John Steinbeck’s contribution to American literature is cemented in the works of East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row. His use of regionalism and his simplistic characters with everyday problems has gained him the reputation of one of the greatest writers in American history. The following essay will give examples of Steinbeck’s writing, why it is important and the element of regionalism will be addressed as one of the most important concepts in Steinbeck’s writing.
One element with which Steinbeck writes with great emphasis is hope. The family Joads in The Grapes of Wrath epitomize this lack of hope in some of the family members and in the other family members epitomize a plethora of hope as they make their way west to new land and new lives.
This element of hope in the novel leads to regionalism as Steinbeck writes a lot about the American landscape as the family forges their way westward. The land itself seems to be an extension of the characters’ emotions for at certain points in the novel when a family member dies or leaves or the Joads are feeling especially downtrodden, the landscape echoes those emotions as Steinbeck writes about draught or dust or lack of vegetation or room (as the family comes closer to California and the land is overwhelmed with the homeless):
Another important structuring device for Steinbeck, as many critics have suggested, is the quest or journey. These quests are often directed toward some obsessive ideal which turns out, ironically, to have been a misleading or impossible goal. The Arthurian legends, the Quixotic escapades, the expulsion from Eden, the Okies’ migration, the opening of the American West: these and many other journeys found their way into Steinbeck’s fiction as apt means to provide overall structure for the narratives (Pugh 72-73).
The characters throughout Steinbeck’s works may either accept a hopeless state and be transformed from it, or accept hope as a gift despite the fact that reality and circumstances may deny them their desires (as is the case in examining the book in a regionalism aspect) (Bracher 281). The theme for Cannery Row extends to this idea of hope and regionalism.
Steinbeck’s Cannery Row introduces the reader to Mack and the boys. In the cannery district known as Monterey California are vagabonds, urchins or general destitute people.
The object of the novel centers mainly around the boys getting Doc something nice, or doing something nice for him since he is the general care –taker of cannery row (albeit Steinbeck does not only focus on this story but introduces subplots in vignettes in which the theme is central to violence, destitution, and despondency towards the state of life in Cannery Row). Thus, regionalism as expressed in Cannery Row is expressive of destitution;
Extensible forms, it could be argued, allow a controlled but more arbitrary narrative sequencing, which could be called non-teleological in the sense that there is no predetermined end. On the other hand, it might seem that quests are quite clearly goal-directed, a search for something or someplace, and building an undying dynasty might be seen as the guiding purpose of many family sagas. However, in Steinbeck’s works dynasty builders typically falter and quests are continually extended, despite the best-laid plans of the characters depicted (Pugh 73).
Thus, Steinbeck’s works so far have expressed the importance of each person’s life in destitute situations. It is the writing of the poor class that made Steinbeck noticed because no other writer had written about this class with such compassion and humanity prior to Steinbeck.
His depiction through regionalism and hope in the novels Cannery Row and Grapes of Wrath depict the American family trying to achieve the American dream of owning land and living with some kind of financial stability but failing in both regards they find solace in each other and the family unit. The concept of the family unit in Steinbeck’s writing is what allows Steinbeck the title of a great American writer.
Steinbeck’s East of Eden reveals two main characters, twins, Aron and Cal. This is meant to resemble Cain and Abel in the bible story, yet Steinbeck’s illustration of the story deals with personal destiny and choice, as the housekeeper Lee states, a man is not evil, but flawed (this alludes to the jealousy and sacrifice one brother makes for the other and the atonement sought after these ‘evil’ emotions become part of his identity, part of his regionalism and makes him want to do right by his brother’s murder).
The hope that takes place in this novel centers on the Hebrew term timshel which means thou mayest. In this phrase is found hope, which will be discussed later on in this essay. Similarly to this concept is regionalism, another theme of Steinbeck’s in which the landscape shifts begin to identify with the protagonist; thus the reader may gain a greater sense of the character through the changing seasons, colors, and feelings of the landscape
However, it is clear that in Steinbeck’s work masterplots are not merely presented to readers so that they can offer unquestioning approval. Steinbeckian works often alter these masterplots in interesting and provocative ways. An obvious example would be ironic inversions of Christian masterplots in the story of Saint Katy, or in various well-known segments of The Pastures of Heaven, The Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden.
In addition, competing, alternative masterplots may be juxtaposed in a work, provoking readers to select among them, or reconcile or renegotiate the mythic templates used to establish dominant themes and patterns of closure (Pugh 74).
Thus, when a character wants redemption, it is winter, and likewise when redemption is granted, the trees and flowers are in bloom each signifying the elaboration of growth in the character in accepting their flaws and not trying to escape their identities of places of birth as both Cal and Aron have done in this novel.
Steinbeck’s revelations in his novels of the human condition, of the poor, the destitute and the juxtaposition of the human condition with the human feeling of hope is what brands Steinbeck as a preeminent novelist. His works allow the reader to gain insight into the lives of his characters which in turn allow for a sense of connection between the characters’ reality and the readers’ reaction.
Bracher, F. California’s Literary Regionalism. American Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Autumn, 1955), pp. 275-284.
Pugh, S. Horrifying Conclusions: Making Sense of Endings In Steinbeck’s Fiction. Online. Retrieved 20 March 2008.;http:/muse.jhu.edu/demo/steinbeck_review/v003/3.1puh.html.
Steinbeck, John. Cannery Row. Penguin Press. New York. 1993.
Steinbeck, John. East of Eden. Penguin Books: New York 2002.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. Penguin Books. New York. 1995.