Monday, June 28, 2010

R&R: Classics-- John Steinbeck!

I got interested in John Steinbeck because of a trip back from San Francisco, when we passed through Salinas and stopped by “The National Steinbeck Center.” It was an interesting museum/discovery center sort of place, with several exhibits dedicated to each of Steinbeck’s books. Before the visit, he was just a name, (albeit a famous one), but the passion with which the exhibits praised his novels made me look twice.


As I meandered along the corridors, John Steinbeck gradually transformed from a 2d name to a 3-D human being. It was like living through a super-fast preview of his life as I browsed through letters he wrote, books he read (and published), and other info that made him “alive.”


So, during my next visit to the library, I squared my shoulders and picked out “The Grapes of Wrath”— the most famed of Steinbeck’s work and the novel that won him the Pulitzer Prize. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit pessimistic. The cover was worn and faded, and the summary wasn’t exactly appealing.


Unenthusiastically, I opened the book.

My eyes found the first sentence.

I began to read.


To be perfectly honest, it was anticlimactic. No flash of literary awe hit me, no amazing sentence knocked me off my feet.

I read the first paragraph once.

Twice.

It took me three times to understand what Steinbeck was trying to say.


Needless to say, it wasn’t exactly a brilliant start, and I was tempted to put the book down and try again—a couple decades later. But, I’d resolved to read the book, and I wasn’t about to go back on a self-made promise. So, I continued—and somewhere between page two and five-hundred twenty, I fell in love.



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Summary

“The Grapes of Wrath” is a novel detailing the story of the Joad family, who set out (during the Great Depression) for California in hopes for a better life. A drop in a river of immigrants, they soon encounter hunger, disease, and discouragement—as well as beauty, friendship, and hope.



The Grapes of Wrath

Written May 25, 2010


Read (roughly around) May 6, 2010


I fell in love with the characters.


In, “The Grapes of Wrath,” each member of the Joad family, (and some of the people who meet them), are drastically changed by the Great Depression. Rose of Sharon, whose husband abandons her midway through the trip, goes from giddy expectation to sullen resignation, to a raw joy at the powerful conclusion of the book. Tom Joad, after serving his time in prison, promises his mother not to “turn mean,” (seek revenge on the law), but is unable to just sit by and do nothing when injustice is done. He eventually joins the fight against the oppressors, resolving to go to the city to rally support for a strike.


Ma, fierce in her quest to unite and protect her family, takes over the family from Pa, who, because of his loss of pride and self-respect, is unable to lead them.

There’s the self-despising Uncle John, whose inward guilt only he can comprehend, and the younger brother Al, who idolizes Tom and yet must learn to be his own person. There’s the not yet grown Ruthie and the “not quite normal” Noah, the fiery Grandparents—and so many more.


Ma’s quiet, (and sometimes not-so-quiet) heroism made me want to cheer. (Now that’s girl power.)

Sullen, disillusioned Rose of Sharon made me want to cry. (I sympathized with her plight and her emotional ups and downs.)

Tom Joad, who learns the true meaning of standing up for what’s right, made me want to dance. (About time you got it, Tom.)

There are many, many more characters, and each are varied and flavored, multidimensional and easy to relate to.


Even when they are doing wrong things, even cowardly things—I admire them, because they are so pathetically sad and yet so admirably brave. Despite not having the beauty, class, and skills of the characters of today’s popular reads, the characters of “The Grapes of Wrath” will stay with me far longer. I have absolutely no idea how Steinbeck is able to make such unpolished people so intimate to a fourteen year old’s heart, but he did it.

Wow.


I fell in love with Steinbeck’s ability to force truth into a raw, emotionally filled picture.


Between each chapter chronicling the journey of the Joad family are chapters illustrating the thoughts, emotions, and happenings during this time. Powerful, descriptive, and vivid, they show the thoughts of a car salesman, a desert road, and a country sinking into something much more dangerous than an economical crisis.


John Steinbeck never really states anything straight out, and yet his messages are clear. At these “flavor chapters,” I got a clear, distinctive picture of both the situation of the peoples during this time, and the emotions of the people of this time.


He shows injustice, callousness, and cruelty, but he shows it in scenes instead of clear phrases, drawing picture after picture. He shows how, despite their situation, the poor bond together and are beautiful in their unity. He shows, through the minds and dealings of car salesmen, how the desperation of peoples lead to the discarding morality and making excuses.


I fell in love with the insightful messages of the book.


Steinbeck shows how the country sinks lower and lower— showing how the Great Depression occurred from a unique perspective. He shows how the land was taken from those who loved it and given to those who saw “only numbers.” He shows how easily fear and hatred takes root when comfortable people are confronted with “people with the gleam of desperate hunger in their eyes.”


John Steinbeck understood that the Great Depression was not the result of mere physical changes, but of inward corruption. Greed and apathy dug the first shallow strokes. Anger and injustice deepened the rapidly growing hole. Fear and suspicion made the grave solid.


Months later, I’m still head-over-heels.

John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer-winning novel is no mere story—it’s a painting of emotion, pain, and raw humanity, misted over with words and glowing with the pure beauty of truth.


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Summary

“…young Jody Tiflin is given a red pony by his rancher father. Under ranch hand Billy Buck's guidance, Jody learns to care for and train his pony, which he names Gabilan. Caught in an unexpected rain, Gabilan catches a cold and, despite Billy Buck's ministrations, dies. Jody watches the buzzards alight on the body of his beloved pony, and, distraught at his inability to control events, he kills one of them. The other stories in The Red Pony are "The Great Mountains," "The Promise," and "The Leader of the People," in which Jody develops empathy and also learns from his grandfather about "westering," the migration of people to new places and the urge for new experiences..."


(http://www.amazon.com/Red-Pony-Twentieth-Century-Classics/dp/0140187391/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277774473&sr=8-1)


The Red Pony

Written May 25, 2010


Read May 23-24, 2010


My second Steinbeck book, “The Red Pony” didn’t touch me like “The Grapes of Wrath,” but was still a worthwhile read. Short, with only 100 pages, the book’s summary (located on the back cover), states that it is about Jody’s encounter with his first pony, Gabilan.


After reading, however, I don’t believe that this is true. Only the first couple chapters detail his brief months with the pony, who becomes weak because of sickness and eventually perishes when, due to its stubborn, high-strung nature, it escapes the safety of its pen and is set upon by buzzards. The book is really about Jody, and how he changes due to his experiences. (His experiences include his months with Gabilan, in which he has his first brush with responsibility, love for another, and tragedy.)


Jody experiences grief and fury, anxiety and pain. For the first time, he learns the joys and pain and truly caring for something. In other words, he grows up.


In later chapters, other events also shape him. He becomes aware of a longing within him to explore the area “over the mountains.” This longing is amplified when an old man, Gitano, comes unexpectedly to their ranch, with the simple reason that “he was born there,” and who has gone over the mountains before. Steinbeck effectively shows the power of restlessness and the longing for adventure, first through Jody’s daydreams of travel, Gitano’s eventual return to the place “over the mountains,” and Jody’s Grandfather’s unwillingness to let go of the past life of adventure.


Again, Steinbeck’s characters are unforgettable. Hard, rough, and yet all beautiful in a wild, untamed way, (sort of like Gabilan, actually), they are individualistic and memorable.


There’s Billy Buck, the hired hand; Cal, the stern father; Jody, the boy who matures into a person who is not yet a man but not quite a boy either; and Grandfather, the story-telling hero of old who has never been able to get rid of his desire for more adventure. All these characters are not defined (trapped, limited) by their roles, and they are all emotional, despite the fact that Steinbeck spends only a few words on their descriptions.


One emotionally charged scene still haunts me.

After Gabilan’s death, Jody has the chance to own another pony. He eagerly waits as Nellie, the mare who will give birth to his promised foal, gets impregnated and develops. Finally, after months of waiting, the mare goes into labor. Everything seems fine—until it’s not.


At the end of the bloody, tense night, Billy Buck sacrifices the mare Nellie in order to get Jody his promised foal. The scene is sad, disturbing, and yet somewhat sweet, and remains in my mind even now.


It doesn’t matter what the title is—I don’t believe that this book is about ponies, but about Jody, and his first steps from boy to man.


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So there you have it, my “R&R” after reading two masterpieces by one of America’s most celebrated authors. Again, don’t take my word for it—read the books yourself! They’re not easy, but trust me—they’re worth it.

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