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Breakfast - By John Steinbeck

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Breakfast - By John Steinbeck
Breakfast - John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was a known writer in the 30’s. He was known for writing about poverty in the 30’s with focus on the life of the exposed working class. His stories takes place around Salinas California where he was born. The short story Breakfast by John Steinbeck deals with the exposed people of the 30’s and their way of managing life with what they are given.

The short story features a Narrator, whose name we are not told, however, the narrator is also the protagonist in his own story. The narrator tells us about a memory which brings joy to him when remembering details about it. At first he tells about himself walking along a country road on an early morning, feeling the cold while observing the light growing behind the eastern mountains. As he walks he smells fried bacon and baking bread. He sees a tent where a girl, an older man and a younger man sit. The men bid him a good morning and offers him to sit and eat breakfast with them. The narrator accepts and sits down with them being told that they pick cotton for their own clothes and then they eat and drink as much coffee as they can, refilling and refilling. While they had refreshed themselves with warm food the narrator observed the sun rising above the mountains spraying light upon the valley. The two men and the women offer the narrator to come along and pick cotton with them. However, the narrator declines the offer and separates from the cotton pickers. At the end of the story the reader returns to the narrators present where the he reflects upon the event.

The story is located in a valley during the early morning just before dawn. In the beginning the setting is described with the words “lavender grey” and “black-blue”. He also feels the touch of the morning temperature as cold, but not painfully cold. All in all the setting we are introduced to at the opening of the story places the protagonist in a sad and colourless environment.
Though, while he eats with

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