The Sense Of Responsibility In The Grapes Of Wrath And Cannery Row

John Steinbeck, a prolific writer of 20th century, has produced many bestsellingnovels, which have made a sensation at the time when they were published and stillremain attractive to the reader and the critics of present time. The life philosophiesexpressed in Steinbeck's books remain appealing to us, especially the sense ofresponsibility Steinbeck highly emphasizes, Among the large body of scholarshipsproduced by the critics, few have been devoted to the study of this aspect. Thepurpose of this thesis is to carry out an analysis on the main characters in the twoSteinbeck novelsâ… choose: The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row, attempting toexplore Steinbeck's life philosophy of personal responsibility that the author ischallenging his readers to accept.This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapterâ… briefly introduces Steinbeck andsummarizes the previous criticisms of him. In Chapterâ…¡andâ…¢, an analysis isconducted respectively on the two Steinbeck booksâ… choose, The Grapes of Wrathand Cannery Row, showing how the main characters in these two novels becomeelevated figures by maintaining responsible to others even in adversity. In the finalchapter, Chapterâ…£, the significance of the sense of responsibility is discussed. Then Icome to the conclusion that Steinbeck is in his books challenging his readers toembrace a life philosophy that emphasizes one's responsibility towards others.