The Dream Of Lower-class People In California

The 1930s'Great Depression bore down on all aspects of American Society. But while the economy during this period came to a near halt, American literature thrived. In particular, John Steinbeck, the California-born American writer inspired and motivated by those years, became a great writer and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Steinbeck grew up in California's Salinas Valley, a culturally diverse place with a rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regional flavor to his writing, and gave many of his works a distinct sense of place. Salinas, Monterey and parts of the San Joaquin Valley were the setting for many of his stories. In his novels in particular, Steinbeck found an authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. Populated with struggling characters, his works reflect the lives of lower-class people, especially the migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. He recorded their dreams, hardships, and struggles. The 1930s also found Steinbeck struggling, though his hardship led his way to success. He was a writer of the people, who wrote for the people. He disclosed social cancers as a realist, and showed great sympathy for lower-class people as a humanist. The durability of his works draws from the land of California and the people on it. "Unemployment,""poverty,""sickness,""starvation": these words flooded popular consciousness of the 1930s. Stories of lower-class people came together in a riotous symphony that shook those years to their foundation. During this period, Steinbeck in particular showed remarkable concern for lower-class people and depicted their hardships and dreams in novels that drew from first-hand experience and observation. Steinbeck didn't see an obvious way to an optimistic future in his early works, but the insistent humanity manifest in those works did arouse society's concern for those who were in dire need.This dissertation is based on John Steinbeck's Novels in the 1930s and entitled―The Dream of Lower-class People in California——A Study of John Steinbeck's Novels in the 1930s. The first chapter introduces John Steinbeck's life and writing, and study the California that gave shape to both. Salinas, Monterey and parts of the San Joaquin Valley were the setting for many of his stories. The area is now sometimes referred to as―Steinbeck Country.‖Most of his work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. His days in towns, valleys, and ranches, together with the daily lives and feelings of lower-class people, became the foundation of his later works. This chapter analyzes that foundation. This chapter also identifies specific motifs in California literature during the Great Depression of the 1930s, which was truly a creative period for the many writers who recorded it. Looking at California in general terms, this study takes up the context of California fiction. At the same time, it examines Steinbeck's influence upon writers native to California. Economic and political upheavals transformed the lives not only of lower-class people, but also of their professional observers like John Steinbeck, who recorded these changes in their works. In Chapter Two to Chapter Four, I select three novels from the nine written by Steinbeck in the 1930s in order to conduct a close analysis of them. Chapter Two defines the concept of"Phalanx", and illustrate Steinbeck's use of irony while engaging that concept. Tortilla Flat was Steinbeck's first critical and commercial success. It told a story of Monterey paisanos. This chapter also proves that Steinbeck's reliance on Malory goes beyond form and theme, and he qualified the American Dream in Tortilla Flat, however, ultimately posed questions about its possibility at all.Chapter Three investigates the"unfinished people"in Steinbeck's canon, and the title of the novel adopted from Robert Burns'To a Mouse. The allusive title signals that the best-laid schemes of men will go astray. This chapter also employs Jung's psychoanalytic strategies to interpret the actions of the major characters, and argues that though the novel is not entirely pessimistic, loneliness is its central theme. If we can accept non-teleological thinking as a premise, we can understand the inevitable failure of the land dream and the illusions of Eden indicated in the novel.Chapter Four explains how the conditions facing Dust Bowl refugees in California led Steinbeck to become more and more emotionally involved in that enormous tragedy. His involvement led him to write one of the most politically powerful and artistically impressive works in American literature. This chapter also discusses the migrants'great hunger for land, and their dreams of settlement in California, a seeming Promised Land. I also examine the transformation in family leadership caused by massive environmental changes in light of Ma Joad and Rose of Sharon in particular. I identify the symbolism woven in the novel, especially the connection between the turtle and the Joads, and the ending, which winds up with the promise that progress toward fulfilling need will continue, even after setbacks.My epilogue draws conclusions concerning John Steinbeck's Novels in the 1930s. These conclusions suggest that during a period of economic dislocation, political instability and social conflict, Steinbeck contributed wildly stirring stories in his novels in order to become a witness to the struggles of working, lower-class people. His blood is distilled from the juices of the earth in California, while his influence ranges well beyond California. Steinbeck's influence upon Native American writers in particular is a case in point, and in my epilogue I analyze this influence in the works of Louis Owens, James Welch, etc. Finally, the dissertation concludes with the words of memorial engraved on the monument in front of Steinbeck's house in Salinas, and the poem read by Henry Fonda during the funeral.