man, gets murdered.
In The Red Pony, Jody, a young boy with a passion for horses, also has many realistic features that the reader can relate to. He is not wealthy and he wears ratted overalls and a t-shirt. He lives on a ranch and meets up with two other boys to walk to school. Most children have a desire to learn how to do tasks on their own. In Jody’s case, he wants to learn how to take care of a horse all by himself. Taking care of a horses, gives him a complete, responsible feeling.
Tom Joad, from The Grapes of Wrath, is a high spirited man, living each day to the fullest. He does not allow the fact that he killed a man bother him. He lives his life without regrets, which many people long to do. Despite Tom’s hardships, he always carries his head high, which is a realistic way about living one’s life. Tom’s high spirit causes the reader to feel compassion for him, because he is faced with difficult hardships. The realism used in The Grapes of Wrath is intended to create dramatic and emotional effect.
Aside from the individual characters, John Steinbeck created relationships of loyalty, which created dramatic and emotional effect when certain events took place. In The Red Pony, the relationship between Jody and his horse, Gabilan, is solely based off of loyalty and trust. Gabilan trusts Jody to take care of him and to make the best decisions for his well being. Jody is exceptionally loyal to Gabilan, and learns as much about horses as he can in order to do a good job taking care of him. Billy Buck, the ranch’s employed hired hand, also has a relationship with Jody that relies on loyalty and trust. Jody trusts Billy Buck to teach him all that he knows about horses, so Jody can provide the correct care for Gabilan. Due to Billy’s judgment, Gabilan is left in the rain for too long and catches a fatal cold which ends his life. This event broke the trust between Jody and Gabilan, and the trust between Billy and Jody. Because of the unfortunate death of Gabilan, the reader feels sympathy for Jody, and the realistic situation creates an emotionally stirring twist. The death of the horse also effected two relationships which Steinbeck which used to help carry out his intention of dramatic effect.
Because John Steinbeck used realism in his works, it is more likely for the reader to relate to his stories. In The Red Pony Jody’s grandfather has many realistic features that give the reader a clear understanding of their relationship. Jody’s grandfather did not come to visit often, but when he did, he always told Jody his exciting stories from when he fought the Indians. Jody loved to hear his grandfathers stories, and he loved to show his grandfather all of the mature things that he could do. He wanted to go kill all of the mice in the haystacks with his slingshot, and he wanted his grandfather to come help. Unfortunately, his grandfather was not up to it that day, so Jody made him a glass of lemonade instead. Jody realized that his grandfather was getting older, and sitting and talking would probably make his grandfather more comfortable.
Another relationship that John Steinbeck uses to create dramatic and emotional effect is the relationship between Lennie and George from Of Mice And Men. Lennie is not familiar with various concepts and he relies on George to help him understand the conflicts that he comes across. Although George is a short tempered man, he is exceptionally loyal to Lennie. George will do anything to protect Lennie, which is the primary reason that Of Mice And Men is a tragedy. George ends up having to kill Lennie, his best friend, in order to protect him from the consequences he was going to have to face, after killing Curley’s wife. The tight bond between Lennie and George builds the dramatic and emotional effect when Lennie is killed by George. The reader is sympathetic to Lennie because he does not know better than to use his strength uncontrollably and he does not know that George is going to kill him. The reader also feels sympathy towards George because it is apparent that George does not want to have to kill Lennie, but it is the only way he can save Lennie from the angry mob of migrant workers.
John Steinbeck grew up in an agriculture valley approximately 25 miles away from the Pacific coast. The valley and the coast eventually became settings for some of his fictional stories. After living or visiting an area where he wanted his stories to take place, Steinbeck would include a detailed description of the setting in his literature. Such detail provides the reader with a better understanding of the set up, which adds to the dramatic effect. Having the ability to imagine the setting, makes the story more intense and believable.
The Log from the Sea of Cortez is a log based on the trip that John Steinbeck took with Ed Ricketts, a marine biologist. Steinbeck studied marine biology at Stanford University for six years, though decided to not finish college and began to work off manual labor while continuing his writing. The Log from the Sea of Cortez is a superb example of how Steinbeck used his own experiences and observations to create a realistic piece of literature. He kept a log each day on the trip and tied it all together, to create a novel that is now read by many.
What little time we were not on lists and equipment or in grudging sleep we went to the pier and looked at boats, watched them tied to their buoys behind the breakwater- the dirty boats and the clean painted boats, each one stamped with the personality of its owner. Here, where the discipline was as individual as the owners every boat was different from every other one. If the stays were rusting and the deck unwashed, paint scraped and lines piled carelessly, there was no need to see the master; we knew him. And if the lines were coiled and the cables greased and the little luxury of deer horns nailed to the crow’s-nest, there was no need to see that owner either.
Such a description makes it apparent that it had to be written by someone who was observing the scenery first hand. Because Steinbeck had marine biology training, the reader has reason to trust his explanations of the Sea of Cortez.
When Steinbeck dropped out of college, he turned to manual labor to make money while he was working on his next piece of literature. Because he experienced the working class first hand, he had a higher respect for the working population. He created important, hardworking characters based off of his experiences. His characters had exceptionally believable features because he based his characters around personality traits that real people have.
Lennie and George, for example, from Of Mice And Men, were two hardworking migrant workers, trying to earn money to buy the farm of their dreams. Lennie has unbelievable physical strength, and George has the sense to guide Lennie with. Jody, from The Red Pony, was a hard working child. Not only did he obey his parents and do his daily chores, but he also put a lot of time and energy into taking care of his horses. From the minute he got home from school, he would make sure that his horse was getting proper treatment. Everyday Jody would go out looking for firewood so his family could have fire to keep them warm at night. Another hard working character from The Red Pony, is Gitano. Gitano is the Native American who comes to the Jody’s house, requesting that he stays there until his death. Gitano was born there, at the ranch, and had grew old, therefore he wouldn’t be as useful as he would have liked. However, Gitano did a lot for his old age. He still rode horses and he used his sense to get him around. Pa Joad from The Grapes of Wrath worked exceptionally hard at planning the family’s move to California. He tried his hardest to keep the family together, despite the hardships that they faced. Keeping his position of head of the family was sometimes difficult, because Ma Joad was constantly leading the way. All of these characters have realistic traits in which the reader grows attached to.
Along with creating realistic characters, relationships, and settings, John Steinbeck also created realistic situations which added to the intended dramatic and emotional effect. The Red Pony for example, shows the trials between a child and his different pets. Most children have a pet or long to have one, which makes this story more enjoyable to read. The Log from the Sea of Cortez is an actual log from a voyage, and the realistic story provokes imagination, which is needed in order to have dramatic effect.
Lennie loves animals, especially ones that are soft. He dreams of having rabbits in the farm that he was going to own with George. Lennie loved to get his hands on anything that was soft. Unfortunately, because of his uncontrollable strength, he accidentally killed a mouse. George did not trust him with animals, but to prove himself to Lennie, he got a puppy that he planned on taking care of. Lennie loved to pet the puppy, and he because he applied too much pressure when petting the puppy, he accidentally killed it. Instead of proving his responsible capabilities, he proved his helpless nature. This creates the reader to feel sorry for Lennie.
Steinbeck’s main tool which helps the reader to enjoy his stories, is compassion. He creates characters that people would wish to help. Steinbeck sometimes portrayed women as trouble makers. Curley’s wife, for example, was described in a mischievous tone, fore she was trying to manipulate Lennie into making a move on her. She knew that this would only cause trouble, because Curley would use any excuse to kill Lennie that he could, and he also would kill any man that would put their hand on his wife. Lennie’s uncontrollable strength was being used on Curley’s wife without Lennie realizing it. Because of her troublesome ways, Lennie was going to have to be killed by a mob of men. This makes the reader feel compassion for Lennie and anger towards Curley’s wife.
The Grapes of Wrath, a story about a family that has to move from Oklahoma to California, has many characters and situations in which the reader feels compassion for the characters. Pa Joad, for example, tries remarkably hard to keep the family together as they face this long journey to California. He tries to keep his family happy and is constantly being brought down because of the unfortunate circumstances. This makes the reader feel a strong sense of compassions for Pa Joad.
Jody, from The Red Pony, shows an overwhelming amount of love to the horses that he raises. After loosing his first horse, Gabilan, the reader feels a strong sense of compassion for him. When he finds out that there is a pregnant horse, he takes care of her to the absolute best of his ability and gets extremely excited and nervous about having his own baby horse. Jody is afraid that some complications will take place in the birth of his colt, but Billy promises him that he will get a colt, no matter what. Unfortunately, when the time of birth came, Nellie, the mother horse, got really sick, and Billy had to knock the horse out, breaking its skull. Billy was able to cut open Nellie, and the colt was healthy. This meant that Jody would have to take an extra initiative in order to keep his colt healthy because he would not grow up with a mother to provide him with anything. The chain of rather unfortunate events make the reader feel a strong sense of compassion for Jody. When Billy has to kill Nellie, the reader feels compassionate to him also, because it was apparent that he did not want to kill the horse, but he did it for the sake of Jody. The compassion felt in the works of John Steinbeck, add to the dramatic and emotional effect.
In conclusion, John Steinbeck used companionship, loyalty, and the existence of human nature as his major themes in his novels. He wrote about hardworking characters who draw a great deal of compassion towards themselves. Lennie, George, Jody, and Pa Joad were all hardworking, compassionate characters, who made the novels come to life. The relationship between Lennie and George, Gabilan and Jody, Grandpa and Jody, and Pa and his family, are all emotionally and dramatically vital to the stories. Steinbeck’s use of realism was his primary medium for carrying out his intended dramatic and emotional effect.
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