Strolling through the American Cultural Garden [Part 17]

John Ernst Steinbeck (1902-1968) was a journalist and naturalist novelist. Born in California, of German and Irish descent, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.

The writer John Ernst Steinbeck.

He studied marine botany; his university studies were constantly interrupted. He experienced many arduous jobs such as cattle herder, chemical worker in a sugar factory, fish hatchery worker, plantation caretaker, construction worker, sailor… He entered journalism and writing, both very difficult careers. At times, he and his wife had to eat fish they caught themselves.

During World War II, Steinbeck worked as a war correspondent. In 1937, he went to the Soviet Union and wrote the Russian Journal (1948). After the war, his writing often sought sensational and psychologically disturbing themes. East of Eden (1961) tells, through the lens of psychoanalysis, a story of a broken family, a mother who becomes a prostitute, and a son who causes his brother's death (a modernized version of the fratricidal conflict in the Bible). In general, Steinbeck's writing was very erratic.

Early works such as the adventure story *Cup of Gold* (1929) contained many romantic and mystical elements. His own hard working life was reflected in the stories he wrote in the 1930s.

The Pastures of Heaven (1932) is a collection of short stories about simple, unassuming people living in a valley bearing that name; Tortilla Flat (1935) tells of Native Americans, white people, and Spaniards living a hard, immoral but happy and carefree life in a shack in Southern California; the manuscript of this work was rejected by nine publishers, but when it was published it was well received; In Dubious Battle (1935) tells of a strike by seasonal fruit pickers in California; Of Mice and Men (1937) depicts the tragic life of agricultural workers.

With *The Grapes of Wrath* (1939), Steinbeck solidified his place in the American proletarian literary movement of the 1930s; initially, he generally had some sympathy for the Communist Party. In Vietnam, there is a translation of *The Grapes of Wrath *, the title of Steinbeck's famous novel being "The Angry Grapes." I fear this translation is difficult to understand, as Vietnamese readers will wonder why the grapes are angry. I also cannot find a translation that is both accurate to the literal meaning and complete to the figurative meaning. The author compares anger, the uprising, to ripe grapes that have fermented: "Ripe anger."

"Ripe Anger," which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940, depicts the misery of landless American farmers, oppressed and exploited no less than the Vietnamese proletariat forced into rubber plantation labor far from their homeland.

In the Midwest and Southwest, the land became barren, and capitalists mechanized agriculture; consequently, small farmers declined. Banks, as creditors, seized their land for direct exploitation: with just a tractor and a hired worker, they could cultivate vast tracts of land that had previously supported dozens of families. Evicted from their homes, farmers migrated elsewhere. Propaganda flyers told them that California was a place of fertile land and high-paying labor. So hundreds of thousands of people left for the West. After months of hardship, they arrived only to find they had been deceived. The only work was picking fruit and cotton, and even that was seasonal. The landowners waited for a large influx of people to hire cheap labor. They were also bankers and owners of canned produce factories, so they could dictate prices. They drove down prices, stifling small farmers and often preventing them from even hiring harvesters.

A horrifying scene unfolded: landowners destroyed tons of produce to maintain prices, while thousands of families went hungry. The poor, fearing job losses, refused to support the new migrants and instead colluded with the police and the government apparatus to suppress them. The promised land of the homeless became a vast prison.

The story "Rage Ripens" unfolds against this tragic backdrop. Steinbeck focuses his camera on the Joad family in Oklahoma. One of the sons, Tom, kills the sister of the man who tried to stab him during a fight. After four years in prison, he is released on a promise of honor.

The matured rage was adapted into a valuable film by director John Ford (1940), depicting Tom's family on a dilapidated truck heading west in search of new work. The work is a "thematic novel," and therefore has many weaknesses: there are naive or confused ideals. The author vehemently condemns agricultural mechanization, desires a return to the old agricultural system, yet calls for social revolution. Many different schools of thought aimed at resolving social injustice intertwine: Emerson's "transcendentalism," Whitman's land-based democracy, W. James's pragmatism, and F. Roosevelt's "New Deal" with government intervention. The characters and ideas are rather rudimentary. However, its value lies in its captivating storytelling, strong emotions, and powerful relatable message based on compassion for the oppressed and exploited.

Steinbeck possessed a compassion coupled with tolerance for sins and acceptance of disorder. Some critics argue that he went too far in this direction, at times relishing depictions of violence and human depravity. At times, he sought to demonstrate that order, righteousness, and success often come with ruthlessness and cruelty. He frequently recorded irrational attitudes that could only be explained by passion.