John Steinbeck was in the literary time period of modernism. The modernism time period stretches from the late nineteen twenties to the late nineteen sixties. John Steinbeck experienced many harsh events throughout his life. Events such as the Great depression, World War II, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. His work included facts about economic and social issues in everyday life. Steinbeck wrote about the problems and conflicts he saw and faced when …show more content…
His parents were from Italy and Germany. John had the reputation of being an outcast and alone. People could catch John reading and day dreaming. Some of his favorite authors were Alexandria Dumas, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the Bible. He spent many hours of the day reading and writing short stories to writing many influential books. Steinbeck grew up to be a real tall broad shouldered individual that had a passion for language that never left him. John Steinbeck went to school at Salinas High School. He graduated in 1919 and went on to go to college at Stanford in 1919. He left college in 1925 and did not receive a degree(3). After leaving college, John want to work at a local sugar farm were he spent most of his time in the fields and part time in the office keeping books for the company. During this time, John would sneak off in the field to write and read. John Steinbeck was married three times. Elaine Anderson Steinbeck was the mother of his two sons, Thomas Steinbeck and John Steinbeck IV, and the last of his three wives. He also worked at a cabin near Lake Tahoe as a caretaker and handyman work(2). This job gave him lots of free time in the winter which he used for writing. After a short time period of working in Nevada, he moved to New York were he sought after wealth working in construction and as a reporter as often as he …show more content…
He was at Salinas High School in his home town in California. Steinbeck was determined as a freshman to be a writer. During his summer breaks John would work as a picker. During these jobs he noticed that the living conditions were very poor and harsh(1). John Steinbeck wanted better conditions and better drinking water and shower areas because they would return home with pesticides on them and would make their children have birth defects. Working in the fields next to the immigrants inspired Steinbeck to write Tortilla Flat. He inspired the immigrants to fight for their rights and get better working conditions. John Steinbeck finished high school in May of 1919. He applied for Stanford and got the luck of the draw and got in(4). He loved all his english classes but found that all of his other classes came off as fake and phony. He studied hard for six years leaving college off and on to go back to the fields to work alongside his friends and in factories and also on ranches. He left college for ever in 1925. Gaining no college degree did not change his aspect of Stanford. He was still in love with the school and wanted to stay just for the english classes but wanted to continue his life trying to gain money and be a