George Milton spends most of Of Mice and Men protecting his best friend.At the end of the story, he raises a gun and kills him.That is the shocking contradiction at the center of John Steinbeck's 1937 novel.But the deepest question is not simply:Was George right to kill Lennie?There is an earlier question.How did one man end up carrying so much responsibility for … [Read more...] about Of Mice and Men in 7 Minutes: When Love Is Not Enough
Great Depression
Of Mice and Men: Was George’s Final Choice an Act of Love?
Introduction John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is often remembered as the story of two migrant workers and a dream that never comes true.But after listening to George, Lennie, Candy, Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Slim speak together, the novel begins to look much larger.It becomes a story about what happens when human beings need one another in a world that … [Read more...] about Of Mice and Men: Was George’s Final Choice an Act of Love?
The Grapes of Wrath Explained: 5 Questions Readers Still Ask
Introduction Few American novels have been praised, attacked, banned, taught, argued over, and reinterpreted as intensely as John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.It is easy to see why.On the surface, the novel follows the Joad family as they leave Oklahoma during the Great Depression and travel west in search of work. Their farm is gone. Their security … [Read more...] about The Grapes of Wrath Explained: 5 Questions Readers Still Ask
The Grapes of Wrath: When Does “Me” Become “We”?
Introduction What happens when a family does everything it was told to do, works hard, stays together, keeps moving, and still cannot find a secure place in the world?John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath begins with one family losing its land, but it gradually asks a much larger question.At first, the Joads think in the language of survival.Our land.Our … [Read more...] about The Grapes of Wrath: When Does “Me” Become “We”?
The Grapes of Wrath Explained: Top Steinbeck Scholars
What if the world's leading John Steinbeck scholars sat at one table to debate The Grapes of Wrath? People often remember The Grapes of Wrath as a story about dust, hunger, migration, and one family’s journey west.John Steinbeck’s scholars remember something more difficult.They remember a novel that still refuses to stay safely in 1939.(A brief pause.)The … [Read more...] about The Grapes of Wrath Explained: Top Steinbeck Scholars
The Grapes of Wrath Explained Through Its Characters
Introduction by John Steinbeck When people finish The Grapes of Wrath, they often remember the dust.Or the truck.Or the long road west.I remember the people.(He pauses.)Because long after the dust settled...they were still speaking.We simply had to learn how to listen.People often ask whether The Grapes of Wrath is a political novel.I have never found that … [Read more...] about The Grapes of Wrath Explained Through Its Characters