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John Steinbeck 2

John Steinbeck’s Portrayal Of Alcoholics Essay, Research Paper


John Steinbeck’s Portrayal of Alcoholics


By V. Kayt Whitten,


Lila L. Anastas has said of John Steinbeck: “Steinbeck


the person wanted … to experience everything and then


write about it. He was the versatile author of over thirty


full-length books and short story collections, as well as


plays, filmscripts, numerous articles, and volumes of


letters. He received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1962.


In my view, he is one of the top ten American novelists, not


just because he was a great storyteller but because he dealt


with important concepts and universal themes” (150).


Steinbeck’s reputation as both a person and a writer has


been considered on the negative side of perfection.


Considered a very private person, not impressed by his own


or others acquisition of wealth, he is rumored to have had a


drinking problem.


His was not a success story that followed the normal


pattern for writers of his day and caliber. A few of his


books were banned at the time of publication (including


Grapes Of Wrath) because of their language and rebellious


spirit. His depiction of certain components of society have


been met with disbelief and anger. However, Steinbeck is,


without a doubt, one of the greatest writers of American


fiction. Like most writers, he uses those he knows and


studies, as well as his own personal experiences, to draw on


to create realistic and memorable characters. Many writers


use archetypes or draw from different aspects of themselves


in order to give a character depth and meaning in context.


John Steinbeck was known to draw his characters and settings


from either mythical, archetypal and, or, personal


experience.


“Later in life, Steinbeck wrote to a friend: “Long ago,


I knew perhaps that mine was not a truly first-rate talent.


I had then two choices only–to throw it over or to use what


I had to the best of my ability. I chose the second, and I


have tried to keep it clean.” … Steinbeck based many of


the characters on his real-life Salinas neighbors (and


embellished things as he saw fit). This did not sit well


with the neighbors” (Anastas 153). He also used a lot of


his own memories and experiences in his writing.


“As a writer and a man, Steinbeck did have strikes


against him. He never graduated from college. He suffered


through two failed marriages before finding bliss with his


third wife, Elaine. Furthermore, he never achieved critical


acclaim after his early work, despite the popularity of The


Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. He suffered from the


judgment of critics who believed his work should not be


accepted as real art, and that Steinbeck lacked the fictive


imagination of Hemingway or Faulkner” (Allison 245). His


opinion of himself was rather low and demeaning. He fit the


profile of an alcoholic, even if he wasn’t truly limited by


its influence.


He grew up in Salinas and attended Stanford University.


“Steinbeck, however, did not fit in with the Stanford scene


and attended classes only sporadically. He preferred


working as a hired hand in various ranches in Monterey


County or working in a variety of other jobs, including one


with the Big Sur highway project and one at Spreckels Sugar


Company near Salinas. In 1925, Steinbeck left Stanford


permanently and went to New York City to seek his fame and


fortune as a writer. He returned to California in a year.


These were difficult times for the young writer, as he


collected rejection slips and watched his early novels bomb”


(Anastas 153). If he was to have had a problem with


alcohol, this time in his life certainly reflects the


possibility.


If it is true that he was an alcoholic, it is not seen


in his work ethics as they apply to writing – however, it


may be seen in his sporadic and time limited employment as a


young man, before his writing career took off. Where it


could be seen in his writing is in the portrayal of some of


his characters. The people who populate Steinbeck’s novels


are portrayed as real within time and context and so must,


surely, be somewhat modeled after people that were known to


the author. It cannot be denied that his books almost


always had a character that was closer to the darker aspects


of living than others.


In Steinbeck’s most famous work, Grapes of Wrath, the


character of Uncle John can be compared to the accepted view


of Steinbeck. Uncle John can be regarded as the black sheep


of the Joad family. He was an eccentric loner, and a lonely


guilt-ridden man. He is a man who has a history of sadness


that follows him like a shadow he can no longer see as it


lengthens in the view of others. Long ago, his young wife,


who was pregnant, had told him one night that she had a


stomach-ache, which he ignored to the extent that he


suggested she take some medicine. She died that night of a


burst appendix. The pattern of Uncle John’s life alternates


between periods of severe abstinence and brief binges, the


evil side taking over when he’s drinking and the warm


hearted man who gives candy to children appearing in his


sober moments. In many ways, Uncle John shows signs of a


classic case of alcoholism: the cyclic nature of his


bingeing and ‘going sober’; the self centered attitude that


would not see that his wife was in real and mortal danger;


and the self pitying stance that guilt was his by right and


could only be assuaged by alcohol. The fact that Steinbeck


gave him his own name could be coincidence, or it could


point to the fact that Steinbeck based Uncle John on those


aspects of himself.


The Palace Flophouse Boys in Cannery Row are certainly


portrayed as drifters who care more for their next drink


than their next shower and hot meal – although they are


given a certain amount of character strength, they are


mostly seen as vagabonds and idlers. Theirs is the


occupation of the drunk on the street, the man who chooses


to be free within the bounds of his deviance.


Danny Taylor, a character in Winter Of Our Discontent,


is a man who has been destroyed by failure in his last year


at school, and is now left with only the drunk’s sense of


danger crowding in. He is a victim in the struggle for


success within the American culture; a man who has fallen


abut is aware of the distance he must re-tread in order to


get his life back. At least one person – Margie – believes


him to be a kind and decent person and this gives the reader


hope as well.


Whether it is true or not that John Steinbeck had a


problem with alcohol, it can be said that he fit some of the


patterns of an alcoholic and that he portrayed the alcoholic


in one of his novels in a realistic and understanding


manner. Not all realism must come from personal experience,


however, the patterns in his own life as well as his


knowledge to portray the lifestyle and thinking of the


alcoholic certainly lends validity to the rumor.


54e


Allison, Stephen. “John Steinbeck: A Biography.” The Antioch


Review, (1996): March, pp. 245(1


Anastas, Lila L. “You Can Go Home Again.” World and I,


(1999): January, pp. 150(7).


Steinbeck, John. Cannery row. (New York, NY: The Viking


Press, 1945).


Steinbeck, John. The Grapes Of Wrath. (New York, NY::


Penguin, 1992).


Steinbeck, John. The winter of our discontent.(New York, NY:


Viking Press, 1961).

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