Religious elements in the works of John Steinbeck
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Authors Bailey, Frances June, 1929-
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Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/318852 RELIGIOUS; .ELEMENTS JN THE WORKS OP 'JOHN STEINBE3K
. Pram©s June Balley
. i. Lhesl s Submitted to th,©: Pabulty of the - DEPARTMENT- OF ENGLISH ■
In Partial" PulTlTTiqiSnt'' of 1 th© R,eq-ul rementa: - ..For t Ho,, t) ©s r e e of ; , " ' MASTER W i ARTS . ; > ' ■ ,
: . ;. .In - thelGraduate Go'll eg©.
. • UNIVERSITY OF .ARIZONA':
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Bible and I w ill, ± ;''th l^ j:-ihe-'a^l.e..;tdv^.teli:.':you about a man by the- places that are edged with the dirt of seeking fingers,."^ ’ V It would; be helpful to see Steinbeck Vs Bible, which Peter Li sea affirms that he has much used,2 but since this is not possible, we shall have to try to learn about this man by studying his works; and surely much of a man is poured. out in the creative process to. bec.ome a part of the creatio n s 'tA'" ;--'v.".,.- f .. \ , : ' It is the purpose of this study to identify and ' analyze religious elements-' in th e works, '-of John Steinbeck -' in an effort to determine the underlying phiIpsophy of the "author:, 'ah 'i t ' .1 s ’ ekpreesed ' in his works 1- The words 11 re ll- gious" and " religion11 are used, broadly and include attitudes and;.ldeaa cOneerhing; good.iand ovil, free will and deter-'; mini sin s death and immortality, the nature, of the universe, -and man' s . plac e in- i t , -' and ...the ; cone ept- and worshi p of G-od ; ^john'B telnbeck,; East, of Eden .(-Mew York: The -Viking - , . "2Peter Lisca, "John Stelnbeckg $, Literary-Biography ,,:l Steinbeck and His .Gri11 cs , ' ed.. E,, Wo Tedlock, ’ J r <, and "C <,. V, .•W'iGk.dh;;-:TSih.hquerou.@s-'.\Whiye.rsity.'-;hf'''^ew';-Me3ci0o'.-P.r:esSi 195T)t' - ;h'yt -''v . , As Harry Thorrit'oii Moore states in his critical study. The Hovels, of John Steinbeck1, A man like Steinbeck presents a difficult combina- ti on to ,find th e key id, with " hi s bourgeoi s-childhood backgroundp his discernible cultivation, and his pro- . letarian sympathies, "He can not only write strong yet , . delicate prose^ but he can also go to any sun-blazed'• "Califpynia ranch and win the admiration of the workers ■ . bucking-grain, in the .fields . . r • To this man and his works we now turn our attention in- an effort to find at. le a st. one" key g if not, the key, When • I attribute a .passage to, Steinbeck. wi thout naming a character ' as the speaker, th e reader is to' 'assume th at Steinbeck makes these statements, directly as an author expressing hi s "own • v sentim ents, 1' - " , ' , ' . ' ' Aside, from his works 9 themselves 0 t fa e book« St el nb eok ■ ; ■ and His C ritics, which is a" collection of twenty-five years ’ of . c ritic i sm of Steinbeck^': has been my chi ef and most valu able .sOurce, I also am indebted to Mr, Steinbeck, who sent to ' me some inf ormati on. abbut his family that I was . unable to find elsewhere, . • , "-^Harry T. Moore, The Hovels of John Steinbeck (Ohj- oagog Horinandie Housep 19597? P= 87? . ; i i • Bamial. .'HsmilteiV .grandf ath.@r of John St elnti eekp apeak a th ese words i& East of Ed en during, a eonver sat Ion'with Adamg fathe of the twinsp. amd L@® 9 th e , 0 bines @ s©rvan:t c when they ’ are , . fco name the hahiego They turn to the Bible This sentiment expressed /bj •Samuel was probably on© that.. was held, b y : hi a. own fam ily * On© of Samuel" a song: was .named Tom .( the uncle beloved' and Idolited by- John Steinbeck] and another son was named.. Joseph„ Samuel” s daughters .Olive Hamilton Steihbeok8 named" her children Johna Mary 9 Elisabeth and Esther^ . John Steinbeck” s two boys are. named Tom "and Johno , vfts the fam ily used B ib lic a l names f r e e ly 9 and as Steinbeck- Is very familiar with the Bible0 it 1 is- not surprl= &galn in his novels-, Steiribeekp East of Men- (Hew Yorks The Viking po 264'o ..seems ;>© lOTe/hia own nameP Jo Imp . SeelSe to/msa©' tb.eir son Joba. in $©..4 mkmeW c ifefe :sa|'g.s) ”Ha^e: you. no ti e e&.5f J o s @pb.8 J oWm. are pel then good .©n hmdp neven mentnalf .IC. a neutral he doesn' t keep it& He beeomea JaokoM^ I t i s then© :are no Jacks, la Steln= i®. are .©f foreign .nationality or -extrac.fioa0 Examples _ - Juan in' the Eor= 4 'Bayes th e I l f ®/®f; h is s i s t e r and: i s p as a resultp.turned out of his horn©■toy his Juan. Totias in : She Pearly, who befriends. to.rother and S of wisdom„ and Juanito in To. Unknowns 1 mature Is, akin- to. t as good , or heroic, mo John, Whiteside.,;' whose story ©Gcurs la . aao He attei Steintoeeky: 10 World , Oh p-p. W ^ J t p» 15$. §t©intoeckp The Wayward .Bus (lew Torkg The: ^Jdhn .8t©Intoecko.. The Eom ottea V illage (He% : ,4 Yorks The Viking ■o .Pastures of few,. and. [email protected] t93% T e .: dream of bis father for, a dynasty and falls through, no fault of -his own,.: , ' OoGaslonally Stelribeok deplots characters with, the haiDe of John who are-, mentally d 1 stur.b ed, 1 Unole John In ,fhe drapes of Wrath feels responsible for the death of his wife because he failed to. get a doctor when she wa,s ill; conse quently » he 1s possessed with a profound.sense of guilt and •sinf ulness which had'left him unbalanc ed , J ohn;Ba,ttle In ; The'Pastures ■ of Heaven 1 s 'describe'd las a lunatic whos in a mads., religious, frenzy j, tries to drive the devil from a snake *and::vis kl-llfd by It as a result „ Johnny -Bear9 in a story ' by that name in The Long Valleyt^: is an idiot who parrots con<= v ersati.ons -;Wi th o u t;.any understanding 'Of .what' ,he I s say in g ,: He performs for free whiskey. In any. ease, most, of. Stein^ b ech.' s J ohns are • sens'i tive peopl ew h eth er they are . noble or deranged. I::' ;,:-y : : y:'.;1;; . : Another name which Steinbeck seems to love is Tbm, TOm Hamlltohl 'Steinbeck’:s' hhb^ , a warm, lovable person who wrestled with greatness .and who felt unworthy because he k : :-.'■■■■ ““^ Jo h n Steinbeck; The drapes, of Wrath (New- York: Random Houses'; 1939) = " ■' ■ . . . - ' . • ’ ®John St-elhbeck, " jOhnny: Bear," The Long- V a lley ; .' (New Yorks 'The-Viking P re ss9 1938} 9 pp, 145-68 , "" .obul'cl .not .measure up to his- high standards, is, very. sympa- , thetioally drawn in East nf Edm« .Bteinbepk evidently, thought enough of. him . to name hi s own son fo r him o Tom 'Joad .is an hbpoic person of enlarged vision in The Q-rapes ; ; of wratho Several minor eharaoters in Steinbedk1 s works are :named Tom, - and -i:n no. instanoe is ;one of th is name por-- ... trayed as a had person» Thomas Wayne in .To A 3-od Unkhown . is in [email protected] vjays more .like an ,animal than a man, but a good, . , healthyp h atural type th at Steihbeok a.pprov.es, ' . .' John was the d isc ip le whoin Jesus loved, and Thomas, the doubter,; was also a di sciple« The name, of Jesus1’ mother, ’ Mary , or a derivative of i t , such as - Mari e or Maria, .is som@u- times -used by 8teiiiheck> .: ; • - Mari a 'Lopea In The Pastures of Heaven Is a good g i r l, so far as Steinbeck is concerned, but she is rather uneon- ventional« .She and .her sister sell enchiladas^ ' These girls are kind , warm-hearted ■ persons, who reward their-best cus tomers by going to bed with them.i . : . ; ' ,. ■ : Marie*. Pippin- s wife in "The Bhort ’Reigh' of Pippin : 1 s ‘a good wife and a-practical woman, who ignores things that; she does not approve of . and thereby gives them no; substance^ CStelnbeok's mother was also said to possess this talent.) . . ^John Steinbeck, The Short Reign of Pippin IV (New Yorks■ The fik in g Press, 1957) r.:V - ;;: ■ .i' ; : ' • . : ; ■ .. ■ 5 ' Maria is the name of the little, girl in. The Forgot- ten Village who is very ill and ' Whose life is in danger because of the ignorancd. of her family and the people of the. village. The only women characters actually named .Many are- found i n '“The White Qua!T“^ in The. Long Vailey and in Cannery Row. Mary .in the first story mentioned Is a self-centered,, ' frigid». untouchable girl who identifies herself with the white quailp a creature of beauty. Mary in 0annery Row 1s a charm- ing. g ir l who brightens her drab,- impoverished'wprld^with beauty and imagination in the form of make-believe tea' partiesgener ally to cheer her husband» In In Dubious. Battle2 Anderson. ; who lends his land to the strikers, ■ has a dog named Mary .: • - In the Book of Luke in the Bible the account is given of Zacharias, the priest, and his barren wife, Eliza- beth.3 ' ■ in angel appears to ZaCharias and tells him that Eliza beth shall bear him a son and that he is to be named John. . Perhaps it is not without significance that Elizabeth is the . •' name of the wife of Joseph, another .priest, in To A Cod Unknown .and that their child is named John. ' ’ '• . Ijohn Steinbeck, “The White Qua! 1,11 The Long Valley. ■ pp. 27-42. ' . ' - , ■ . 2john Steinbeck. In Dubious Battle (New Yorks Co- viol—Priede, 1936). . ^Book. Of Luke, Chapter 1. • . , The1 name,EHzabeth; 1 s used several times\ln 3up of Sold o.l Elizabeth is the name of Henry's mother, another Elizabeth' i:s-hi s' childhood.sweetheart, hi s boat is named 'Elizabeth, and he finally marries still another Elizabeth o' ..His 'Wife i s childlesso ■ . - •- ■ - . It-timesIsteinbeok gives the name; of Joseph to a servant; or a man of lower position,, Joseph is. the mayor's .ssryingman in„ The Moon Is . Down,^ : Joeepb i s a servant to Helen, and her deranged daughter in The Pastures of Heaven, and io-e-is:a bounhe'r at Kate1 s in Bast of Eden*. ; :v'Samnelis_ S'dn.s .Joseph, who also appears in .East of Eden, is a dreamer' a,nd■ a rather ineffectual, person, Joseph arid :Mary .Is;,.tha "name' of the man who succeeds Lee G.hohg in the sto re i n ,Sweet Thursday,3 Hb-.is a. dishonest schemero Joe is the name of the sterile father in Burning Bright^ who :1.earns : to:;ac,cept another man'a; child; as - hi s ownv fhese - . Josephs do'not; fit' into a mold 1 .- .. . - Perhaps Joseph in. Toll dod; Unknown may be considered : a; spiritual servant,.' just as Ohrist was, and .as Ghrlst1 s , father, Joseph,. also was, in a sense., ' ■ •' ... :~~™’. i. - ^ John "Steinbeck, Pup of dold (Hew York: Govicl- Frlede, .1929) o' ; :■ - > : ' • , - . .. ^John Steinbeck, The Moon Is Down (Mew York: The Viking; P ress, 1942).. . . ; ' -- ' y -, i,' , . . - .5john Steinbeck, Sweet Thursday (Mew York: The Vi" king. Pres s., ^ 1954).; ' . . / i • - ^lohn Stelnb eck-, Burning Brlght (Mew York: The VI- - king. Press, igSO)^--1 : : : ; ■ ’ - . - ,' ' , ; • J'oseph In-To A. G-od Unknown is sim ilar to the Joseph in the-.Old Testament story, also »• Both men reoeived the , , blessings of their fathers, although they were not: 'the; f irst-b ’orh^' both men may-i be considered, dreamers| - both .had • ,younger brothers named Benjamin; and both became leaders of the!r brothers and their Tamilies. As Joseph in the .Bible . was-v ml streated- by h is brbthers.,- so /was Joseph, in To A a-od . Unknown mistreated ,by his, brother, Burton, who/killed his precious .tree» ' Both Josephs. journeyed Tar away from , their ■ ' original: homes.» Joseph' s name .in To A lod Unknown:may also, have -some connection with the name San Jos-I, patron saint of farmers:. We shall have much more to say In this thesis about Joseph ' s loy e, of the land. . v; . ' ■ ■: ■ : . .. Byery important- character, in To A G-od Unlmovm. with the exc epti on of Burton, has a. name with religi ous; associ ations. This is ironical, a,s Burton Is- the narrow-minded soul who professes to be religious, whereas the others do n o t . ' '■ . - V ;:v '■ : - . . J t t ' Two of the disc 1 pies, of Jesus were- named James; one of them was the brother of John, especially loved by Jesus.■ Steinbeck uses the-name freely, usually:, shortened to Jim = ,. The only, characters, that he c a lls James are James. Flower in .Gup of - Gold and James Grew :in East of Eden. - Both are ; y pathetic, ineffective-people who seem rather lOst» James' - Flower is the son of, a minister,-, and, James Grew wants to : 'become a minister, but he fails' his divinity school course (which makes him feel rejected by G-od) and becomes .a Latin teacher, instead „ He has a- passionate love affair wi th a . pupilg the . evil. Oathy, and commits suicide because :of her« Jim Moore in "The Murder/11 a story In The Long Valley» .is; - not; 'a very admlra6le:man, veither;.: He is- unfaithful to hi s., #110) but he kills her lover to protect his "honor." : 'V - -4t least two of Steinbeck' s Jims are strong, vig orous- personalities s: however^ - - They are even heroic » These ' ' are. Jim-'Holan:, one of the s trik e leaders In In Dubious Bat- . t i e , and Jim Gasyy an ex-preacher -who 'becomes a st.rl.ke leader in .The G-rape s. of Wrath e ; : \ : v; V ; • 'v i t has been .'suggested', th a t J i m ISasyg, who; has the ; - same ihitials. as Jesus 0hriSt , stands for that f igure.^ ■ ... - Adam and Gharles I n East of Eden have the same i n i t i a l s as Abel and Gain; Aron -and Calebf Adam® s sons, do, also, The . Gain •and Abel story' is enacted .again by both .pairs of bro- thers. Adam also .'serves as Adam, the 'father of Cain and Abel, and as .God, who rejects, the gift of Cain (Caleb) . C athy and 'G harl es both ' bear ‘0 aih 1 s I nlti als ahd ,” the mark 6 ,l terrible scars on their foreheads, Charles has the quality - of never .bMng.: sorry f or the bad things, he does = Cathy w ill be discussed .in grea,fer detail later = ■- G-.al is named for Caleb ifrjibe^Murder," The Long V alley , pp. 171-861 ; . ' if '^Martin ..Staples Bhookley,' "C'hri sti an Symbolism in ’ The ’Grapes : of' Vratfaf *1- .Sfelnbedk- and His Cri.11 c.S ' (. Albuquer- ■ quel - dh iv ersity of New; Mexico Press, 195771 ppT 266-^71 ° 11 who mad©' It to the Promised Land-," and the iapXtoatidh .is' , that, dal wiil 'arrive^,there,- too, despite the f act thatche- is partly responsitiXe; fo r4 ro p •;b deaths :yhrereas S^on,.:1 ik 4 the Aaron in .the Slhle for whom;;he is nameds >ilL"never reatih . t h e : P r Omi s ed1 L and, ::al tho ugh he is more o onv enti onally r ell - ■' g l 0U8 . ■ ■■ - Other names' that we; toiiSht-.assqolate with religious, characters • are. used .in various .ways, Pet.er, the hen-pecked , . bush and in 'ifhe, Rarhess,"!- a. story in The Lon% VaTlevX is. not at' all -like the - strong:, ■ v 1 rl 1© ;:_f isherman-disciple: of the New Testament-, ' Paul' in "St* Katythe Virgin,"2 another story in The Long Valley, demonstrates' the- evahgelical'fer vor of hi s predec essor of that name by. cpnv erting a . wicked . pig in this irreverent parody of'the"saints' liv e s » Timothy , in 11 Johnny :Bear" unselfishly; takes a,beating to protect the. Hawkins- sisters from'.gossip»' _ Ruth^dody'vjs. mother in The, .Red .Pony' j i s v;ery io v i ng but und emohstrat 1 v e; ' Ruth, the ■ hero! ne i n= th e . anc i ent Bibife al stP ry ,' i s muo h more deffion- :.v; s t r a t i y e - i h , her lo v e » Noah, i n The. S-rapes,; Of''Wrath i s oon-:,:_ sidered strhnge by other people» . Like'Noah in. the B ib le ,• - Xfffhg-Harngss-o,v Th.e Long V alley, pp. 111-129. . 2tbid,:;.'PP- 189-SO0:,£ : ■ . ;. ' ^john Sfceinbeok,, The Red Pony/ (New York; Bantam Books ,' by 'permission, o f :;The:,Ylkl:.ng . PrhssV :19:37lf vi • • • • 10 he is associated with water. He,■insists upon staying by -a l i t t l e stream. Boxology; is the name 'of Samuel Ham ilton's poor j ugly g- brok.en-down horse . Hi snam e i s .hi s one glorious possession.- . Easter is: the' name, of another old. horse in The • Red Pony. The only o.haraeter endowed with the actual name of Christj Jesus Maria Corooran. in Torti11a Flat.^ is pic- , , tured as a gentle, .kind, humanitarian palsano„ ; . Kino in .The .Pearl i s named after Father Kino r the;.:; ■ mlssionary '.explorer who journeyed and: labored; so- tirelessly . in the Southwest . .Kino also, has some exploring of his. own to dov but his journey ends, in sadness.. . ' . ' It is interesting to note that -twice in Steinbeck' s novels we' find him using a word which simply means "woman.11 ^ - Rama, a name taken from Vedio li t eratilre, in To A Q-od Unknown is representative of the earth mother. The laws .of Rama . . never changed, bSd - was bad-, ahh bad was punished, and' good was eternally good."3 Juana, the.feminine form of John or - Juan, also means woman. In The Pearl Juana •represents the good wife and mother. : : - v, ' 3:John^Steinbeck,.- T ortilla Flat (New .Yorks G-rosset ' , : and Dunlap, 1955.) ^ • ■ >; -l ;-P et ef Li sc a, ''Steinbeck's Fable of the Pearl," ' - Steinbeck and His Critic's, p. @95 i 7 ': - '. ,.^TO God Unknown, p. 27. ' ' 7. ' ■' ' ' " ' ■ ' .The cen tral feminine fig u re in Cup of Gold, Ysbbelj, is called the Red Saint, and although she'hardly seems like a saint to the reader, stie performs her '0athqlic rituals»' ■ Rose of Sharon in The Grapes, of Wrath gives of her' \ body to bring life to the starving man in much 'the■same way :' that Christ gave his body for humanity. . - Many of Steinbeck's titles have religious impli catio n s, tod'.'v Cup of Gold is considered-, a symboT f or; the' : . moon,- for sex, and- for the Holy Grail.^ The Pastures of Heaven., the title of a book and also the name of a'place,' is ' in reality named the Corral of Earth, a valley that;'id located ; in C a lifo rn ia . To A, God Unknown re fe rs to the , unknown. God;,; ; *Of;Hatu r e», I ''S t, i the "Virgin," as ^mentioned beforeV is -a'' V par ody. oh' saint s'' - I'l ve s. \T h e - title of' T he -G rapes Of Wrath'' ; comes from The Battle Hymn of the Republic ... East-- of Eden ; obviously, takes its title from the ancient Biblical-story. The 3?earT may possibly;.represent the "pearl .of great price" . spoken of in the book . of Matthew. - y'T; v 1 .;r. ; - ' z .. A- quotation from1 Milton's Paradise lost Tntroduces"; - In Dubious Battle, one;of the Vedic hymns introduces To k • God Unknown, a quotation from Everyman in tro d u c es.The Way ward Bus, and a quotation from William Blake introduces Burning Bright. ;- ■ - ' • ' , . ; " ' "Stanley Edgar Hyman, "Some Notes, on John Steinbeck," Steinbeck and His Cr i t i c s , p. -155. . ' It Is difficult to' generalize about Steinbeck;8 s use' of names with.-religious- connotations or associations because he is not always consistent in his. use» but it is safe'' to' say that he. consistently" uses these namesg particularly names found- in the B ible =: - .... = - . . GHi.Pj'SE TWO =' .isLlfl-Xbus 0HABi.3:TE:RS : V ; ': v ' : . ..It I s possible ..tp .obtain some insight .intQ an au thor’ s feelings toward a trait by,his portrayal of it in his bharaote.rs = It is now app'ropriate that we turn pur attention to religious manifestations of Steinbeck' s char acters . 3atholies, Pr6testants. ;prthodox and;unorthodox. deranged relig io u s fanatics,, .and re lig io u s people who : cl aim to .be . not r e l i g i ous» appear i n hi s 'work:s , ■ . ; John S« Eennedys.■'who cri11 clses' Bteinbeok from the 0 ath01 ic point of view., says that he does not deal kindly with Catholicisiiij he feels •that he-.portrays .priests and other. Satholibs' as." narrow-minded' in his unsympathetic treat ment of them,•and that he portrays latholic beliefs as beautiflil myths' when, 'he tre a ts them, sym pathetically : Al though Kennedy1 s: remarks- contain. some truth, theydo not ’ express the whole truthy. as we sbal 1 see upon examination Of Steinbeck s characters*- ' ‘ . ; - ljohn~Bo'- Kennedy, -'John' Steinbeck: L ife Affirmed ■ .and Dissolved," Steinbeck and' Hi s., 3 ri tic s » pp. 1.19- 34 -..'.. 13 ' : v....: iy' . 14 . ; ' The priest in The Pearl is one of the forces of evil „ He is as gireedy :and .grasping, as the other personifications of evil - in the story 0 ' Kino and hi> wif e Juana have been unable ^ to-he marri ed because they have no money. The pri est visits them for the first time-when’ he hears; that Kino has found the pearlp and he t e l l s them hot to forg et the ehuroh c This same; prlest';also preaohes' annually on the subj eo t of remaining-; ' satisfi.ed'.wifh one’s lot or station in life, and he tells the oongregati phi th a t; gri e f ; and a h ad' endi wi li.^^'p phe to-.them''if" they resist; these misfortunes’ had happened to another man who. ’d ef i ed th e .nat iv e ;W.ay: of l i f e when, he ; fe lt- he - wasieheat ©S :iSy the pearl buyers o. /. ; ;i':/ ; ' Although . Jphn .Btei nbeokvpalnts . a bad pldture of th is p r i e s t „ i t would be wrong to assume, th a t he thinks a ll p rie s ts are;obrrupti' Ev^eh ths'dpotor.in this tale Is greedy and sel-. fl sh, a disgrace to ' hi s profession, and or dinar i ly St ei nbeck depicts:.his:dootprs; as, hobie men., I t’ is inevitable, however, th a t a few evil men w ill be found in any prof es si oh. If. one of them happens to be of the clergy,the reader should not feel that the author thinks that he is representative of all clergymen, unless th e re is fu rth e r evidence^. .; ; V ; ■: .The pri est in 'Tortilla Flat is shown to be a kind man,., one who has a sense of humor and who i s se n sitiv e to" t h e - feelings of others. The Pirate has saved enough money to buy a candlestick f or: St. 6; Francis, Whom; he bell eyes to: have ml- raoulously healed his sick dog. . On the day when- the candle- .- stick is ifo; be. plac ed .In the phurch for the fi rst time., the : them^^pusb In- wiXdl,3ra "backing fu r io u sly and they swam a l l oTer.'tbs.PiPateo In great embarrassment the Pirate takes them /outside and. rebukes them and commands them to remain there until the. ser^io® is endedo ■ When he resumes his ,plae n in-the ehurohn he sinks into his seat and tries to effaoe. - . "*Do not be ashameda V. F ath er Ramon s a id » 11 I t i s sin to he loved toy your, dogsj, .and no sin to love th@m0 I how Saint Francis loved-the to easts„° Then he told more sto rie s of th a t good ■saint oM^ Father Angelo in. TO A God Unknown i s p ictured as falls short of J.osepho- Father Angelo is the only onej, with the possible exception of Rama9-who understands the true, nature, of Joseph-o- He sees hlmf- as a -new savior of the West9 although he is immediately disturbed at this heretical feel ing Within his breasto Before this time he has also remarked that one priest could recognise' another on@o, Steihtoeck say# of Father Angelog. "Father Angelo was a stern man Where the' church. Was concerned,, ..tout' one© out of the church9 and with the matters, of the church out of the waya .he was -a tender ^Tortilla Flat g p> 21.6 ;r - : ;:' x:'..- - '^ . 16 and a bumorous When the rains finally come after the long droughts, Father Angelo knows that the people will take off their clotheS'-ahd rbll dn the'rmudo He Is about to go out. and ,stop, them when he re a li zes th a t they are, so happy th a t they oannpt bear 'ltHe softens and decides not to Inter fere , but to give them a, l i t t l e penanoe- on Sunday = Even though Father tegelo does, not ' approve of Joseph’. s worship of the tr©e> he thi nks that 11 was a. bad .thing f or Burton to - kill the tree. - ■ • • Joseph is angry with Father Angelo near the close of the book because the priest persists in talking about Joseph's soul and his need for the church, whereas Joseph is interested only in the Welfare of the' land» and. he thinks that.'his soul is a’petty consideratioho • t . A priest is mentioned briefly in The Pastures of Heaven. He gazes down at the beautiful, village and wishes that he might have a little' church in that peaceful, heavenly place.. Then-he;feels, that he is, a bad priest to want to evade sorr'ow and discom fort. - He th in k ss "I am not a good ■ priest. It11 scourge myself with the poor, with the smell of them- and their fighting. I can' t run from the tragedies of Bod...Maybe I'll come to a place like this when I am dead."2 .. ' ^^fo~A~Bod Unknown, p. 11?. ... - : , '^Tbe Pastures of Heavens p. 295<= - -: ■ ■ . ; . ■. : . ' 17 ’ • In Sea of Cortez, a straightforward nonfiction'' , ■ book which, contains■ many of Steinbeck’ s ideas ■ and Impressions,,. ;- of ill f^p'i s an account of a Good Friday service that Stein-- ... ' - - . % -, beck attended. • . • ' , ■ When they fthe choir^' had'finished;, a fine-looking t . young priest with a thin ascetic face and- the’hot eyes ■ of f ervency prehch'ed from-, over.' th e ir heads. He. f i ll e d ; ' \ :'i . .,i't v:v, ' t ;hevwhole; church witti h is tf ai t h » .and the'people were : . ,;; ; f-';: ■. .. breathlessly, s till« .The. ugly bloody Ohrbsts .and the . :h. . : • simpering Virgins and ' the.: over-dres.sed saints were ' . . . , suddenly out of it. The priest was. purer and cleaner % h t;. and stronger than .they =■ Out of hi s own purity he " ::h' seemed to plead for .them, After a long' time we’ got up • and went out of the dark cool church into.the blinding : , white'sunlighto1 , • Steinbeck-also seems to admire the nun he has created- . • in- The. Short Reign of. P ip p in 'I W however, shel.l.b .a very-un«>' V ' usual nun, Very Steinbeck!an,11 and not a typical nun-at alio ,■ . S is te r Hyacinth is a wise and understanding .nun who smokes ' . ■ : ’ h : c igarettes and who expresses the wi sh at . one time that she : / were not wearing the habit of nunhood so - that she might con- ■ . ■ sole Pippin sexually« Before she became a nun, she had r ^ t ' worked as ,a nude girl in the Folies Ber.g%re, and she con fesses that she decided, to become a nun in order; to get Off ■ , . her feet» .Her arches' had fallen, and she was very: tlred of/,' .' - % '1. • standing'. Once she had become a nun, however, she was fairly . circumspect, and Steinbeck seems to feel that she is a fine ' . • ■ person. ' . ' ' 'V:;.^ J o h n nteinbeck-o’' Sea, of Oortez" : (Hew; forks The ; . v Viking Press, 1941), .p. 1161 . : - . 'lui f 1'' - ' - -; . l •'l . Steinbeck has 11 ttle sympathy for crude,, narrow- ■ mminded^ i nd ed., .camp-meeting c amp-me eting type religion. . This is demonstrated ,. partioularly in hishi s treatment of Burton in To A Bod Unknown ' and 1 n: The Brapes':of Wrath' in hi s. d escri pti on of Gasy when he preached,that type of religion. In the latter book 'Steinbeck relates episodes of the "Holiness" ladies in the gpvernaient camp and the Jehovites on the journey to Gall- ; fornia who want to hold a meeting at the Joads- tent. , t In Sea .of Gortez Steinbeck sayss ■;. - ■ : Gertain communicants of the neurological condition . .1 ng re l 1 gi ohs; .prao tic ed by cpwardly people who „ by harrowing their emotional experience, hope to broaden ' their■lives, lead us to think we would not like this new species o, ^Hev is ref erring' here' to a species free ; ' from disease; and suffering^ These religionists, be ing afraid not only of pain and sorrow' but even- of joy, , can so 'protect'themselyes . that ■ they seem dead t° us =A . Steinbeck.describes Burton:¥ayne as. follows: Burton was one whom nature bad constituted for a re ligious Ilf e , v He kept himself from evil - and he. found . evil; in nearly all close human contacts, Onee, after a .service to the church, he had ■ been praised, from the pul pit,; "A strong jnati in the Lord," the pastor called him, andiThdmas b a h t; olos e to dpneph' s ear and' whi spared - . weak man in the stomach." . Burton had embraced his wife , - ■ .four -times o ; He' had two. ch ild ren . Gelibacy, was a ■' ' natural; state if or ■him .2 ;;■,/' } Joseph decides t° have a fiesta, and Burton reveals hiS prejudlce and■narrow-mindedness by refusing;to attend■ when he 1 earns that Father Angelo Is. going to ■ conduct a ser- vic e there at "1 won' t stay to see it," Burton, cries angrily. ^ Bea df' Gortez, ; p . :' 117» ■gTb A God Unknown, p . 127« "I111 give no sanction to the Pope on this land Then when the musiOj the' dancing;, and the gaiety begin, Burton. angrily denounces them ah devi1 • w orship» - Thomas t e l l s him th at the noise sounds just-like that of a, oamp::meetlngv I / ; :i ■ '' , Burt on finally girdles- Joseph1 s.tree* whleh 'oauses i t s d eaths and' thi a, 1 s rapidly • tollowed by Sli zaheth'iS : ■ • death,: the break-up of the family, the terrible droughty: . "and Joseph* s death. ^ Jim' Oasy in The Grapes of Wrath has decided -to re~ nounce his, evangelical preaching-. ,He feels that baptizing people does not do*, any good;. they remain the' same. It has • disturbed him, too, that his flesh is very weak = Every :time' that he f elt very spiritual and close to God, and after • he- was -particul 3.rly effectiv e in moving 'the peoples ' he_ / -bee ame quit© carnal ■ and s eduo ed ' one of t h e . young g ir ls a fte r the. se rv ic e . This was followed by a feelin g of" g u ilt and 'repentance*. Then the -cycle began'again/'. Perhaps, as . . Steinbeck has 'expressed-it, a soul saved is doubly in dan ger. Every 'f orce of • hell ..consplres against I t ,..; This phe- : /nomenpn/has* o f ten been observed in the more 'emotional types of religious servic&s. Whether or not there Is a close re- lationship between the excitation of religious feelings, and sexual feelings 'is not'certain; perhaps'the sexual activity .. is merely an outlet for the great embt 1 onal',f sellhgsl that - . Tfo- A God Unknown, p .- 115° . - ' . ■ : haw©, la,®©n. stim ulatedo At. any. .rate, the#® two aESQoiatedo One Eight reflect 'also - on the pagan .1 e©remonles/: from which drama, was borno fhese ceremonies gen= . er a lly ended in '8®%nal - v V '■ :v' ; :; ■ Martin Staples' Shoekl©y .in h is. Gliristian Sym'bolisB in gfa-s • drapes. . of Wrath” any s : - that. ‘0asy ' r epresents a eont @E= ■ 'porary. adaptation pf:.fhe•Onrlst. He points out the following' aimilkriti es hetween the .tko flgnnesg ■ both have b egnn :their s i s.sipns:: aft er 'withdrawal" into the wild ernes ss, f. 'both 'ha* © • rej eo t ed an old re lig i on (Oaey @ rnde© sot 1 onal,. e*ang@11 amg -a r @1 ig io n ;■ whleh considers people depraved, hecanse of the • sati sf.a,etlon of, natnral: htman desires] and both are replsning the old religion with .a new'gospel 0. . ; Gas.r.° s words paraphrase le s u s ”. wS®d -is ibvea;*' and MA new: eom- ; mandffient] gi*e X unto youg;; that -ye love one ;.anQther'<.”2 . Shoekley, (paotes Sasyg • “Whatls': th is ::e a lls t h is 1; g p e r itf »»». ■ I t 8.s l©*@o . I love people so much i"m. f it to bust; sometimesoW= Oasy feels; a compulsion - to minlafera to- serve9 and;, finally to offer himself as a .sacrifice^ 'just as: Jesus dido . Gasy8 s iast wordsp -Mfou: fellas d'on8 know what yout r'@ doin" ai! are very. . close t© ' Je su s8 l8:Fatherg. forgive;:ih@mi; they, know h o t what they doo11 . I - ; . -- v , - ■ ; ,' "^Martin Stapl es Shoekl ey 9 K C hrl s t i an 8] The 'drapes' of 'l€rafhntl1 iBteinbeck and, His; G riticSo p» 266, In -Ib® drapes ■o.f.V./fna#'fev %w:o narrow-mihded 9 self~. : rlgb't eou;8 1 adl es; appear V ; In qne '1 ne Id ent r We f ami ly i s / .-journeying toward, California. ■Q-ranma 3,a 111, and'-the.family., bas stopped for the night. 'A large;4 woman appears .at'; thel ', ,■ opening- o-f th e ir ten t <, ' ‘ I , '. • . ' W ; rl'?} e heard you got a soul Were ready: to join her;/ ■ : I' Jesus. Iraise 10dl,».^ o:A dear soul gonna, join her : ■ '-y y- - ; ■ ' Jesus,'1 she said..; . • - Ms cried,- "That ain't soV 6. = - . - ’’"Yes, It's- so-, sister.. got six -in Holiness in our tent. I'11'go git 'em, an' we'll hoi* a meetin1 • a prayer, an8 grade, Jehovites,' allv' Six, countin'. -mP.. I ' l l go g ii: 'em outo,'1 :^^^^;^^ ; y ; v y i: .'I; I-- /V ; " The- woman i.s very' persi ste n t ,■ hut Ma refuses to l e t them have- a meeting there. When Rose '.of Sharon : questions - .. her .concerning her refusal, Ma says,. "I dunno.. „J ehovit es is good people. -They're howlers an' jumpers.; 1 dunnd.. . Bomepin juh' cbm,e- dy.er m e . 1 didn' think. I could stah' I t . vlJ--d ' jus'.; ;:.fly ;;allhapart ^ . /.-.I. - - \ - .vl ■ "Uy-11. - - ..'1 . V ;; '..'V-'' '• v-l';1 .1 s ©c ond -■ ihc Id etit-: WeurB - ait v'th e governmeht camp:, - I Rqs©::of 'Sharoh 1 s- pregnant,- and - the. " pi ous1; lady, Mrs. San.- :;drys' assures her t h a t . W e w ill -lose'her baby , She'..speafcs. of the sinfulness of the pl-ac e> Ma : tells -her tightly that ■ She thinks the. people who; live, there are nice. .Mrs. sand ry 1 s; eyes' 'stared..y ." Hie e'."' ..she; c ri ed », " You , ., ', think 'they' re .nice when they'..s d.anoin' an' .vhuggin’Yl - ^fhe drapes .of Wrath,pl">,2.$..7l ' 1;'';-. 2Ihldo p.,'288. . -' • . ■ ' . - '■ ■ . 22 I tell ya? ya eternal • soul ain’t got a chanc-et in' this here c amp L Went 'out' to-a'm eetin'.. in Weed pat ch. la s' night» Know'what the preacher- says?, . »He says, 1 They’s wicketness in that camp.* He says, ’They^s dancin’ an’ , huggin’ when they should be wailin’ an' moanin’ in sin.' T h at's what he says. ’Ever1 body th at ai-n’ t here is a black sinner,'-, he says. I tell you it made a person fe e l purty good to hear '-im. An1 we knowed we was safe. . .. We' a in 't danced."^ ■Ma orders her to,get out of their quarters, and she retaliates by sayings • - : , ■ "I thought you was Ghristians." • . - "So we are," Ma said. . , . "No, you.ain't. .You're hell-burnln' sinners, all .of you. iji* I'll mention it in meetin' , too-. I can see your black soul a-burnin* . I can see that inno cent child in that there girl's belly a-burnin' ."2 Following this speech, Ma again tells the woman.to leave; Mrs. Sandry immediately'-falls into a fit, possibly epiTfeptin, and the - manager of the camp tells Ma that the woman is a trouble-maker, but that she is in poor health, and he hopes that Ma will try. to tolerate-her, as she is not '. of sound mind o , • ■'•>; . - .I: -: • .John Battle in The Pastures of . Heaven i-s' also, meii-': : tally ill, and he tries to kill a snake that appears to him to be the devil. John's mother had died in ah insane asylum, her last days spent in embroidering religious patterns. -. ; Uncle John in The Grapes of Wrath is preoccupied - ■ with a sense of sin which throws, a. dark cloud over -his whole; ^The~ Grapes of Wrath, p . 437 2Ibid, p . -438. exist©me 'sna. makes 11 impossible for him ever to live a,- noi^maJ5, enjoyable l i f e , - - . , Liza Hamilton in East of. Sden, though not portrayed as orule or- 3©ranged$ Is a/'person who Is as 1 humorless as a •: phiokeh!r ;;and very 11 tera,ll'8tle: in he:r interpretation of the , Bible, Wen Id am1 s; servant j: Lee, asks Samuel, her husband, what she thinks of the: paradoxes of the 'Bible, he says she refuses to recognize' the fact that any are there,. " She Is a , strict Presbyterian., and she accepts things as they come and vis unbroken by them,. ifhen death comes into the family,. Liza, ■ ■ is 'sorrowful but able to accept it because she has- always re»: aliaed that death existed, Samuel, who is more of a dreamer, but a: warm, lovable, human- sort of individual,-is broken by. V the death of bis daughter because he never really believed In death, .V ...... ': - . v: -Liza is slightly.domineering, and ska thinks alcohol is a thing- of evil „ She .forces her standard upon her hus band '(who'thinks liquor ha.s some fine qualities), at least to -.the extent of -preventing him from ..drinking In her. presence, (Steinbeck tells-us that later I h .life' the loaf or recommended . wine for her health, and that before she died, she was Com- ' suming about a quart a d9,y. He seemed to fee l th a t i t Im proved her rllsposi tloii; consider-ably f) .'Although, Liza is not ■ - a character that we take 'to our hearts, she is a good woman ; and : one who is admirable in many 'respects, She 1 s a- woman . : of strong, immovable convictions. The children are afraid of her, for''they believe that she he,a no Meakhess e ' Three other characters In' East of Sden merit dis cussion. The first character is Adam’s mother, who may be categorized as one .of . the mentally deranged „ vMrk. Trask -was.'a/pale, inglde-herself woman. Ho .: heat of sun ever reddened her" cheeks, and; ho open. • laughter raised" the corners of her mqufh. She used religion as a therapy for the Ills of the world and ' • of herself, and.she changed. the religion to fit the i l l o ;ihen she found, th at the theosophy she had de- • ;veloped fo r cofflmunication with a dead husband was not ■ , necessary,- she cash about for some new unhappiness« . Her- search was -quickly rewarded hy the infection ' Cyrus (her second husband) brought home from the war. And as soon •an she was aware that a condition existed, she devised' a new theology. Her god of communication . ■ became a god of vengeance--to her the most satisfac tory deity she had devised so far--and, a.s it turned -' out, 'the last . - It .was quite easy for her to attribute her condition to certain dreams she had : experl©noed ■ while, her; husband" .was ;away. ' "But the disease . was not punishment enough for her nocturnal philandering. Her new gdd was an expert In punishment. He demanded of her a sacrifice. She searched, her mind for some pro per egotistical humility and aalmost happily arrived at.- the saorifice^-hsrselfo It took her two weeks, to write her last letter with revisions and corrected spelling. ; _ Ih it :she confessed to crimes she could not possibly; have committed, and admitted' faults far beyond her ca pacity. And then, .dressed In a- secretly. made shroud, she went out 'on a moonlight night and dr owned herself in a pond so "shallow th a t she. had to get down on her knees in the mud and. hold her head under water. This required great .will power.' . ' ■ " The next .character in th is book upon whom we shall focus our attention is the-young 3pi sc opal minister, 'Mr „ Rolf, -a ^ell-meaning man of, little-w orldly . experience and knowledge* He is c el lb"ate and simple In til s tastes, and his lack of experience gives himi: ( aM tils p u p il, Aron)' "the a b il ity for generalization only the inexperienced can .tiave*"^ Despite" his nafvet^,,. however, tie does have some good ideas. Aron fe e ls the f ilth in e s s of the world and would lik e to withdraw from it"; Mr. Rolf reminds him that Jesus would not want his priesthood withdrawn from the service' of the world, that he had insisted that his followers help the sick and poor and sinful. ■ • ■ ' ' . The passions of puberty take a religious turn in the life of Aron, the third character in the book under ..observa tio n . He 'decides to become ,a m in ister, and, fo r a time, feels' that he- should be celibate, as that signifies a life of p u rity 'to him. “But Aron had reached a point, of passionate purity that made everyone else foul. After a few lectures Gal" found, him. unbearably smug and told, him so. I t was a re lief to both of them when Aron abandoned his brother to eternal damnation.■ ■. . Aron is sensitive but unreall stlc v - He is; unable-.to; . face facts, and.he - constructs his own world to appear the way.that, he wants it, rather than the way that it really is. He is in love, not with Abra, but with an Idealized, unreal iqiage, clothed in Abra's body. It disturbs her very much . ' ' ^ East~~of Eden, p. 451«- ' 2Ibid» P» 451. ' 1 ' that Aron does not accept her for what she is- but.changes her to suit his own purposes. v - f : ' ' Aroh' s twin .brotherj Gals habitually protects Aron fr:omrlife as it is, because' of Aron's weakness in adjusting to, reali ty> -i; When Aron 1 earns: that/.hi s mother i s a • prosti- ;.r tute. he is. completely unable to,. accept: the fact, and he tries to escape by joining the army« This action results in. his /death.' ' ' ■ : : v--1 ■ Other characters with religious beliefs or attitudes in the works of John- Steinbeck could be mentioned; the palsanos in Torti1la Flat have a simple form of religion, usually 0atholicism w ith emphasis upon magic, miracles, and superstition, .Their religion is generally not treated in a b ell tt 1 i ng way by St el nb eck „ I t i s treated, with 'gentle ' .- . humor - or . as something beautiful ,' whether true or not, Re-- f erence- has already ‘been made to the Pirate and his experi- enc© at/ the church' on the' day , bfVthhdedication of hi s can-'; ■ dies tick to'.St, Francis,1 As th e /P ira te leaves'- the. church' and goes into the hoods with his -dogs, the; story oontinu©si . /'Thus he: arranged, them -in two rows, two" In the fro n t line and three in the back, -. "I want to tell you how it was," he said, "You are ,. -forgiven for breaking into the church. Father Ramon said it was no sacrilege.’this time„ Now, .■ attention,-' / I have things .to tellV" ' . :■-/ 'i - The dogs sat .in their-plaoes, and watched, him: earn- ; estly, Seri or Alec Thompson flapped his tail, until ■ the PI rate turned to him, "Here is"no place for that," . - he sald^ : //Bainf Franci s would - notmind ,: but I do not /- - .. ^ " " ^ ^fbrM lla. Rlatv Pi. 2 1 6 1 % ; , ' z-" : . like 'yroy to- wag -jour tail while - ybu llste a ./: Wow I am ; :' v. ' gqing' to' tell jou. about; Saint"Fl-andlsI1 ' ' • ' ■ . That day ••his. memory was ‘inspired,. The sun found in*/i terstloes ‘In the..foliage and’threw fcrl 111 ant patterns. I' on :p!ne-nW^ ’ The. dngs nat patiently/ - It' ’ , :th:ei',rt eyes .pW % e ^ vHev to ld - everything'y t 't ; ■. thetprirest ih a d tto ld e ll ;the ■ttori edy; all the observa* ’■ •' :: ■ ti.dns;-. ■’ "Hardly:.a- word :%as-;.Out :"ot- i t s p i|o m*-: . • ' When he' was done9: he regarded the dogs '.solemnlyy "Baint Prano 1# did,la he said , l l ■ . ■ : ' The. trees hushed their whispering. The' forest'wasl-', silent and enchanted, , . ' Suddenly there was a tiny sound behind the Pi r a t e . 111 the dogs looked up. The Pirate waslafrald to. turn-' . . , hi s' head . k long ’moment passed '■ . . ., . ' ..and then:, the .moment Was over, . The dogs’ lowered y-. , . . their 'eyes, '. The -1ree-1ops ..stlrred to. life again ;ahd • - ' thesunlight patteras ■ moyedy bewlIderingly» y •: . ■ ' The.,Pi ra te ’ wa,s so happy th a t hi s heart pained him. y y "Pld'-'ydu ’ see’ hidi?r‘; -erl;ed, ::!l: /l^ ~ ~ lfiitllla :Plat/'/ppf 217-219 Thus Juan as a- child, had loved her;verj deeply' and ' ;;: had; trusted her, 'and 'his father had ' told; him that she ;, x " ■ '"w asthe one" set ;asl'd e -espeo 1 ally^.to : watoh ov er - Me# -_: : ' , ’ . J; •• ' c a n s ,»». h' ■ :• v.:-: :: , f _ - ' ' -: t ; ' .'vfhen y ou: add t o ; thl s 'th e f aot 'that Juah did - not he- . ;v-11 eve;in he#: with h is ::mizid;..and: did' wl tti-, every 'sense,. % ■ ; ; ; you .have his .attitude toward/Our .fady of Guadalupe,^ ■';. / If e .' hay # al re ady .ob's'erved ^ th e ./'uno onv'entl d :' : glon;Of'CSasy In Th e G rapes of jr a th t '.'Tom Joad bee dines' h is ;.. disciple and carries.'on his, work -and lives .his idespi :'Sam-. ; ■ . uel Hamilton and Lee are religious in a/more humtelstip way;,: ■ v , 'their" minds are 'questioning, but they have-a code of values. ' ' that they believe in strongly, and they are good., unselfish: 1 .., r men,, Perhaps/- 'to Steinbeck, at Ip a st, they.' are the epitome'-; : of desirably religibUa. mpnt; t : I-" One of the most unconventional religious figures .1 n.,8teinbeck'' s works .is joseph in To A'-O-pd Unknown, , Rama " 'says'/of;'-Josephs ■ ; i ; .; .■ ; ' • -. ,, i " " ; . ; ' "... ' . ayward BUs-alppV 220--22i# ': - \ I do not know whether there are men born outside humanity9. or^Whether some men are So' human as to make others seem unreal» Perhaps- a godling lives on earth how: and then. Joseph has strength beyond vision of ./ ShatteringV he has the calm of mountaihsg and. his . emotion is as,.wild-and fierce and sharp as the light- ning and just as reasonless =.oYou cannot;think of Joseph dyings .He - is eternal, , ,I tell you this man is not a man, unless he is all men.».-He is all these. :a' : .. ' . repository for a little piece, of teach man’s soul ,1 . , : During the marriage ceremony of Joseph and Eliza beth,, .Elizabeth tries to pray, and- She sees Joseph1 s. face;V . .instead of the faoe of 0hrist9 and she has worshipful feel ings toward Joseph. ' ""I 'if • i; ' He 1 s. a man of In tu itiv e feelin g s „ He knows before hi a brother writes him that, his'father has died, and he, feels that the soul of his father has;;'gone" 1 nth the oak ■? tree on Joseph1 s land. • Joseph worships the tree, and. he ... also worships a moss-d overed rock 'which, he feels is sacred. ■ .and endowed with.spirit. Joseph loves the land pasaion- ntely-.andvf eels' an id ent i f lo at ion ,wl t h, it. ■Finally, to relieve: the drought, : he off ers his body as a. sacrifice, - agai n, i n a 0 hri st- lik e - way, and . the rains come. ■ v Others could be named, who haye traces, of religious elements, as most people do, but the ones that we have Mentioned- should Illustrate well enough the 'points that we , :haye been endeavoring to make. _ - ' ..f / . . Before we "leave the subject, of religious characters however, we should mention another group of people within - th is ■framework. This i s the group of people who do not h f 1to "X~G od Unknown, p . 90. 30 oo:nsigar themselves rellBtous,; byt .who, unself Ishly oammit : : themselves" to a cause without . regard for their welfare or ev.eu.':thMr .:;li"6'es..' - - '; "I : \ \ . 'f . f - • ..tRoot» ,the/'Qoimunlst, l:n 11 The Raid," 'says' ■when .he is being . maul,ed by th.e vigilante's,:' ■'It1 s h ll fo r ,yoU;» .Me' re,;." doing i t a ll for you', . i l l ' of ...1-tv'"; You ••don1.t" know what you1 re dot ng«"1 L ater he ex pi aims, th a t rth ere was no -r eli gi on .in i t| • it, was ju s t ;fh e ■ way -that he f e l t ; . .' ■ ■ . V ;; ■'". : ; :t ■: ■ Mac and Jim t, 1 ommumlat. 1 eaders im. In Duhious B a ttle, ' consider themselv:esr m.Om'rrellgiouh,■ -but they ;are;"thoroughly :- :: ■ oommltted: to the Causn which costs Jim his l i f e;. At vone" -' - v point 1 n, the s to ry B u rto n , who is not.a.,3ommunist .hut '■ ■a genuine humanitarian who" helps the Communists,. engages . Jim in the' following conversations ■ " - ■ ■ : : : "I mean you've got something in your .eyes, Jim,;;. : ■ ' " .scp.efhingireliglo:us I ..I've -seen I t i n yo.u-.bpyB 'before.** • .,11 Jim" fla re d u t1'Mell.4 , ..it,i'sn' :t:.,rel i gioys = 1' y @ got.'ho use for religion;" - ' - ' - ’ : ... "No,. I guess / you: ■ hav enf th V Don11 - L et me b pt h er y 6u, :■ . "Jimo- .Don't" le t "me-confuse you with terms., '"You're liv - • ing the g oo d. l i f e , ; wh;at ever "‘you warif t O' c al l i t; " 1 ■ ■. : '■ ' . ■ "i;''m happy',".-'said; Jim,.. "And happy fo r th e f 1 rs t * . - ' ... J " . tlm el t l' m f u l lj u p j ' ."/v . , . , ■ . . ,, / ' . " . "1 know! " Don' t .let it diet - It' s the"'vision of ■ .■ Heavehl"; / ' tL gJJ, J , t..'V : ■' ' . " ' - v ; : ".I'don't believe .‘in Heaven,", Jim said 1 don* t " v . ' .b.elifve "in religion',"2 , • .v ' ■ .t'.vJ ■’’i'l'; :v-J t' ' - . J.p,J iqyJ ; . A , ^In Dub 1 ous' B a ttle , pi -206 . ; :. ; , ....." •: t . . After Jim' a i:6a:J ',iii; a * 1 astv; Sesperat e attempt 'to .fire the;jstfikers Ao.vl.olenoe9 Mao',bears' Jim' s body,'.with its . :' •face blown o ffy , before the men- and t e l l s them th a t Jim: - ' wanted -nottifns .for.'hl.m selfthat: he.' gave his life fob them* ■ The last character - that will be discussed in this s eo t i onilb': -Pi ppi n, who has ‘been made a Iking«: in.' :T h.e'.:hh or t , . - Heign of fippin IV, The people of France..do mot-want .a king; they, want-'a: f i g u r e h e a d P l p p i n did not- "want. to, be • king, but . now- 'that .he Is, his moral sense compels him to te a real king. H e • Wemahd S' that the Assembly, 1 egi si ate humanitarian' reforme ■ that", are long pyerdue, "and he goes into;- detail,uenun^ ,ciatlng-. them''with, great, care. - The ironic -result is that the,; assembly .yot esVto unking'’ Pippin. - They do hot even .elevate - him enough: t-o take his-' I l f e, to martyr him. ; 1 ',' ■ • . Just/ as in"life, all types of so-called"rellgipus' '., people, move through-Steinbeck’s -books. '. The validity of - their re lig io n , St ei nb eck; seems - to, be- s ay i ng * - may' b e 3 et e rained b y; the effect on the, individual's life.', ppes it; broadeu-his , / depth; of .:' f eeling -and c ompassi ohi: - Does. 11 cause him - to 'try; to reiiOve .suff e.ring and "pain?. poes;l t help him to enjoy .; l i f e' more, f u l l y ? : • Does, i t ;cause him; to become selfiess. and . . ■ to merge-* his being with - a./cause greater than himself? These ' , ■ . - ; '' ... , - . , . may be' the tests of a valid religion^ / ' ■- '- ' . ,: CHAPTER THREE ■ :;‘religious .-ideas in the Thimes' -. ' Gertain 'themes'and ideas'are popular with Stelnbeok ■ and keep 'recurring In- his writings o . This chapter deals wi th ,a di seMsslpnkDT;.: some of those Ideas =, • ' . • Lv - f Hat bed . of Ml d;dlbtGiass: Mbrali ty - - . ' ' 1" ; ’ ■ ' : St elnbeck attacks with great enthusiasm many of the accepted values of the middle class. Puritanism^ hypocrisy8 • excesslve -Conformity» lack ..Of originalIty„ sterility, and artificiality are seen as basic ingredients in the middle- ' : class formula for living, and he, despisbSv these'-.oharacteris- tic.s. Steinbeck ad mi res the pal sano.s of lor.ti 1 la Flat -and ; Mack and the -boys, of Cannery Row and • Sweet Thurs.day because : they are people of honest-lusts and.they are living the natural life. Mack-says in Sweet Thursday, .but search your heart, Doc, and' see if I ain't dishonest in a kind of honest' wayI don' t really fool nobody—not even myself, v iind th ere' a - anot her thing-- -1 kno w : wh en I * m doing i t A ll three of these :bodks are- Indic tments: - of the" approved code of our society followed by tbe middle. class. ' t'f, . d;: Ajohn Stelhbeok, Sweet Thursday (New York: The Vik ing Press, 1954), p. 98. - - v ■■■ : v . : ^ : -In 0 annery Row Doc remarks8 It has always •■seemed strange to me--the things we ; admire In meng kindness and .generosity,... openness, hon-. ©sty, . understanding'and f eeling are the .concomitants • of. failure in our system» And- those traits we detest., - sharpness, greed, acquisi tiveness, meanness, egotism , • , and self-interest are the. traits:: of succes© - And while men admire the quality of the first they loize-the pro™;; , ' due© of ':the;:sedpnd : . ' ;; ' ' '• The Wayward Bus expresses gtelnbeck1 s cpntempt for the middle class very well, 0 ami lie Oaks, the stripper in th at novel, 't e l l s Normas. v M:» vv s a tramp . some tim e -t or othero Everybody = ■ And the worst ,tramps of all are the ,, ones that call, it something elseo*'2 r V'. \. " ■ : . V 1 ; Mr o Pri tchard In The Wayward; Bus .1 s a good; example of the businessman . who', is a dull , smug arch-conf om ist; hi s, , wife is hypocritically sweet and very selfish,' although she" thinks of herself as'.a, perfect lady, and her frigidity■prOves to her that she is a lady. She thinks women of lusty ap petites are crude and vulgar. The Pritchards are not honest with themselves concerning their real motlves, and. they are ' % s tu f f y . and.rprudlsh. tTheyrha^e one childj,. which is' a ll that.;, " could be expected of' this. unfertile relationship. In a discussion of Steinbeck's attitude toward sex 11 ncoin dlbbe says in 11J ohn. St el nb eck; M oralist11 % ' Concerning Steinbeck as .a moralist one has some; • ■ % .mlsglvings.f Revulsion from hypocrisy and prudery - .r ~ ~ iQannery Row-, p. 150, 2The Wayward Bus, • p. 302„ 34 oarries him to a violerit extreme. ' For example, he . ■" ' : treata prosti tutl_pn as a-merry/J est--as in. the story ■ : of:; the two pai'S.ah'o si'p ters £EO;sa and; Mari a of the eh- ' : -phi lad a tuslne^s]) i n T he Pastures o f Heaven. One of ' the men in Of Mice and Men expresses preference-for a "clean cat-house1' over marriage' as a mean's of satisfy- ing and regulating the appetite :of sex; and in the same story the social graces of a "madam" are celebrated ' ' tb no 1ittle 'enthusiasm. Of -course these sentiments:. . need ;not be 'attributed to Steinbeck- .himself s. although ; ' : In the pref ace of Torti 11a Flat he attempts to plac e - ' \ \ the "hure lady" and her patrons on the plane- of .respect- - ' 4 abili ty o ■ Adulteri es - and .casual sex adventures are con doned--sometimes with an indulgent smile? as negligible : ■ % ,p ee cad f 1 lb s I ;s;om e t i m e s with; approval, as rev o lts against too rigorous'domestic discipline; sometimes with ap~ . . plause, as means- of obtaining money or food from fatuous fem ale: sympathizers , with the 'radical canaeo.. .The massive ' :: ' : i impression of his' fiction is that sex ( as among animals) : . 5 is ati innocent necessary 'appetite, in. little -need of / . control or regula,ti oh..« - . , - , ; . f, ■: And this-is ,the clue to the defects of Steinbeck' s ethics. Man has been defined as 11 the animal that laughs, . and that loves all • the year foundThe second clause- ' of the differentia suggests that, unlike/that of other '' /-animals, man'/stfbprbdUctive Instinct .is hot. regulated' -by,.' . nature and restricted to its. natural purpose--the pro- ; d duotlpn of children. ■ Moreover, the pfolongati.on of in- '- fancy in the human • species makes necessary .'the ibstltu- '; tion of the fa,mily--a permanent relation between .parent.s. Animal promiscuity does not; comport with .this in s ti t u- / - ' tion.,: . ; . . . ., ' . "/" - ' / . , ■ ' . ; , - ' - ; .Stelnb morality is not even primitivi sm ; of-Vanlmall smyv -'It 1 s human -llc ehse, and would * i f al- - lowed to -prevail, destroy humanity.1 . ■ . Steinbeck, often sentimentalizes the 'prostitute, en dowing her with the well-known heart of gold. ;Dora and her■ f g irls f fom the 3 ear .'.Flag are', generousand mi ni at ering angels In lannery Row. During an epidemic -of mastoiditi s, these g irls. make soup which they d eliv er to. those th at are: sick . For Doc * s birthday, they Ipvingly make him a gari sh quilt. Between the. _ /tpy^Qbln ''R.- u-ibbs, "John St einbecki Moral! st," :. 1 "'. Steinbeck and His Oriticsy p p §8 -9 9 » . ' . yS'ars oi* Gannery Row and Sweet Thursday, Dora has di e d h u t Fauna 1s a worthy suooessorB kind\ generous, and wise./ Suzy, one of.Fanna's "girls,” is a fine little prostitutep alsOy -, and generally conceded by all.who know her to he the perfect wif e for Doc» Faye owns a house of prostitution in East of Eden. rShe Is described thusg Faye was a nlo;e woman, not - very bright, highly moral8 and easily shocked,People trusted; her„ and she tru sted everyone."-L ; . / Steinbeck writes an ironic comparison of the church .wi th th e whorehouse in East of Eden .I- . ■ ■ ; "V.i; ' ' . r The church and the whorehouse a r r iv e d ,'in the Far West; simultanequsly." And each would have b een hor- rified to think it was a different facet of the same v'V- thingo [Bdth wanted to take a man out of his bleak- . ness for a time^l'.id , % : ; , • . ■ ' ; ; The sects fought' e v il? tru e enough, but they a ls o ■ fought each other with a fine lustiness...Each hap pily believed all the others Were bound for hell in-:a v- h basketA nd each for .all Its bumptiousness brought \a ■ \ with it the same things the Scriptures Oh which our .a ■ - .ethics9 our art and poetry j and our relationships are .-: builta It took a . smart tan to know where the diff er-’ . • , ; enc e; lay b etween the sects hut anyone could see w h a t ; they had in common. . And they brought music—maybe '' not the best, but the. form, and sense of it. And they brought conscience*, or, rath er, nudged th e dozing con^ ' scienc'e. They were not pure* but they had a potential ’ of purity, like a soiled white, shirt.» And any man • oouldpmake something pretty fine of it within himself 1., ‘ They built.the structure of social life in the Salinas . Vall&y° Thehhurch supper is the grandfather of.the ' country club...Steinbeck goes on to admit that the ' churches accomplished some good des'pite bad ministers : ■■ and, other d e f e c ts ^ , ' : ' ' ; 36 ■ ■ 'ihlle the ehurohes, fcrin^i.Hg the sweet' smell of pi- ■ ety 'for'the soul, same in pranoing 'and farting like brewery horses in book-beer time, the sister evangelism . ; ^whorehouse] with release airl joy-for the bodyV -orept In silently and/grsyly, with, its head bowed and its ■ face covered ., „Indeed, .If after .hearing the ecstatic ' . shrieks of climactic conversion against the thumping . ' • beat of the .melodeos you had -Stood under the. window of a whorehouse and listened to the low decorous voices,, you would have been .likely to-confrise the identities of the -two ministri e s ' ■ ' ' : Peter Llsc.a/' ln "Ihe wayward Bus- - ! Modern Pilgrimage, thinks' that this book depicts an .all ego rid al journey',, a re.™' • ligious pilgrimage to St-i. John (San -Juan)' of the'Jross^ ' Steinbeck shows by the epigraph of The Wayward Bus, that he" ■ - intends it as al^morall -playe»11 : .1; .. ;; ; - . . - ' ' ' I pray you /all gyve audyenpe ' . ' ind here th is .mater with reverence -... - '• . - By.v'fygureca itiorall; pla.yei' ... - ■ . The somonynge Of' Everyman c s lle d I t i s , ■*. . - That of ou.r lyves. and Vendynge shews - ' .' ' . ' .How IranBytory we/be all daye^ - j - .- Ill the passengers are,going because they want to, not because they have to, 11 sca points out. He divides them into three groups--the -sa-ved, those in purgatory, and . th e damned o ' - Of course the Pritchards are damnedZ' Ibe following quotation from lea of Cortez might be applied to :the Prit~ chard s. . ' 1 - : ■■ r' - . V .^ S ast of Sdenj pp. 217 - 1 8 . " " . 2. Pe te r Li .so a. ■ "'The Wayward Bus-™! Modern P ilg rim ag e,". •Steinbeck -and His C ritics, pp...' 231- 9 0 «. ' ; he Wayward Bus, In tro d u c tio n . : . ■ ' i ; Steinbeck' eted»es- X igtits■ f6n domi'tianc.e, but, : ■ The doininant, ,human,. in his, secu,rlty, n o ft and /feahful-., Hehspends' a Sheatrpart of his ,t hbb-y ' ■ ' tectins- himself'. Far from' reproduo 1 n$- rapidly y' he:_has- : fewer children, and .the ones he does have are ill pro-" . ;; tected' inside themselves because :so thoroughly :pro-; . - ted ted'--f • y ' . ;c Li sc a ::' p la c e s 411 c ewife of, Juan. 1 hi coy, the: bus . d riv er, among the. damned, a ls o , ; She has ..lusty . a p p e tite s ,/ •' but 'She, is ■ so:::pbnipletely se lf ish and •; s e l lt d enteredthat; she . i s outsldethe "realm of .the'saved;. Morma.f th e . nal t.reis9. i s ' damned because she 1 s 'unreall s tic ,, .a mixture -of .sexual . f rus- tra tio n and illu s io n . Loule. ■ ■another bus d riv er, ..is damned.. " becauas 'Of rhis. cheap .sexual atti tude»; 11 His masculinity is ; f a ls e;‘.and : s te ri.le . ■’2'v: Van .Brunt, who i s vulgar but self-t v- . : rig h teo u s,, has; a. negatlv"e a t ti tud ©'.toward; ev erythlng;, ' and . he- ; ; t s' included,in th is .grbup. He hat©S. eVerything •and -everyone. ' The;• savedtchargeterS',,all:' ca.rry 'di sfIgufements, &,s\: x; Li sea observes .:. These disf igursmetitS are inflicted by the : worldt Juan Ohlcoy,, .the f eal;:hero .'Of.' the ,story, has a j oint missing from the third finger: bf :his left hand, a; scar on hi s nose .and; a tear' on\his/lip.; i"faffiille ^ the' beautiful "femme fatale"' of the bookf has foreeps marks along.hef- - jaws o fe are.' n o t. told the .nature-, of Efnest ''BOfton1' s dis^ ' : : ; f iguremeht, but,;t'he-.purple :tiearttfh 3f he -wears indicates' , th a t he has one. : 1; -: i - - ;'kvv .; -.v- f f f ' • " of 0oftea„ p. 95. . - - x .;'V' 2"The Wayward Bus--A Modern.'Pilgrimage," p. 284. ", . . - 38 Llsca notes,the foilowing similarities that the saved oharaotens possesss “These saved characters, no matter how different their surface lives seems have four, important traits in eommong honesty with themselves and othersg an ecological view of thingsj, ability in their respective fields^ and sexual ■ attractiveness Sf einb eck8 s heroes and heroines generally have those qualities® - . . The other two passengers7 who have physical ■'disfig urements, Mildred Trite hard and Pimples, differ from the saved : eharaCterSj' aocordlng to Li sc a, in that their sears are na- turals they. are not caused by the world« He Identifies these characters as, purgatorial souls whose disfigurements will di s» .appear with maturity® i ■Juan Qhicpy9 ywhos© in itia ls -are the same: as those of Christ, may stand for the Ohriat image«' Despite his personal longings to abandon eye^ything fo fate and•to run off to Mex= i;cos he returns to dig the bus out of the mud and to conduct the passengers safely fo the end of the journey 0 The book ends on a positive note® Despite the cynical9 dishonest, self-centered, vulgar people of the world, there are self- reliant and objective people, capable of tenderness and af fection, who will help their fellow passengers, . ^TrThe~Wa.vward Bus— A Modern P i l g r i m a g e p 0 285® . Norman Cousins, in the Saturday HevleWg says that ' [email protected], who in te rp re t the book a lle g o ric a lly find i t uan . a rtfu l and commandlng attempt to,,point to the ■greatest; ty- r nanny; of all~^theveelf^torture ;pt> self-~infli;oted restraints »; - the- surface: adherence to artificial values of morality ."^ ; ; . The Pearl' is also an attack upon the accepted values of our soci ety« Upon reading thi a book, b eautif ully writt en ; with ; sim plici ty dignity ^ , bne mi gbt; b e; r@mind ed of several passages in the Hew'T'estameht =■'; 1 Matthew 7;§-6 readss "G-ive not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swines, lest they trample them under their feet, and.,;' - turn again and rend you»”; .Matthew 6s19;is as follows; "Lay not up fo r yourselves treasu res upon earth, where moth and rust doth .corrupts, and where thieves -break through and steali'1 and Matthew 13s45 and 46 states "Again, the kingdom Of, heaven is like unto a,;merchantman, seeking goodly pearls; who when he had found One pearl,of great price, went and sold s i f th a t he had, and bought 11 „ Jesus spoke all these things - In the •Introduction''to The Pearl„ Steinbeck writes 1 c; And, as wlth all retold tales that are in people- s ' .' ; h earts, there are only good and bad things and black ; ■; ; 'and.; white' things and good,. ' and , evil things and .no in-- , ' ■ ';' ;' ; betiween ar^where. . , ^ ; ,, . -; ; > If, this story is a parable, perhaps 'everyone .takes -- his own meaning from it and reads' his own life into it - ~ . ■ “Irwintl eth G enf ur.y: Authors, F irst 'Supplement^ p.,. 9540. ' ' t v ■ ' ' ^The Pearl, Introducti ont ‘ ... . - '40 . : 'Several .foroes' of evil appear in :fctie' ::stdry * The V . . ; 'vdodddr: l :s' f i r s t n o t-'wi 11 ing? to' trd a t the:/'baby, who has • ■ ' '' ■' been^stung':by the scorpion, because Kino, the father,, Aas ' : no money„ After .Kino discovers the magnifisent:pearlp the' ■ ' - greedy, doctor, comes, pretending that he. -w-as' put of town when • "... Kino had brought the baby ,earlier in the' dhyC - ' ■/ y:v, ; ,, ,The' doctor. in this, tab© is'the: only; example of an) . .. . ■ .©vi 1 doc tor in the works of VSteihbecko ■ ;le is. lazy and. selfb , ' • 1 sh, and he has no sense of the sac redness, of his calling or ' ■ his .resp o n sib ility , to . h umani, t y «■ ; B e e on si d © rs civilized- lib , . ving being ab.ie .to' keep a mistb©ss:,:and to, eat in rnstaurdnts ■ ■ Roney' is his god,: . - ::::: f f , ■ ,f - ■ i f ; :i;, t f, :'V - ;:,v- p ■ Possessing no warmth of )d^ fdr.; the suff erlng/tr : : . of. man,. the doctor goes through religious fdrmaliti es ■and) ' • . , . holds on to - the, shell -without...possessing the ■ substanc.e of) f©-=» : , .llg lo n b . ■ His horn©' 1 s./described in: the . fdllowifg, manne.ry "The pictures' were religious,' even the .large tinted ‘photo-. ■ , - - ' graph'of his dead. wife,, .who. if-masses willed, and- paid for.' out <- ■■ ■v:of:.he f :-Own -estate could do I t , was in Heaven*"4.: : The priest is considered another forces of evil, : ahd y ,. ., ' . his greed, like the-doctor‘ s', is. his greatest weaknesso He ':'■'1 has alre 3,dy. been di scussed , in the second chapter of,this V .thesis.., page thirteen, and'the read ef i s : referred to that ' • . passage for, a review, of his character. . •• ' .... f Th© P&arlr P. 17 * • : V ; ) t;' ' ' - The. pearl buyers try to cheat KinoEven the neigh bors become jealous and covetous» Other unidentified .forces ‘ Of eyil are merely called 11 the dark onesPeople are wll» ling ,;to k ill. f or. the :;peari:» They ; try to steal i t » They break Elno1s canoe - and burn hi s house« They attack him. Kino has to kill a man in self-defense. , luanas;;.; thel«lfep\f ih5s1 the pearl; a representation : ' of evil' and wishes; to thro^ it away before it destroys them." Juan, Kino" s brother, says fhere is a devil in the pearl, and he urges Kino, to rid himself Of it; however, he remains stead fastly loyal to his brother and tries to help him to escape» When Juan is advising Kino, he tells him that he is defying not only -the' pearl: buyers, but the whole structure, the whole way of life. In answer to his pleas, Kino replies, “This p e a rl h a s ,become my: souly I f I give i t up I shall lose my.: ■ ^ As Kino, Juana, arid the baby .try to escape, they, are : pur sued by the!; t r aok er s- - the' 1 i 111 e f ami ly hopes to get to : another town where Kino will receive a fair price for the pearl.. Most- of the money will be saved for an education\for the'hhlId.and';some Of the money will be used for a marriage ceremony, which Kino and Juana .have never beeri able to .. afford. This dream, of course, will never be realized, for in. the . struggle that ensues b etween. Ki no and the trackers, , ^The P e a r l, p. ,.93 . ’:: 'u t /. .' ' . ■ they trackers are killed s hut Kino's baby's head is shot off „ ' Kind and >JManai :padk• th e ir ’ sad l i t t l e bundle home, and Kino y: .rentitino es' the', pearl,, throwing it hack Into' the water from . whloh i t came® ' . ’ : v ;' ' " \ ' Peter .Lisoa in 11 Steinbeck * s Fable of The Pearl11 men tions the retreat, from competition in Tortilla Flat and ' 0annery .'Row as 'an ;aco;om pllshed-faot ®.! ■ : • .-v’ • • . h : Both .Danny and hi s palsanos and Mack and the boys, have thrown the pearl :back into the sea before, their ' sto rie s begin. In The Pearl .Steinbeck- shows one man1 s ..' • ; struggles against what in Gannery Row. he -has called the. . Vblind Jackals'1 (pearl buyers7T™thT^Tstricture! bulls" .: - . (doctor) s and. ..the "tigers with ulcers,,,. (pursuing horse-- men).» Hi s'great accomplishment in. The .Pearl is that he •V ' / .; has; been .able t o : g.i've thi s m ateriallstic;. 1 eveihof ' mean- .- .. ing an. arohetypal hef erence,, making ,of-.this simple story a par'able of man" s:' constant spiritual struggle to ad-' ■ Just himself to an essentially materialistic world.2 . - The..Grapes of Wrath and In Dubious Battle are novels , of social protest against Capitalistic landowners of Gall-. f ornia who treat the fruit pickers very unf airly ® The. books’ ■ strongly ' advocate decency Vahd,; fair, working ■ conditions, f or , ; ythese p eo p le. Steinbeck. says, "Fella had a team of horses. . Wouldn! think of turnin' . 'em out to starve when they wasn't - ■ w o r k l n f . vThem, s .horses--we: re, meh®" An 't.'. landowners' le t- them sta rv e h i' y t ' . 3-Pet er L isc a , "S te in b eck 1 s F ab le of The P e a rl *" Steinbeck and. His O ritlcs, .pp. 291-3.01° ; , y ' . 2 m d , p. 301. ' . . :: - ^The Grapes of Wrath, p . .192'. . -;;. Vy ■ - ’ . - 43 ' : T-he: 3-rames:'of ;Wrath ie'.also treated as: ,an -.allesori^ t' c al j ourney by Martin 3tnpi-ib© ^^i-ey j,. who .41 ecusses• the , ; _;;. Ohri sti an' symbol! sm 1'n that hovel v- Bbockl gj compares the .4pad'a with the I a r a e l i t e s s' a homeress and pers-ecuted people who ;flee from oppres.slon, wander, through- a wilderness, of r hardships, and seek' for a'PromisedpLandv The Joads, u n lik e t h e 'I s r a e l i t e s , never.---find it„ ' ■ 1 'v:JlS:::3asy‘ s persohif-1 catio n : of the C h rist .fig u re . and- - ; Tom1 s b ec omi rig : C'asy1 s 41 sol pie ba^-et already been., dlsotissedp.. ‘ '; and a o omparison between Rode; Pf $h@,ron' s feeding, of the • ' s ta rv in g man ' arid 0 h ri sti1 a offeringv of ;hip :body:':'td' human! ty -.':; : ' has; a lre ad y been made.: ; ■ ■ i.;'... . - - 1 ' 1 . ■ Shockley also rnentlons the language of-•The.-lrapes - -. of Iratb . as comparable to . the vocabulary, rhythm,' and 'imagery of the King -James. B ib le ,' f f -t .% : -I .1 .g; --f---' ! ... The - Ir ape s of f rath deals w ithv the ' struggles of' they lo ad s'1 as '-a‘-ripredishtative family who have- come from Oklahoma -. / -to Cali'fornia'to work in- the orchard's, - The break-up of the family . ensy.es, and death,sickne.as, -andhear starvation aro; : - h ard ships - th a t follow ,• The people, are- treated -as- aiilmals. or slaves by the landowners/ are given wretched living quarters, are charged exorbitant prices at the stbre, - are cpromisod one wage and .-paid another,: .and :ar:e"! generally abused . / 1. , , . ' [ioM ^rtin Itap les '.Bchockl ey, " Jhrl sti an .-Symboli sm in ;' . .. The Irspes of Wrath,’1 Steinbeck and Hi a d r itio s , - pp, 266-71» ■ ' 81mll-ar oond 1 tlons are portrayed i n ■ In 'Dabious . ■ ,- Battle, and in both books an attempt toward a- solution is . ;• fBiade' by;''prsani ting labor and .conducting' strik e s« .. ■".} : \ n' ; ^.^^.■Inotdep. griti th;eme 'emerges, f rom- ttiese b-ookb'«■ ■'1 _t.:4 :e $ ; to.' par apbrase . it., " If you .ever need help, ask a poor per son,' ' not the' rich nor 'somednefof .the^ midd 1 ebo 1 ass group '.who.-- has ..money '.to. spare =; > f h e' pop rye an11 spar e what; you - h.eed, but :they.'il:'gif e I t -to you gladly:. I f they are sth.bvi.hg,.' they I - Mill share their last, pieoe;. of: bread .w.lth' y0u> 1 ''And-,' as 'Ma J" dad say’s, "They're the only ones that'll- help—-the only ' > '. ■■ . : : Mae, a waitress in The Ira-pes of Irath, has pity on y a migrant and' his 'two 1 i111 e :boye .,^ ■ She; s p lI s ■ ■ him ■ a ' 1 oa f' of.: bread Tor a, dime and two '-pi eees of stick candy:. fora penny <= -The' candy ordinarily sells for a nickel each\ ' . ..i ■ . - . . : In; another iso ere from ■ th is ‘book -a, -group; -of-hungry: " ' ; c hild r eh , wbtc h; Ma - prepar e a m eal . Th ey do' no t - say . any thing th e ir eyesf s-peak fo r them =..:Ma: is - f ille d wit h - c ompa s si oh,. and although -f peding .'them qie.ahs- th a t - her'.own; f amiTy w ill not have, "ehdugh ,.;to eat, she leaves something for. thesn, children. She '''explains i t thus! 115' pose you was cookih't a ;.sfcM .ah- a bunch a 11 ttle f ellas: stood. .ard.un' ; modnih' ,. what'd'.you do? life d id n 't have'enough,', but you c a n 't keep i t when-.they look .a t ya T ike . th a t '."2- ‘ . -f: T . - . , r : e' 0-rapes o f . ilrath', .. p^;-513,»;: - - ■;' . • Si’ampg, in The .drapes of Wrath di ®s on. a dirty, ragged quilt, borrowed from the. kind people, the Wilsons, that the doads ' meet' on' the j durney to 0a,li.f ornla:. The .. Wilsons a s s is t ;.. durl ng (2-rampa s 11 Iness and - death, : and-' Ha say s th ey X1 make ;. . i t up to the ; Wilsons .later and giv e them, a quilt" to replaoei - the one, on - which drampa dies. Sairy. Wilson says, "Yousho-uldn6 talk: like: th at « i.ile1 re proud ; to; h e lp . I .ain’t -f elt so-.^:saf © ' . ih; a : long time. ' People .needs—to help W-'^. - " iKs; s: further illu stra ti on, . ROse .of Sharon has given: : birth 'to a: still-born', inf.ant, and' her breasts;are heavy ;with , < mllk'i .When the-'familytakes refuge' in an' Old barn during ' flood and -f inds a starving man- there, 'Rose of Sharon' in gen-r, . erosity nurses him, as, he is too. weak to .ke.ep anything, else .but milk on his: sfomaoh„7 .And so the under-nourished feeds-, the starvingo . . ■ \ ^ - ; ' . " The Short Reign of ; Pippln IV, a .satire on the govern-.' :ment ■ of ■; Irian:, I s ' also ah indlctnient of the. corruption in our" society« 'Pippin, the Ei'tig of B’r a iic . asks for: low'taxes,.. > ' .collected from all.: ;He ;asks. thatwages be keyed to profits i and ' t h atth e y m ov e , -up 'and down with the cost of liv in g . He' states that prices... should.,be .stricfiy. controlled against : : mani; pul a t Ion i and. that exist ihg housing be Improved and ad- - dl ti onal c onst rue ti on b e und ertaken wl th superv 1 si on of qua! I ty and.ren ts» He calls fO r' a reorganization of government so ; ^Th'e -drapes - of Wrath,:' p , 192 « . : - ■46 . : that- the le a s t possible amount of m o n ey .persptinel;''^e,:;e 3C-.. : . ■■■- pend e'd . Be- asks'lythb: assembly: to enact programs; f or public . ■ - bealth insurance and retirem ent, pensions.,,;. He Orel ers the.' />': . ‘ break-up of the great' land; tipldlhgS;« -He; advooat'es , reclama^ ■ ; ti on. of the ' wasted earth>. /• He. Q.onclud e s h i s speech j '.";To 'the " .threeigreat •• words, I want to. add a fourth .. »s.o that henceforth the motto of the French shall ho- 'Liberty, Equality^ Fra- te r n i ty ,. and Opportunity <,1 "•L ' ■ , . : . • The assembly s answer to his rrequesth i s: , th depose' - , - ; 1 : hlmlf They %ant :a- fi'ghreheadj.. not a?m‘,an h'f Id.has 'and action= ' v '• ' : The d isposs essed ar.e hf te n . Vie time of . soc i al in jn sT. .; '. tlce. This is true of the Okies ..who have been driven, from, ' the 1 and in Oklahoma and who .are .a-homeless people, 1 It.:ls 1 ■ ., true. Of ■the f r u i t pickers in I n , Dubi ous Bat t l e ■It is also , ■ true of -the ranch hands'"in 'Of'-Mice 'and-'Meh. " These homeless r : souls 'all dream of ,a. littl.e:-plot^ Of: land' ,'of ■;th eir own where ' .they- can. feel th e dl.gni ty ' o fo w n er shi p and ■ .the. siense of - be-,-'' . : . longing, ^ of having ro o ts « " i ' V/:.'' i.'.' . ' ' hr V : .Love of the h a n d ■, . ' : ''i t. , ■; Tv .y:.Lov@ of the land is-a theme th a t appears ; over and,: ' • over’ ;%ain.:''ln Steinbeck" s works „ Along, with thi s is somh-'. . .thihg'o a. fertility:"oult,;''. ' •,; . .. "i ' ;. -. V ■ '^-The Short Reign of; Tippin IT, p. 174. 47: ■ • , . One critic of Stein’beGk£1. Joseph Warren Beach, in - “John Stelnhec kg Jo urn ey man A rtist g11 makes reference to To . ' A 0od. Uhkno*ng-: ' i: ' ; ; i . " v • : v, " A • This Is the .story of a man devoted to the land8 who . left Ms Mew England farm to establish hiaiself as a ■ pioneer in the fertile secluded Talley of Muestra S@=> ' ‘Horap,'not far from the sea in Californiao. He was fol lowed .there by his brothers and their families, and they made altogether a highly prosperous and idyllic colony of ranchers while the good years.lasted* But the main interest of the story lies in the mystical feeling of Joseph Wayne in regard to the land and his relation to i t 0 He was one of the brothers to receive .. the patriarchal blessing of th.eir fathero He' has a nature poetic- and aloof ," regarding himself as a sort ■ . ■ of-priest, .whose paramount concern is to promote the .' fertility of the' earth and, of the men and cattle who liv@ upon;, i t s. su rf an © i.; He ^ has greatsym pathy, with, the pagan vsuperstitionsi and ■ ritu al s; which surTiTe among the :' • Indians and. the Mexican half-breeds,1 and has notions and practices of his' own which are sinful and blaaphe= 1 mous in the eyes of his Christian C hristian should be in 'quotation mafksj brother^ .while to the other brother ' they come to seem the infliction of madness 0 He be ll ev es that the spirit of his dead father has followed him lest and is lodged in the great'live-oak tree that . shades the farmyardo He is possessed by the pagan theory of sacrifice, and in the end he makes a sacrifice of himself to bring back the rain upon a country made barren with droughto His favorite resort In time of joy and sorrow is a great moss=covered rock, which stands in a temple-like grove of pines, and beneath which in a ■ • : - mysterious cave is-the source of a spring- regarded by ' the Indians as sacred»- It was there that his wife met . : ' her death .by' accident', herself a' aacrif ic © to the un= • known god of the eartho- . Joseph loves the land with a/passion-that at one point, at least., becomes strongly sexual => After he has thrown- himself upon the ground and expressed this urge, he feels ' ^Joseph liarren Beach, "John. Steinbeck, Journeyman Artist*" Steinbeck and His Oritlcs« ppo 8 4 =~S5 o "somewhat'• frightened and ashamed and decides th a t he needs a wif©«- H@ wants everything to produce and be fentile* When h is:land and animals are productive^ he realizes'that he is"'- the only':, urif ertile thing on his propertyj' for this reason h® ... ..toarrias- Elizabeth^ and -when • the time otimes, for their child to be born9. he Insists upon delivering the baby himself <, The male, delivering the child occurs often in Steinbeck* s book'ss Mac delivers Li a a8 s’ baby in In Dubious Battle g Samuel Hamll= : ton delivers Gathy5 a twins in East of Eden, and Pa delivers Hoahp his own child,, in The Grapes of Wrath* (Pa was not "man" enough to do a good job; because of th is ; he blames himself fo r Soah° s .strangeness* fhe::other men9 of oours©s 'were strongp virile men*) Joseph agrees with Elizabeth that the child is pre~ ciousp, but he says that the bearing of the child, is more - precious* Fertility seems to be the most important 'thing tot' :hlmo ' 1 Yl-::,'A '' ^ Joseph9a love of natureg including the landp the oak tree which he. thinks, contains the. spirit of his fathera and ‘ the mossy rock which has claimed th e l i f e of h ie w ife9 pro= gressei to the point of self-identification with the land* When he offers himself as a sacrifice to end the drought p he says p. .."I am the land p. and I am the rain*The grass w ill grow out of me in a little while*.11^ . ^To A^God Unknown 0 p> 244 *' /; ' — Q-ratima - and Q-rampa in The Grapes of Wrath both, have id e n tifi ed themselves with the' land of thdin'-ifan# in Oklahoma - and /are unable to survive the transplanting. Q-rampa refuses ttd leave Oklahoma 8 and he has to he-drugged before, the Joads pan get' him into the truck. He dies shortly-thereafter. \ , p After Grampa dies CJasy explains it this ways P /It's just the satne thing...Grampa ah', the old place, - ; they 'was jus' the- same thing.. .An' Grampa didn1 di e to night. -'He'd! ed,' the minute you took ’ im off the place.. ' . ' : Oh, he was b r e a th ln \.. .but he. was dead; he was that place, an' he knowed i t . . . H e 's jus' stayin'- wi'th:"the ' . •' ■ Ian* = He couldn1 leave l t . ^ - \ . ■' Granma also dies soon afterward. , f --; : ■ ' Muley Graves in the same- novel - lovesthe land that ' - , is familiar to him ;'in Oklahomar and he refuses to leave It . Muley says that his f afher camel there fifty : y earsago,. and' . no one is going to run Muley off his land. Something just . ' /won' t let- him :go-. He i s/ staylngvalive by ■eating rabbits and an occasional prairie.'chicken. - • ■ 'pt;: h In The Red Pony old Gitano-, another dispossessed • person, returns to the. land where hi S father had lived . Old" . Gi tano - had 'been born t h e r e a n d ' he want s to d ie th ere. J o» 'dy' s father, who owns the.; ranch now, refuses tolet him stay. Gi tano-is old and useless, and the fact that he was bprn there and identifies himself with the land ispnot pWspnp enough, fo r: him to stay, Jody's father thinks = Jody's parents-:afe\uotp 'P. pP': Ike^Grapes pf Pffrath, p. 199.. - r i c h > ^an<3: tie: wpaM';'tivave t'o be f ed, .jsd 1 e -f:aithbK deol&pei > V th at 3-itano must leave. ' • • In". Sea rOf 'Sontea 8 t elnb eok-.-' expres.ge# ,1 n. hi 8 " own' uords : the commonly ■expeb!enced id'ent 1 f 1 oat!on 'a p#.rsh,n may ^f eel with a t e r i a l ;Ob 1 ©ctgg r: Physiological man'does, not require this 'paraphernalia, ■; ■ 1'tOv exist ? .but the whole man does» He 1 s the.' only ' a,nlhal ' I wh o liy.bsv; outside;''of hi mo elf a wh ose d rive , is : the ex ter-- - ■ ' ■ nal things^.-proporty s-c,hous®s.s .mon'eya-vc ' , ■ He. liy-es: in his.hiti/eti ^and . his "faetbrl es 5, in'hi s husi- ness ' and Job 'and' 'art.» ■' -But having prO| eet ed ' himself 'In to -:u; ;; these 'external 0 omplexit 1 es, he 1 s th ein. Hi s house, hi s ; ' ; automobll e are, a. part of him-, and . a--large'.part ofvhim. This is beauti’fully. dOmonstraf ed; by. a thing ■doctors 'know-« that when a man loses his possessions a. very common re- ■' suit is sexual impotence.-1-' .V' - ' . •, • . : , John S-t.Kennedy,'-critic 5 i n " John 8 telnhecki Life ' ' llffirmed and- -Dissolv edj - notes Steint eck.:,’s opposition to , a . mass-production scheme of imerioan agrioulfure for the - ,ag^ V. ' ■ srrandizhment of urban sharehold.efs« " Kennedy also" notes the , sim ilarity, between one. of the . speeches :’qf. a. t.ehant;.;farmer ;ih". The 3-rapet .of .liTrath and Leo XIII 1 s' teaching ion property tin ;■ , hi.s : ehoyplic ai letter On' The dondi tl on :of the Jorking 0lasses, . -i.{The ■ tenant f armeh isserte': . 1 1 .I';,-'., 1 ', v - , ■ : v1 owns' #; little property^ ;t IS - " . 1 % hi:m.s vl t ’-s:'p a rt. of ■ h i t s:; ,and .i t l:s-li'ke him. .- I f he: owns': ' : property only so; he--ean walk■;on it and •handle i t arid; . • : he -sad -when it i Sriit: doing .well, and feel fine'when the , . ' rain.:.falls on it, that property is him, and: some ways . - V . he:' s .bigger becaus.sf he owns , l t . .But le t a . m.a,n: get " , ' u : -13 ea "o f ; 0 or tea 1 .0 , 37 . ' ... ' ' " : ..'t 51 ' . .property he doesn' t see, or d.-i.n' t talre time to jet his fingers iiis or Q a n 't' be "."there to walk on 1 t->-why then / property ,1s the man,. ostr-onger than, he is. And he is . 'stnall, not tig „ Only his; possessions-are tlg.l ' , Pope Leo ^affirms s. . ;. ; . ' - .when man spends the industry of his ■mind and the . . , strength of hi s .body in'procuring the fruits of•nature8 ■. by that act he makes his own that porti on of nature* s \ f 1 eld - whioh:. he c-ulfclvates—that portion on which he leaves, as It were., the impress of his ".own personality^ - ... and i t - cannot tut be jiist ; that he should' possess that ■ , A portlon as hi s own, and / should hav e a "right/to keep if ' a , with - -1' . .a ; 'Kennedy; statee' furthers ‘ ■ Stelhbesk emphasizes the natural bond between life , ..and productive-property, the need that, man has of a bit ■ of earth to give him suste.nance -and dlgnlty» He had touched on this earlier, .as. in Of Mice and. Men' (1957) in- . . . which landy, saysi “ Everybody wants a l i t t l e b it of. la n d , . ' " not tone ho . Jus * somethin' .that 'was hi s. = Som- thin* he . ' . could live on and there couldn't nobody throw him off. of i t . I never had none„ I planted crops for damn near . ever* body in th is .state, but they wasn' t my crops, and when 1 harvested 'em. It wasn't none of my harvest o'* 5 /' . Samuel Hamilton in.. East of Elen expresses hi s love- for -his. landeven -though- it is dry and unf ertile. He- says to . Adam' and lees " ' - . 1: : ' ' A : . . I can see myself'sitting on a dust heap making a world, in my mind, as surely .:as. Hod created this onee . ■ , But ,'3od saw hi s.,'world „ 1* 11 never, - see mine except-" . " this way, ' This will ;te'-a'valley of grett -rich.n-ess one . A; .At A day A I t could feed the world, .and :iaayb-S' i t ;w lll, .Andy' • .happy people w ill liv e here,.. thousands and ttaousaridsA+ . ' l,fjohn Stelhb'tc k p ■ Lif e; Affirmed and -Dissolved,11 P» 123 . . -Ibid, p. 123, a ' ' ' A ' : A ^xbiay- p, 123 , ' A - A / ' ■ . . ' . ■ - ' ' A-, •;45asf of igdeny. pd 15.-: ; \ . ' , y V' , ; T ’ ' Steinbeck11 s love of the land and of nature contains an element of mysticism that -is close to that of the Indians„ He finds m atter invested.,with s p i r i t » Hot .only. does' Joseph . of io/4 God' Unknown find, the tree - infused' with sp irit9 prd-1 - "sumably the spirit of his dead father, but he also finds the moss-covered; rock (which the Indian Juahi'to-bias' told, him his people consider sacred) endowed with a strange, ■ supernatural ■ presence. Joseph's wife,. Elizabeth, feels intuitively that the. rock is there, and she at f i r s t c a lls i t " th is dear good thihgbut later she feels a spirit of evil in the rock. On a succeeding v i s i t to. the' rock, she slip s and is k ille d on the rock.- Joseph also dies on this rock. • ■ : Steinbeck;;bell eves in "spiri t of place." In Sea of Cortez he feels a-spirit of evil about Estero. de la Luna.^ He in s tin c tiv e ly finds i t a, bad place. ' ' - The s p ir it may -change from time to .time as in Cannery. Row. Blake Bevins,'a critic, cites the following passages from that book as illustrati ons of this point, "It was,a bad time. ‘Evil ' stalked darkly', in the vac ant lot,. 'There is no;. - ; explaining a, series of misfortunes like thatIn con trast to. the preceding description, Steinbeck says 2 Bow a kind of gladness began to penetrate into the Row and to, spread out from there... The benignant ' ™ ^fo A "God Unknown, p, 135. " 2Sea of Cortez, p. 256-. . ' -■ " ■ ^Blake Bevius, "Steinbeck8 ■ One Aspect ," Steinbeck . and His C r i ti c s , p ..'201.. .. ' .. , . ' influence crept'like gas through the Row,..The sea. ■ lions felt it and their barking took on a tone and . cadence that would hWe g^addened' the'hea.rt of St', Francis. Little girls studying their catechi sm sud-- d enly ■ 1 o ok edi: up and' giggl'ed f o z*;: rib re as on at a l l . . Reverenc e for Life - . - John S'. Kennedy and other critics have pointed out th at' Steinbeck1' s'basic .theme i s,:: the same, as that of Albert- Sohweltzerg the famous Protestant missionary. philosopher, theologian,' musician,., physiol an. -'Schweitzer has said' that the.-heart of M s creed, the thing which .gives meaningfulnes to . his :llf e : i s h i s ; " rev er ehoa, fo r -11 f e - '' ; *, *, ; In To. & Sod Unknown Joseph' s fa th e r b lesses ■him In the follow ing manners ."May the b lessin g of God and my b les sing rest on this child. May he live in the light of the Face. .May he love his life ." 2 Steinbeck- affirms that life.is unified,''holy, and worth "living. Unlike many contemporary writers. -who take a' .depressed, futilitarian'view of life., Steinbeck sounds an optimistic note. His characters suffer many times in grue some, heart-rending ways, but-:;as;..Ma Jo ad’ says, "Easy. ..you got to have patience. Why, Tom--us people will •go on-livin when a ll them people frich, h e a rtle ss land owner s]| is gone.." . ,...... Steinbeck? One ‘Aspect,", p . . SOI. . 2 To A God Unknowno p. 4.. Why, Tom, we're the people- that live. They aihVt. 0 oniha;.; wipgv' us out. Why, we're the people—we go on.. =A differ eht - time's, coinin'."^- . . r': ■ ; ;■/' . *. Oasy says in the same book, "There was the hills, an' there was me, an'- we•wasn't separate no more.. We was : one-thing. An' that one thing was holy ." 2 - Oasy. also speaks these words 8 "'What's this bail V ; this sperit?' An' I ' sa y s' It's lov e 1 1 oy e . pep pie so . muo h i'm fit to bust, sometimes.' Steinbeck; states in Sea of Gortes, "Life has one ‘ final end; to be a l i v e . ' ... Let us note two other passages from the latter hooks And it is a strange thing that most of the feeling we c a ll re lig io u s, most, of the m ystical outcrying which.. •is one of the most ‘prized and used and desired reactions , ' of our species,, is. really the understanding and the- at- • / tempt to say th at man is rela te d to the whole, thing, related inextricably to all reality, known and unknow- - able. This is a simple thing to say, but•the prpfound ■ feeling of it made a Jesus, a St. Augustine, a St. Francis, a Roger Bacon/'a Charles Darwin,- and an Sin- s t e in .5 . "And" In,a - sense -there is no over-production, since every living.thing haSs its niche, .a posteriori, and God,'in ^The Grapes of Wrath, p. 3 8 3 . 2 Ibid, p. 1 1 0 . . . - . ' 3lb id . p. 3 2 . - ' ' ^ > :V ' .. . V : ■' / / . \ ^ 5 a real, non»mystlcal sense, sees every sparrow .fall and .every s e ll utlllzied:.11^: - ' f : . ;; ■/. : ’■: ■ ;.’ ' / "A-doctor Is given ,& place of. honor in many of Steinbeck s works..;and 1 s treated, as a hero., probably because,. ' . unless he violates his code, life is sacred to 'him» He is h el plug to " .p er p ©t u at © l i f e and ■ has. ,aX 1 gn ed hi .m’se lf "• wl th- the . . V posi tiveac tlv.e f orc.es <. He 1 s a humanitari an,; and hi s' posi- . tion is elevated, .although he.mixes freely. with dirt, poverty, ; and of course, diseased ' - .. . . Even Doc in 0.arnery' Rbw ■ and Sweet Thursday i s set . ..apart, from Mack and- ■.the boys-• :thaugh •he.lovesV'them :and is always ready to help them- The doctor, in In Dubi ous. Battle , is. not a Oommunist nor a' s trik e r5. he, is - a t the. strikers' ..camp because:he loves men and wants to help alleviate misery .0 He is ob'jective and fairpihe tries to see all sides .of the. ' picture» .. Dr. Winters in The Moon Is;Down becomes a sabri« - \ .’ ficial herOo The doctor in ’’The Snake,” a .story in The- Long v. : : Valle y ^ is horrified at'the girl 1 s sadism; she in s is ts upon , having., the rattlesnake fed even though It is not hungryb This •;is a vldlati on of deoenoy$ it .is hot right po waste lif e need- - , lesslyand the doctor determines within himself that this . : will not happen again. ' '^Sealof. Oor t e s ;■ p.- .2 6 3 . :. .: 2"The Snake,” The Lbhg V a i l e y . pp. 73-86 . -. • ; : Perhaps Steinbeck* s P,ong ■ fn i:en<|sh,lp: wlth. 2 d R icketts, - .■ •’the' sci entist who is a model. f or the dpctors in' many of Stein- „ beck1 s., sto ri es '-Was. p a rtly responsible;'for ' hi s 1 deal 1 zati on of the doctbrt - - - : _ . In East of Eden Oathy has tri ed to indue e a mi scar- ■ V; riage by the insertion of a knitting: needle, and a doctor is Called to stop the bleedings He is forions with her, and: he threatens to take the matter.' to. court if she does anything . else to keep .from having the baby' k . The doctor is treated as a force of evil only once, and that. is. in The Pearl« For a discussion of that doctor 1 s characterikation :the .reader is .referred to chapter two of this thesist As a whole, Steinbeck treats the medical .pro fession with a great deal of. reverence® v ' , . - r . Religions Sacrifice i. . k. t :l^en though' 1 1 is .sacred, people have considered certain Ideals in life more important than life itself. Loyalty to these ideals sometimes .requires the- sacrifice. Of life. Two. kinds of sacrifices are found in Steinbeck's books;,..; valid' and invalid .sacrlfIces. The determinl.ng .criterion' seems . to be the obj ective need f or - the sacrifice; ak purely subj ec™,. - .. tivej, pseudo-rel.igious martyrdom is not a valid sacrifice. If life has no value, to a person, then it is no real sacrifice to cast I t off . ’Legitimate sacrif ice may be, considered the ; surrender of some valuable thing in behalf of a higher object. : SSel’nbeek eajs In Bmbs AwayV "Th'e‘ best soldi!er In; the: world; •. is not" one’who anticipates death with pleasure or with; the ecstatic ti cl pat i o h ;p t' - Valh all a»' honor, land glory., but the one who ■'fights to: :Afih andvto : eurylv'e =. ^ 'v. ; . Two outstanding "examples of' invalid, religious sac- ' rific e s . are .found :in- -Steinbeck 1:B-wri tin g s .= One occurs in ■ % East of;; 2d an« and that has been" discussed at some length In chapter two of-this paper. Adam-'Trask? s m otherout Pf ' the. ' darkness of a disordered mind, offers - herself 'tb 'atone-tor - v ; her sins .to the god of wrath that she. has 'construed 1 - - : .1" strahge" 11 tt l e :man who liv e s by the sea in "To A "God Unknown has a .s-ense .of ..'- p o etry. wi th in him which makes him... d . Sensitive to. the'beauty of the setting ‘sun, but he perverts the .peace and;.;serenity of the hour by his.: performance'pf;:a .. ■' daily ritual V Each d.ay as the sun'dies :the. old man:slays., a : ll t t l ' i ' ''ani mal t : .H e:. 1 a; of f eri ng 11 f e. to l.if eThe; sac rif le e is msaningl.esS" .except insof ar ;as his own ■ f eelings " are con- G.: .;v:. c erned With him^' as with Ad am "s. mother, the death, i t fa.'sat-;' isfying, subjective, emotional experience. Perhaps -the old - ' " man f.eels;.an emotional c.atharsis ..from , the deaths. (One: of . the characters in; The Pastures of Heaven f eels such - a> .c.a.thars’ls ; from "the executions that he witnesses .at the -prison;") . . - i j o,hn~St ei rib’eck, B omb s' Away' (,N ew. Yo rk. s ' Th e . V.ikl rig - Press, 1942")', p; 3 2 .- - ' . — - — . . :. . • 58- ■'SonetbelesslS, a satisfying emotional experience cannot'begin to justify a needless waste of life. - ’; ■ fhe next group to be considered is composed bf char acters .who make sacrifices/ but not of their own -lives» The tragic 'cost of lif e is one of the themes. of The Red Pony.. , After the red pony dies, Billy Back, the hired hand, feels guilty,,;fpr the. death o , Because of this, he promises Jody that ■ nothing-wi'Tl happen to , the oplt that will be torn bf one of their' ffiareSo The colt has' been promised to Jody » .To ful-; f 1:11'this, promi se, i t is -necessary fo r B illy to k i l l the mare to .save the coltt ■: ;._ t ■ " ' , Th''Of :Mice . and Men tennl e 1 a always getting, into trouble -by ;'uhint’entionally hurtlng;:thlngs o ' He loves to pet soft little animals, but he is rough in his affection and brings harm' to' them „ He pets a mouse and k i l l s i t / he pet s /a pup and k i l l s I t . : He drearns 'of. the day when he and deorge will have a patch of. land of their own with rabbits bn It. . Lennie will- get to take care of the rabbits and pet them..- ' His tactile fetish has disastrous results when durly1s wife, whom, the men consider a tramp, asks him to stroke her hsiri During this episode Lennie becomes frightened and breaks her . '3-eorge has taken care of Lennie for years, a,nd he loves ■ him. To protect Lennie from the mob which will im prison ; or-kill; him, .G-.eorge shoots him, himself . It' is not • only Lennie s sacrifice; it is George s, also. - Gone forever is :their drea#. . - . ' . ; In The Short Reign ■ of PIppl'n IV an ■ 0 I 4 :man 'p u lls di s-t oarded things from the water and-restores them to their proper posltion-o The old man bell/eves Tf France had a true king, he would remedy many of the evils that exist.'.' The final test, says the old man, would be; the guillotine. If the.'king were guillotined, then-one could he sure that he Was- a true king, .Pippin repli es, ' To Toe gpillotined a man must have-done some-. .- thing to make him worthy of . the -toll 1 ot 1 ne. The guillotine '. it/- - ' ■ ■' : y -■ V :. ...;' ' - y - - yf'/y-y' ; dr--o.r the Or oss requires, either 'a. thi ef ■ or-- Thank; you, my , pul 1 er-out- 0 f - 1 h 1 ngs . 11 ^ The king will not .sacrifice his y •;inf esr-i t y ■ how ev er the peopl e do not k i l l hiiii.', They m erely, - '"unking" himo- ..The.' im'portant fact exists that /he remains . v true to his ldealsyand he, is'willing for hi s. own life'/to h,e sacrificed for those /ideals. \ ' / , Juan of. TheiWayWard Bus 'might also he placed in this category. . The thing that, he sacrifices is hi s dream of re- ; -1 turning to Mexico to live a happy., carefree, lif e. H;@ re- . 1 . nounc es t h is dream', fo..- di g t h e /bus/ out of the 'mti-d and : t ’ak.e - , / / the passengers saf ely; to- their destlnstion, and he returns /.to h is drab, routine existence as bus d riv er and husband' o f. , ■ a selfish, nagging, immature wife../// , ' - / , Still another group of sacrificial characters remain. These ar e t h e ones who make t h e g r e a t' - sac ri f i c e, th e ir own ' l i r e . : . .''//,:.: ■■ y / " ■./ ■ ' " - i ; — The Short/ Reign of Pippin IV,. p." 155- :Gommunl s t , joy, is k ille d by thb&e. who ;are ^.at» tempting to break, the strike'in In Dubi ous- Bat-tl e. - Joy has, died, for a-oause,,' supposedly, the gobd: of ,so 3 i ety . Kao p. an- j. other Gommuniat .leader, says-, "I d o n 't knov.t why :a@,y ' pooie ■ little 'guy,,' : He wasn'Ji" podrv 'E.e. woP greater than himself». ■ He didn’t know,I t- -d id n ' t p a r W 'B u t fti.ere was' a kind ;of' ,ed- : stasy in him all the time, even .when they /beat him-. . And •Jim : '■‘S.aya. l:t-«-he waen* t afraid . • " ' - • • •. ' . ■' ' Jipi: .has been lonely',' afraid^ /and/full of, hatred rbe-kPi' fore .he bepomes a lommunist/ After he Joins - with that group.', ,- be whole“'heart-edly- - id e n fif ies-, hlMspIf . with; them; and with f h e i r ' c atis el' arid he - flrid.s" happi ness fo r the f ir s t t l me 1 in;., hi-s l i f e beoau's'e' he - haeVsomethlng’ to which ■ he can' give .his alleglano.e, : ;, .and something "that he' ean work;f or and of whioh 'he can tie a part« finally: Jim Is killed, also, and/to stir the mob (strikers) to one last effort, his 'friend, Mac,- takes Jim's ' body b e fo re ' them and /-say's, ' " Ih is /guy , d Idn' % want ho thing fo r , himself/j.omrades? ,’He didn'-t want, nothing for himself . ,-"-/ ■ /,-,/ • .The 'drapes of 'frath also deala with fru it pickers and strikes in ;3allf ornla, but' thi s time the heroes are not, - , iommuni s t s , <:C a'sy i's - evj d ehtly meant- to be a,. C h rist figure it ' / ■ (Turn, to- chapter two of th is •w.orklf oh 'h•^fnll.Qr/idl,■:Shuh0i■h■K'v;b'■f' , /'m 'lih 'm b io u s::B a ttie //'pl 's i i . / i ,.;/,; ; - ::.',h// V: . ' -, t./;p . / ; :/ ■ -' ^ ;-h glb-ldh /p / 513 , . : , :■ •p/V h :' . ; . ;,i':' /: jf j' j't'-' j' ; ./v ■ ' v ' : ' ; '" ' :: - this subject . Because gf hi a- desire to help the down- , - .trodden frult-plokerS g he has. helped to organize them and" has encouraged them to s trik e , ’ifhen.Oasy is attacked ky unidenti fied people, prop ally guards' hi red: by the landowners, he tells 'them, ".Listen,,, You fellas don' know what you're doin', lou'. re helpin' to starve kids -, ,You don' know, what you' re '. doin' 1"^: With these Ohrist-llke words- on his lips, Casy is ; m artyred, - : \ . V , :i: .. ■ , ' . ' y \ ; ■ TomVdecides to ' carry: on lasy"' s work. Naturally, :Ha : :V i s- worri ed about his -se.fety, but . Tom assures-her; that this 'cause: is,'.greater than his; own life, and' be. is prepared to make that sacrifice, if .necessary; he has identified himself .with, the whole, ''- ' - - " - i-; ; - / V.■ ' ' ■ • ' . ■ ' "■ - ■ . . , ,Ma said, "How'm l gonna know 1 bout you?. They.might■ kill ya an1. I wouldn* know. They might hurt ya, How'm- I gonna know?" " , - ' ' " : ; Tom laughed uneasily., ."Well, - maybe like dasy says, -a ■ fella, ain't got a soul of his own, hut on'y a piece of ■ ■ a big one-^an' then--"..... • I -y . - "Then what,. Tom?".'. : / ' . - . ' -. "Then it don'' matter, . Then I'll be all aroun' in the . dark.., I ' 11 be ever'wher-e-^wherever" ydu look, Wherever . .: ■ 'they's" a fight so -hungry people ■ can eat,. I' ll;be there, 'Wherever -they'.s a: cop b e a tln '; up a guy, I * 1 1 be there, ; ' • I f Gasy knowed", why I* 11 be in the way guys y e ll when they' re mad an' . I ' l l be in the way kids laugh when they* re ; hungry, an' know supper's ready. An1, when our folks eat . the stuff ...they raise an1' live in the houses they build-- whyVI-'i l . be.. th ere. See?"5 , - - r .xB-ee-..p.«- 1 9 » . , ' 2'Ihe drapes; of -Wrath, p, 527. ;3ibid , p, 572, V vy V - y-v Tfoa'Moosi Is Down la a Steinbeck contribution, to the World War II effort of the free nations = This novel depieis the oceypafion ©f. a Scandinavian country, "by enemy troops 9 supposedly Waals.o The scene of .aetion is limited to. one city, and the heroes are Mayor Qrden and h is friend.-s Dr. Winters Mayor Orden, i s '.active., in the work of the underground movement for freedoms, and he' refuses to he a puppet mayor® Finally . 0 0 1 one! Lanser$,. the enemy officer In charge of the totrma d@= . eld es to hold these two men as hostages 9 as they are the most widely respected men in town® If the townspeople carry on tholr underground activities further 9 then these two men will he killed. - ; v'":.; h ; . The mayor re a liz e s th a t the people w ill p e rs is t in the underground, activities^ and he feels that it. is right • that they endeavor to throw off the yoke of their conquerors» He■ only hopes that .he will have strength enough to t e l l the ..... men to' go ahoad with their work of sabotage and to take no ' G oncern'for his life® The mayor te lls .la n s e r that, the oc cupation forces have taken on an Impossible joh—that of breaking man” a spirit permanently—-that it cannot be done® Mayor Orden and Dr® Vinters discuss their plight, and, Orden remarks, "I am afraid, I am terribly afraid,, and 1 thought, of :all the things I Slight do to save my own life, and then th a t went away, and sometimes now I fee l a kind of exultation., as though I were bigger and better 'than I amv"^' • He go.esrVQn' to .say , as S'oorates did I n th e Apology ( p a rt of which he quotes ) 9 that a man should not 'think about living -or dying;, but only whether he is doing rig h t or wrongs One of the quo tat i ons from the Apology which he uses: Is, "If you . think that by killing men you can prevent someone from cen- ; suring-your evil livess you are mistaken*,"^ ^ . . - : ¥e have attempted to divide sacrificial characters in: the works- according -.to the subjective or objective f,;; hature of 'fheir sacrif ices» . 3oseph Wayne, by our- use of this v ■ crlterloh, '.must' be plaoed in the final group of valid, re- 1 1 gi bussac rif icial charac tsrs bee ause hi s. sacrifi c e .resulted; in pbj ective,- observab 1 e changes« ' ; ; , , ' ■ ■ : . t- Hi, 1 o Moore: t e l l s us th a t To A God Unknown was - /adapted from a p la y 'w ritte n by a f r i e n d of Stelnbeck a3 The green Lady ■'(a forest) was the Original title. The play was . : gr eatly a l t er ed, -/and' f in ally Stei nb eck rewrot e i f /c ompl et ely » In th e o rig in al . story: the -hero was .Galled-. Andy i he was In sanely in love with the forest and. with his. daughter, whom he id en tifie d a s ' the f o r e s t- s p lr 1t 1: The fo re s t fin a lly caught on if i re,; and Andy walked Sacrifi cl ally in to i t «,:■ TO;. A God Hnknown o frEFlioon Is Down, p. 177. - ; . . -.y : ' ). ^ I b id , p ? ^ : ,:f : t:,:l;'-. ': ; , n . ^Harry Thornton Moore, The Hovels of John Steinbeck , (Qhlcago's Hormandie: House,: ;l93:9')‘i, 'P'o;: 3G» '■ retains .who loves- nature, (especially the viand) , but the plot i s entl rely • dl'ff erent f rom that of the , Joseph might be argued by some people to he insane, They might find it ridiculous to see any association between his of farin g h f hims ell and :the r a in 1 s coming» It is. clear" . that St einbeek wants -us tO; .take. Jos ehhlseri ously • as a. Ohri s t " image: who gives himself to save the land» . Other .things have, heen tried, in an effort to rell eve the droughts Joseph’ tries to hring raih by sacrificing a little animals, the bartender offers a barrel of free whiskey to tempt the;rain$ and the priest prayso Hone of, these .methods Is eff'ectiveo . Finally•. Joseph realizes that only the sacrifice' of himself will bring . the rain, for he realizess "1 am the .land 9 and I am the rain. The grass :w ill grow put of me in a. little while - . ., Joseph 1 s lack of c one era for everything save his ■ '. "causei" the land 9 is .mahif ested by. hi s angry reply to Father . UngeloVs statement that Joseph should pray for his soult "My : soul?.To Hell with my soul1 • 1■tell you the land 1 s dying» Pray f o r the land.o 11 Then Joseph goes to the mossy rook, cuts his : wristeg::",' and-,as he dl e s„ the ra in f a l l s » . f . ■ . ; 1 . - .. .' t " 1;(^^T^ i t G-od Unknownt p . ' 244. ' . ( ;. . ' " .1'’ 1 i:;: .' g ' f ; '' ,:: ' • Good and .Evil - .. ' ; ' , " -So di sou sal on of religious ideas- and ctiarac teri sties would be complete without the inclu sio n o f ;ttie topic of good and - evi 1- -on: sin , : : : 1 ;1.;. . v V Although Steinbeck affirms the value of life and the - dlgnity uf humanityg he 'does hot take, the view that man 1 s extremely good, n o r■does he h el1ev e'In - the total' d epravi ty of maho He. find a ..man a ourious mixture of good. and. evil 9 capable of greatl.tenderneaa.'.and' love, but- also capable of great cru- . eltyo 11A man is potentially' all things, too, greedy and cruel 'capable, of''.great .love or great, hatreds,; or balanced or unbal anced so-called emotions'v .• ■ • . . ; ' B In ^Some Sotes: oh John Steinbeck" finds the •following’ seledtl’oh 'from Sea of Oortez a'.,.Shocking - contradiction of 'the theme of The Moon Is Down " 'There is a strange duality in the human which makes • for .an ethical paradox.. We hay.e definitions of good . ' qualities and of bad; not changing things, but generally: considered good and bad throughout the ages and. through- ' • ■ out th e ■speci es•6-':', Of ..the good , we.', think always of wl sdom> , tolerancej kindliness,/ generosity, humility; and the . qualities of cruelty„ greed/ self-interest, grasping- 1 . .. ,. 'ness, rapacity are .universally considered .undeslrablet ' And .yet in our Structure of ■toai.ety, the so-called and , , : cdhsldered - 1 6 5 1-:t ;■ t ' t ■ f M - _ pBtanley 'Tdgar Hyman, "Bom'e. Hotes on John Steinbeck Bteinheck and ■ His O r itic s pp. 1 5 2 - 5 6 * v .. 1 ,, ' 66 ■in hl:B;:,6 hi;nking ■ or ne¥:eri.e status admi res ttie , prpgres- : " ■ ' ■aion toward extinction, but in the unthinking stimulus ■ vJhioh. really activates him he tends/toward survival.^ Hyman says that "The Moon Is Down marks a sudden and . abrupt, return to, sociall tys a f ai th in the mass of people;» :■ ,p ; “ ■In Sea of 0ortez Steinbeck writes^ "So far the mur der trait' of our species is as regular and observable as" our .'t-i' vari bus sexual- habits .".-5 He goes on to say that,' in splte of :; this, man has' the hope that this will not always be. • - ■ In 'East of Eden Adam .Trask8.s -father, Cyrus, intends fo r Adam: to -Seodme^ a - soldi er = In ’ one of his ta lk s to Adam, ■ Cyrus’-says8 ifi.l;'''ha¥,-e you know' that a fs o ld ie r is the most holy of all humans because he is the most tested--most tested . of allo o .Look'now-^in all of history men. have been . taught that killing of men is an evil thing not to be ; ' f ■ countenanced. Any man who. kills must be destroyed .be-\; • ■.f; i . ' rause; this -is a great sin, maybe the worst sin we know. ■ : ■ , And then we take a soldier and put murder in his hands and we say to him, "Use it-well, use,It. wisely" .. .and ." : . f;.We--'wlil reward, you .‘fo r i t because i t is a v io la tio n of ■: :- ;.; f your early training o '~ . ■ f;-,; " ' pc ■; " 'i/f,:;,.; :: t Ad.am hates th-ei 1 if e of an Indian, fighters . To inflict any. hurt on anything for any purpose be came Inim ical -to'-him.. =As he-revoltedmore and more from : ■ violence,- his impulse took the opposite directionf i p .- 9 6 0 ^ . f-v'l . V ; vv'.,. - ;/ ;,fT^''Bpme#6 t.es. on. john 8 1 elnbeck," p. 164. , : V ;; ' •/.t ' ' . ^Bea- Of ' C O rfet. 'm 17. " ' f ' i;.: - - '''-p f r last. Eden, p. 24, ' ' . ' . ■ . ■ He'.ventured his life a number of; times to bring in • . . wounded meno - He volunteered fo r work in fie ld hospi- .• ; tals even when he "was:- exhausted from his regular duties» % ' ,.He'^as regarded:by his comrades wi th "oontemptuous af™ feat ion and the unspoken .fear men have- of impulses they ^ .do not understand . 1 ■. . • Steinbeck says in Sea of. Cortez, "We at least have . kept our vulgar sense of wonder. We are no better than the animals;, in fa c t in a .lo t of ways' we a r e n 't as good He mentions the evil that the white man has brought to the nar- fives at Puimo Reef in Mexico. . " . v ' . •' After four, hundred years of him %fhe white manj[ these people have ragged clothes and the shame that forces the wearing of them; iron harpoons for their • hands, syphilis and tuberculosis; a few of the white v man1.s.less complex neuroses, and a curious .'devotion to ‘.;V G-od who was sacrificed' .long ago in the: white: man* ;s ", :. bountry .3- . * " - ' Steinbeck seems at times; to s h ift his views back and forth concerning' sin, and man' s moral responsibility. In The Pastures : of Heaven, irony" is the. key, with one- fam ily. ' acting (unknowingly} as a- destructive agent of fate, bring- • ; ihg- sadness and ruin to all the people who live in the valley In East of Eden -Steinbeck makes it clear that he thinks men have freedom of choice; they are not pushed around by fate, heredity, environment,■ or anything else, but are their own; d ef ermining fore es. ' "Timshel," thou, mayes.t, is the' crux of the book.,: . .. : ' .' ' " ^-Ea'st■ of Eden, p. 35. . 2-Sea of Q ortez, p. 69 = Gal, in East'' of Eden, is afraid that he- will have to - be evil because he has part of his evil mother^ Cathy (or Kate)P In him* After he talks with her9:he realizes that he is free to be'what he wants to be*. Junius;Maitby tells his son In The Pastures of Hea ven 9 “L ittle , good destroyed by evil little thingso Barely Is a big thing poisonous or treacherous» For this reasons in human thinkings bigness is an attribute of good and littleness of evil0lli The sonp Robbies quotes (or Stevenson at sehoolg here is nothing so mon= sterous but we can belief It of ourselfs StMhb.eck says in Tortilla Flat in a passage remint- sc ent of The Grapes of Wrath o 4 soul washed and saved is a soul doubly in dangers for everything in the world conspires against such' a soul o o o , . \ ‘ ■ ■./ - ■ . .. It is a fact verified and recorded in many histories that the soul capable of the greatest good is 'also ca pable of the greatest evilv Mho is there more impious■ than a hack-aliding.pri@st 1 Who more carn al th a n - a re cent v ir g i n? 'This,-.however,. may be a matter of appear- anedoS ' ' • : ' v „ 1 / . ■ . ' Be also states in that books , ' - It is astounding' to find that the belly of every black .and evil thing is as white -as snow» And it is saddening to discover how the .concealed parts of angels are leprous»0lit must be admitted with sadness that pastures of Heaven, po 1 1 5 c l i b i d o - Po 1 2 2 o ; : f , . ' , / ; ^Tortilla Flat o po 2 0 p ■ PlXon had neither the stupidityP the self-righteousness nor the [email protected] r reward ever to 'become a s a in t 9 Enousla for Pilon to do good and to tie rewarded "by the : glow of human brotherhood aocomplishedo^ • . v . Despite Stelribeek 0 a p o sitio n in, E ast..of Edenn he seems to find It dlffieult to 'believe wholeheartedly in sino , Gasy 9 who 'la Etelnheok's mouthpiece'in The G-rapes of Wrath, declares^ ^There ain' t no sin and there a ln 8 1 no virtue* There's Just stuff people do. It a all part of the same thing And some, of th e things f olks do :1s niee'g. and some a i n 't n ic ©9 hut that' s as far as any man. got a right to say It is a trifle difficult to see his distinction between "not nice" and slny but It is interesting to note that this idea still per~ si sts in Steinbecko The 0-rapes of Wrath ..was published In' 1939 Eighteen years later his most recent bookg The. Short Reign of Pippin IV, was .published. Some people push statues and things in the moat in that book.; other pepple» like one bid mang pull them outo Pippin and he converse along these lines. The old man. says,.' "I guess there's people that do different things 9 and, 0.0 ,1 guess that' s how things get done," Pippin asks, "Grood or bad?" The ©Id man answers, "I don' t understand. There's just people==just what people do,"1 ;y" " """ lATortilla Elat,, p, '99o ■ . " . Sfhe drapes of Wrath„ p, 32, . , . ' \Sister Hyaointh also remarks in The Short Reign of Pippin. IV that "Sin .is difficult to Isolate in oneself.... ; In others it is. easy' to ai scern 9 toiit in ourselves it has a -; way of heihg based on necessity or good intentions <.u^ When Henry in 0 up of Gold, is ah out to die, the VI oar , asks him to repent of his sins,: and ■ Henry asks -him what his sins are . He- does not remember ever having been cons cl busly ' vwloked:. (He has stolen, 11 ed, and killed many men for a : . - whim dr to justify hi s -manhood," ' as well as in battle . i,.&s: a judge,: ..he shows no mercy toward the pirates that .previously worked for him.' He is completely 'selfish and self-centered.} "He had killed- this man. It was hi s ,right to kill, to burn, to plunder^rnot. because he:'was e th ic a l nor even becausehe - was c l ey er ,. but b ecause, he was / strong «>. The 'prec eding - '{ excerpt is the epitome of Henry s phi Ip aophy, / -i: . ' . /, ' : Even the same Oasy vfho has" denied the existance of . 'sin later 'does 'affirm its reality to Uncle John. Poor Uncie .John,,.burdened; with a sense Of: guilt/ for the death of his wif e, tells Oasy that /he (Oasy) 'does not: have sins 'on hi s soul as. he :,has». ;.:0asy: gently replies,/ "Bure: 1 got sins. ■ Ever' body 'got sins, A sin is somepih' you ain' t sure' a b o u t ."3 rT~~''. : ■ ^Ihe ^hort Reign of Pippin IV ,/pi 110. / j / ,:; : : ^oup of doid,. p. 2 0 2 . . - /-"/ i' • /: : t y'’> :, / ; '. / / ;3lhe OzaBis,. O f"Irgth, : p . ; 306. / ' : ' : ■ - ; ■ ; ' . • -. ^ : v , : 71 . Uncile John sayss, "I ain' t n#er done nbthln' ., that waBti1 1 part - eln , 11 ^ Lat er wtipn he; repeats this idea, Ma "t says reprovingiy, ."Don" go te llin '/^ John= T ell 1 em to God. ■Don ■ go. burdenin' other -people •with your sins. T hat'ain't aecenthr' ■ '■ V V V/f ^ " When the J oads are i n ■ 0 al i f o rni a $ t h ey d eo i <3 e to move to ai othob'part of the state. Torti goes to find Uncle. John, , who.' is drunk„ Uncle John does hot want, to leave. "No, Go on. i.ln't goin' donna .rest here, iFo. good goin' back.. Bo good to tiobq.dy-.—j us' a-draggin' my sins like .dirty drawers. mongst nlo e f olks. . . Q-o r i ' ' long <. - I a in 't no good <, I a in 't no good. . Jus1 a-draggin' my sins, a-dirtyin' ever'body." Tom .'tri es to reassure him . . "You got no more sin' n^anybody ‘else." Uncle John's response is, "Nobody don' know: my .sins 3 ' nobody but Jesus . He :knows ."3 • . " v . A great burden of guilt as a. result of sins, real or . • imaginary> seems to plague everyone, Lee,, the Chinese servant philosopher of East, of Eden, thinks. He exclaims, . "What a great • burd ©n of guilt men hav©'.". Samuel Hamilton then tells . Id a m " And you. have . t r i ed to take i t / .all . " Lee say s, ".So do I , so. does everyone. . We gather our ■ arms full of guilt as .; : ^^The drapes of Wrath, p. 313.« ■ ■ 2 ib id , p . '365'. ,; , - ■ v . ^Ibid/ pp. '376-77. ' ;' ■ ‘ . ' ' ' though it/were preoious stuff« I t/must be that we want it that wayv11- Ahsm replies, "It makes me feel better, not worse," ' ‘Samuel inquires, "What do you mean?" Adam explains, ' : "Well, every little hoy thinks he invented sin. Virtue .we ' .think we • learn 'because we . are told-: about' i t . But sin is our own designing»11; Samuel repll es, "Yes, I see, . But ..how does this ’story £3alhhAhel stOryJ make it better?" ' "Because," . : id am answers exo.itedly,. '"we ane; deso ended from, th i s , This i s .: our father, .. Some of .our - guilt is ’ absorbed • in our anc.estry . What ohanoe' did we have?' .de. are 'Child.ren of our fa th e r ■•^dain^,. It-means- we aren11 the firstIt' s . an excuse, and there aren' t, enough excuses In the world," Lee agrees? "Not oonvinoing ones anyway.. Sise we' would long*'ago have wiped out g u ilt, •. and the. world would- hot be filled with, sad , punished - people t, (I r onio ally, Ad am oondeflns dod's •rejection of lain 1 s gift as an injustio el he is later. to rej ect the gift of his • own boni - 5a l> / Which will cause a . re- enactment of the lain and ibel story,}: . . - ‘ .:. • : ■ ; i- . ;; ’ '.. t- ' , ’ '■ ■: ■'Steinbeck.'seems .to feel that a' very common pattern in-.huteanv.-'affairs is th is ones.. , love,' reje ctio n or feelin g s of . rejection,, the sin Qf "; revenge, then .,guilt feelings or remorse ■ .because of the sin committed. ' , : ■ . . .; .'t . --. Lee, in dlscussirig the enduring appeal of the Cain . and Abel - story, remsfkss , - ' ; - . u,;.- ':i, sreafc bbcI. lastl-Bg:- atory .ie abQut; .everyone or I t . w:Li:lv :’no t: la s t'« : T h e strange 'and orelgri Is not i nt ere a-:' ,ting-™only the deeply personal' and fam iliar.... ' ' ... 1 :T think this Is the best known story in the world be™ ' . cause it is. everybody, s story,. I think it is. the syrn- boi, story of the human, soul.. .The greatest terror a child can have, is. that "he is not loved, and rejection '■ is the. hell he; .f ears <>. ' I think everyone . in , the -sorld to ; a; a large or small extent has felt rejection.. And with : 1 rej ecf 1 on comes anger and with anger some kind of .crime ; in rev eng e f or . the tr ej eo tl on, and with the crime gui It-- . 1 and \th#re' i s the story of' mankind-.. One chlld ^. refused. ; ■ the. love he oravesV kicks the cat and hides his secret .... ' g u ilt; and another, ste a ls ..so that: money, w ill make him loved; and a third conciuers the world-."and always the ' g u ilt; and revenge and. more, g u i l t . The human is the - 'only g u ilty animal .^ ; . ... • .■ 'Gal.:punishes .people for liking iron better than they ' do him, but he has forg otten th at be punishes them fo r ' ■ this neasohu .He does not:know why he does "bad things.". His final act is to. take Iron to .see their no-good mother. Gal - .knows that" th is. shook will be unbearable to Aron, but he is , getting' revenge, punishing Aron,, .because he feels that Adam loves: iron; better than him and that Adam has 'rejected Gal' s' Vi; .:. g i f t . VJhen Aron runs away and- jo in s the; army as a re su lt of this and i's killed, shortly thereafter, Gal 1 s feeling of guilt is almost more than he can b e a r. .. . : . f e e : t r i es to comfort ./Gaf , ’ who is .at the point of com-,. unit ting suicide. Lee queries, "Gal, listen to me. , Gan you. think that/whatever made us, would' stop trying ? " 2 . ■ ’ ;; \ ' .; ' : - ' .: \ , ; /: r ■ • v ':' 74 ■ -Finally Lee takes 3al .into -Adam1 s room to .provide the help the "boy needs. Adam has suffered "a stroke because of ' Aron'a: join.ins the-servioe and his subsequent death, and. tie, himselfg- is close to..death-. . Lee-pleads with Adams ' . - . "He did a thing in anger, .-Mam,- because he'thought ' you had rejected himThe result of his anger is that his brother: ’and your son is dead. . .Tour son is marked'; , -with guilt out of himself—out of - himself--almost more than he can b ear.. "Don11 crush him with rejection... . - Adam, give him your ..'blessings Don11 leave him alone -with hi.s -guilt.V.live him your blessing1. .. .Let him. be . . -- free. That's all :a' man' has' over the beasts. .Free hi mi" Bless him'." . " ' , . ' A Adam, looked'up."-with sick weariness. Fis lips parted. . ’ - .'and failed and .tri ed - again. Then his lungs filled .. .. " ■ - His whispered word seemed to hang in the airs "limshelV'l : .. ', : On the piede of .paper, in the bottle that is to be - buried' withAlrampa lb The drapes of krath, Tom has written 'these 'words whioh- were 1 taken f rom. the book of Psalms in the .Bibles. , "Blessed is he whose transgression, is forgiven, whose sin is ; covered ." 2 ' : • - . -. . - Steinbeck,deals with, psychopathic personality in East of . Eden . He asks? . ' ; ' : - ' ' ;,;AX:--. -. ^nd" j usf asv th ere'; are; phy si oat' ponst er scan there " A ■ ■ .not' be : mental .or psyohic monsters born? ' The f ace, "and - 'body may be perfect, but if a twisted gene or & mal formed egg can produce physical monsters, may not the ■ *Sast ' of Eden, p . 602 . ' ^The •-drapes "of Wrath „ p. 195.=. - . . . '- . . ■ - V'; ■ ' ■■ ■ ■’ .75,; same pr,oa©ea; protauee': a malf ormed soul? o o Oso one may be born wlthoiat kindness of the pot ential- of eonse 1 ene ©«0 0 to a monster the Xiom is monstrous ■■ . ' ‘ - \ . f.hls is a description of Cathy (or Kate) a wife, of . , Adam and mofber of the twins<. She projects her own evil into othersj, and she deludes herself into believing that only folly, and evil ex lst in the w orld, She takes p rid e in her ability to outsmart people with her wieked schemes = Adam is so honest that he decides to give her her share of the money that his brother Charles has left them 9 even; though Kate is- .Adam' a wife in name only; she has for many years been serving • as a 11 madam” of a house of prostitution^ a house that is vile and th a t has maimed many men emotionally ■> When Adam goes to see her about this business matter^. he fells her 9 "You know about the ugliness in people»«, efou use the sad 9 weak p a r ts of a man9 and Cod knows he has them*. »But yous y@ss that* s r ig h t-= you don' t know about the rest»ooyou don't believe those men could have goodness and beauty in them." 2 H® concludes by telling her that' she is only partly human. , Steinbeck 6 s u n ele 9 1dm Hamilton, must have had a sensitive nature, and he was troubled by a sense of his worth- lessnesso, Steinbeck describes'..him in this ways. "Tom* a cowar dice was as huge'as his courage, as it must be in great meno ; v' :imst°Qf. men,, p.,, 7 2 . \ - 2Ibldy pp. 384-85 o ' ' - ' . y : \ ; ' ■ ' ' / : ■ . : . 76 His v io l enc© 73 3,1 .ariced bis tenderness, and hi ms elf was a- pi t- ted battlefield of his, own forces,"^ . . ' • ^ _ Like Uncle do bn- in The G-r'a,nes of drath <, lom fee ls ^ responsible' for the. death of a loved one-, in this case, his, s i s t e r 9 ;Pessie, ifter this occurrence, he oonfronts ,in his mind all. of, his, sins--van! ty , 1 lust,, dishonesty,- ’ laziness, ■■ gluttony,■ covetousness of his brother's money,. treason toward ‘his ..mpther's God, theft of time and hope, sick, rejection of love, and■„ f in a lly murder,:: He writes a letter-to 'his bro ther,' entreating him to make his death appear as an accident , to his mother, and...then be commits suicide, ' - ,..,': ‘: ; . St.einte eok aff 1 rms ' in the f 0urth p a rt of East of -' Edeh. that there; i s only one- story In 'the world. ; ■ ’ ■ 4. man, after he - has brushed off the dust and chips ■ i of his life, will have left only the bard, clean ques- tlonss Was i t good or was i f evil?. Have I done w ell-- v; /: o r : i l l ? > 0,»£pr,. wh eh - w e h ear of a death,. the Questions , : : ‘ com esj "Was .he 1 pved- o r was he hat ed? 1 s' his d eat h . - . ''' f elt as, a .loss or does a kind' of joy come of it?" . «> , I t seems to me that if you or; I must, choose between two. . courses of thought or .action,, we - should' remember our'dy ing and try to .liye-.,se that our death brings no pleasure to the world» -- -. v.' ' / - - / ., ; ‘ - ::: Me have only One story, . •ill,.novelSj .all poetry, a,re ■ ' built on the never-ending contest in ' ourselves . Of good. . - and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly .. respawn,, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face,- while: virtue is ven- . : erable as nothing else in ;the world is . 2 ~ : ^ s t of Eden, p. 597»■ : ; : : ; :2 Ibid, '.ppi 413-15. •. i ; - ;; ; 77 ■. ■. • • ., ^ Those lin e s remind me; somehow of p arts of the poem ■ ■ - by James Russell Lowell., ."The Present O rlsiso !l .Once to-every- man; ahd n a ti on ; ' 'I./; Gomes the moment . to d e cile , ‘ In.. the strlfev of tnnth with falsehood s’ : For the good or evil sMej ;. ; /. - 'Somh g rea t 'oauses; SO'Sl.s new lies si ah 9 ^ 'V . .Offering, each the ;bl pom or blight»o> •; : : ; And the choice goes by forever .. .1.,;:/.'■ ; . t ; ; ■ V; Twlxt that 'darkness arid, that; llghtt;. : >V : 7 : y - ■/' ' ' ' ■ ■ : ' . ■ ■ : - : .y . . ' . " " ° ' . . "■ " ' ■ ' ' " • ■ : ' ." ■ . : ; - y ,. , - I- Though "the carise ;bf /evil prosper^, . ■ ,v . 1 ’ y . Yet 1 tls truth alone; is strongy ..'y. y yy •'..Truth'for ever on the scaffold $, :■ . . yy Wrong ■ f orever on the throne 9 . y .. .;yyy :;;; v ; -y . Yet that scaffold sways 'the fntare,' ' ■ y y ■ : "..yyy ; ; '' ; - And, behind''’the dim rink:nowrisy yy-. y;,y;y y ■ y/. yy-; - y V ’ Standeth God w ithin t h e ; shadow*, - -' y" / ,y' y''y . Keeping watch above His qwn.^ . ■ Si ster Hyacinth, in The Short Reigri of Pippin IV be- . ; 11 .©vesv.that :being king is a trapy - She tells Pipping y y .;. y •: .1 .like- all other virtue*--lt is a trap« Where vir- ■ y;- y> yfcue is involved it is very difficult to tell oneself • ■ _ .the truth 9 M" si eur» There are two kinds of virtue«, ;y'; - •' y One I s passionat e . ambi tio n and they other simply a • d esir e, ; ■ y y ' ■ for the peace which comes from,,not .giving any trouble« y; iy. ' fj3he confesses .that She took the veil simply because she y ty y Was tlred y y A fter adm itting thatg- she was able to find , ^ 1 yy.; yy; In herself kindness., and understanding^ 2 . ’ : - . y ; : .. y "I should say that a good deed may beyunwiseg' but it ' y ; - cannot be evil» It seems to me that the forward history of y . y - v .humans Is based on,good deeds; that exploded-~ohI and..many were yy. ;, hurt or killed or Itpov.erlshedbut some of the good remainedt 13. y: ^''.7^«Iain'es-. Russell Lowelly "The Present G rislsv ” The Qhi ef American Poetsy ed. Gurt 1 s Hidderi Page ' (.0ambr 1 dg.e: The River- .'side PresS$ 1933 )•» P »;. 422y 1, . y '' . - .; -yy..y'ty'; y - ' . .;, " .;;; ; ; y 2 Th.e Short Reign'- of Pippin 17.« p« 1 0 9 „ ; . 'y yy ' f;mm,:pyi 5 0 ..y y ; y r y : ': i v t y - . v:'* ■ "v'.'v;' ' Death and. Immortality - - . It is difficult to learn. Steinbeok'-s;"' feelings about a life hereafter frdm his; writings. If he believes in a .con- , ■ SGlous ■ exist enoe after the death ...of the bodyg. he does not . expreELs- the belief firmly* His emphasis is upon the life here .and now, and he finds that wonderful. Let us notice, •however, his'references.to life after deatht. After Joseph's father has died in fo A God Unknown,’ Joseph feels his presence in the oak tree-he thinks that . his spirit has come there. However,. when Burton girdles the . : tree'and Joseph knows'that the tree is .dead, Joseph is over- ' pome with the grief that he should have felt at; the time of tbe death of his father. At that, time, Joseph did not feel that his father was dead I he felt that he was, alive In the tree» ' If Is a little hard to understand why- Joseph did not. feel his spirit in some other place or manner| if his soul had survived - the death of the body , could it not also suf- - ■ vive the death .of the tree? :. . ’ , ' ' ' he Indian Jua,nito, tells Joseph that the dead are ■ always here- with us, human beings, that they never go away. He feels that the earth is the mother of all and that every living thing eventually goes back;-into the mother. .' , '; ifdf'when; Jos.eph' s brother, Benjy, . and Joseph' s wife, Elisabeth, die, there Is - no indicati on thaf Joseph thinks of, them as alive/ in some-manner, ' He merely says . upon noticing • ■ V; . V . 79 ' ' some of Slizabetb.'s work that one is not dead until the things, that: he changes are dead& ; " It1s a long, slow process for a- human to di©0"^ ■, When Joseph himself comes to die, he seems to feel that if he. will live on at all, it will he- only as a part of the natural elements®! am the land, and I am the ra in . The grass will grow out. of me. in a little while ®"2 . On Elizabeth/and Joseph's wedding night, Joseph's ■ sister-iti-law,: Rama, fells Elisabeths . ' : I do not know whether there are men horn Outside humanity, or whether some men are so human as to make others . seem unreal ® . Perhaps a godllng lives' on earth now and then® Joseph has strength beyond vision of • ..shattering, he has the calm of mountains,, and his emo tion is as wild and fierce and sharp-as the lightning and just as reasonless®„0You cannot think of Joseph dying» : He is eternal ® His father died, and it was not f a death®3' - in Gup of G-old.o Ysohel ( the Red Saint ) t e l l s Henry Morgan, the pirate, that a true Oathollc who dies at the hand of an Infidel goes to heaven® She also states that a ■Catholic woman who dies protecting her marriage vow likewise goes straight to heaven, and she often is canonized„ (Of course, Ysohel is not so pious' as she "seems to appear® %o' A Cod Unknown®. p®. 181 ® . . . : ^ 2 Ihid.o p® i V • ;3 m d , p., 9o.e, . •'\ : v - ' v. : ^.:;. ': / -':' -: '-' - " .. ;; ^ ; so - -. Sbe would bave. been perf ectly w illing to become Henry.' s mlsr , tress if he had appro,a.ohedber differently I • She did not care for hi s technique,..} ■ .>■ - ■ . ' ■ ■ ■ „ ' V i:;: , In Tortilla Flat Pablo musess ': ,f ,Rulz Xas alwa,ys : ; a liar. That soul will heed plenty of masses» But-do you . think - a mass ;has.: virtue when the money ' for that masscomes out ' of men' s pbckets while they sleep In wine at Oornelia's ' ; house?" Pi Ion answers. ."’4 mass 1 s a mass 1 In vthe'.story about Pat Humb ert in The Pastures of . Heaven 1, Mr-. Allen -tells Pat after his .parents ; have died »- " I t8 s , a fit thing to die in the fall. It wouldn' t be good to die , in th’e spring .and. nev'er to know about 'the rainfall nor how the crops shaped .' But in the.fall .everything 1 s over1 ■' ' . 'Pat ' s .parents had been very domineering, and .deman- ; !. ding.: He.feels that their spirits are still in the .house after: thbir deaths. He. throws aw.ay the Bible which he has associated .with them, and he. redecorates the" living room for Mae Munroe. if hen -she marries another, man without having seen, the living ; room. Pat is.heart-sicks but he is afraid to close off that ■ room again for fear that the spirits of his parents, will' come back to, inhabit I t , . . .- Another character in The - Pastures of Heaven, John ;. , .Whitesides;, upon vi ewing his burning houses expresses; the : :~'~~~~~--~^T o r tI lla Flat;,: p. 50, ' . - . ' . , ; ' ; : ^The Pastures of Heaven,'p.. 221, ; ; 81 sentiments "AM I think X know how a soul feels when It sees Its body burled In the ground and lost."l In .-East'’ of Eden Gteinheck mentlons th e death of his. aunt j Unas; and the subsequent, breaking ;of, his: grandfathers . Samuel Steinbeck observes and wonders about th e d iffe re n t effects of death upon different peoples I have wondered why it is that some people are less ■ af f ected and tbrn, by the- veriti es of lif e ’ and- death ■: than others? Una®s death ctit the earth from under Samuel8s feet and opened his defended keep and let In old age. On the other hand Liza* who surely loved her family as ' deeply.as did her husbands was not destroyed dr warpedo • Her life continued evenly 0 She felt sorrow but she sur-v ■ vived it. I think perhaps Lisa-acc epted the world as she ac= . : . cepted the Bible» .with all of- its paradoxes and its : ' reverses^ -She did not. like death but she knew it ex= isteds and when it came it did'not -surprise her, Samuel may have thought and played and philosophised about death 9 but he did not really believe in it. His world did not have death as a member, He» and a ll a- round him 2 was immortal» When real death.came it was an outragej, a denial of the immortality he deeply fe lt 8 . and the one crack in his wall Caused the whole struc- " tu re .to' crash,^ ' . d-' • Steinbeck:,, In reference to' h is mother 9 01iv @2 says, "Her theology was a curious mixture of Irish fairies and an Old Testament Jehovah whom in her later life she confused ’ with her father. Heaven was to : her a new. home ranch inhabit . ted by her dead relatives ' : ■ . : ; ^The Pastures of Heaven, P, 287 = ^East of Eden, p, 292, 3Ibid, p ,.149, In Of. Mloe and Men, a fte r Lentil a has k i l l ed the g ir l and,the dream of owning the 1 and Is dead., also. Crooks3 the .Wegro. 'a t ; the:;.hajioti, v;says-; d lso o n so lately , ” Ju st lik e heaven, • f Ever'toody 'wants a 11 ttle pieoe of Ian1 , 1 read plenty of hooks out, hefef Nobody never gets to heavens 'and nohody gets, 'no la n d « It* s ju st In th e ir head ^ \ ’ -a . Stelnbeok, in referring•to the death of an animal in %ea , of Cortek , . eOnsiders . the- p o s s ib ility of immortaiity'o .-1 "We oan say,, ' f here was' an animal:,, and for a ll we know there - still is: and' here is ' the proof of it. He was very healthy when we last- 'heard of.him ** ' . ,, , : : ; 1 In AiRussi an Journal Capa,, the photographer , and v : :Steinbeok visit an ancient, church, Capa declares? "All good. Phurohes a re gloomy, That’s what makes them good,”3 S tein beck later describes a 'chapel, in a monastery that they visited For many .centuries only the Czar and the nobility were allowed to worship there» .11 ., in- .this was the 'place of a very select religions,’ and it was easy to see in one' s mind the old nobil i t y 3 s ittin g in gloomy concentration on a noble fu tu re and on a noble hehven, a heaven which was probably as gloomy as:thiSV: ce and Men, pp, 129-30, ^Sea of Cortez,’ p, 167, -, . • 3john .Steinbeck,., A Russian Journal (New ,forkr The Viking f r e s s 1948),) p , :6K%. .i . ~ ' C ;. ' : ': ; y : .: % M d s:;p:,; i': j; ' - : 't . .• He says humorouslyg nIndeed g"we "began.. to most" Russians''hope that If they live very good and virtuous lives* .they' w ill go not to heaven* but to Georgia'when they dle."l . ' ■ • . ' ' ' lu The Forgotten Village the little boy* Paco* dies* a victim of- ignorance and superstition in the treatment of .• diseaseo-: /Stelnbeck describes him ass .. ;■ v ' ; • . A. little saint ' . Without sin or sorrow going■straight;to ,heaven . . ' in his new hat.2 Oasy speaks at Grampa" s funeral in" The Grapes of Wrath This here ol’ man jus* lived a life.an" jus1" died out of it o I don’ know whether he was good, or bad, but that don’t matter" much. He was alive, .an’ that1 s what matters An’ now he’s dead, an’ that don’t matter. Heard a fella tell a poem one time, an’ he says "All that lives is holy o" Got to. th ln k in ’ ,. an’ purty soon I t means more v; . ■ than the words says. An’ I wouldn’ pray for a ol’ fella th a t’ s dead. He’ s awright. .He got a job to. do, but i t ’s all. laid out for ’ im an* there’, s on’ y one .way to do it. ' But us, we got a job to dp, and. they’s a thousan’ ways, ■ an’ we don’ know which way to take. An’ if I was to pray - i t ’d be fo r the folks th a t don’ know which..way to turn. Grampa here, he got the easy s tra ig h t. An’ now cover : ’ im up and Get .’ im get to his work.4 % 1;. r-:' r " : : Other deaths are •metifioned 1 n the works of Steinbeck, without reference to.dmmortality. doyj Jim Holan, and others rxX~Russian Jo u rn al, p. 150. . - ^The Forgotten Village, p.' 64. ^The Grapes of Wrath, pp. 196-97. -- ' - - : -v- :- . - Y": V 84 , are - ki lied in 'In Dubious .Battl e, Lennl e, and 0 urly1 s wife dl e In Qf Mloe' and Meny and 'thb baby of.'-Elho and Juana In The - Pearl 1 s' k ille d T h e lots of thelr .souls are not discussed:.1, . ' '.Again,' we repeat that Steinbeck's bell ef :(or disbe- • ;11 .ef|: 1 nImmortalfty; cannot be ascertained from his works; how ever, he seems to -be saying, "It is this llfe th a t we must concern our s elves wi th . , Ifth ere, is life after d eath3 - and - there may be, it. will 'take care of. itself CHAPTER IV ' . apRRESPOHDEMOE-WITH PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS • c: . Of course many of the ideas mentioned in other parts of. th is thesiSs) p a rticu la ry chapter• three^ are component, parts, of St el nbeck* a religi ou s philosophy^ .however; in this chapter it is our purpose to deal with some of•the standard classifi cations. -of philosophical thought, r. as, they are related to ' Steinbeck. • . ' . • - - The editors of Steinbeck 'and Hi s'•Critics relate the following episodes . • In 195,1 when the American Humani st Association- asked a number- of authors it expected to be. sympathetic, to ■ place themselves among six categppl es of Humanism; St el n- beck's answer, listed by the' Association among those "am biguous. or 'equivocalg"' was that he usually approached the question,of philosophy "oh tiptoe ready to run at the first. grow lH e/not. .Only hinted, thus • at bitter experi ence,. but went on to claim not to, have, the; slightest -* idea what h is philosophy... was or even whether he had one.^ Antonia Seixas, formerly Steinbeck'.s".secretary and . also wife to his .good •fri'end, "Ed Ricketts, the scientist with whom he collaborated on.Hea of Cortez, makes this statements , Furthermore,"we are happy only when we can put things • safely in pigeon-holes<, If we can classify a writer as- vulgar (or earthy), .Communist (or progressive) , we need, make no further attempt at understand1hg. Wrongly clas- , sified and, thus, misunderstood, misunderstood and thus ^"Perspective in Steinbeck Criticism," Steinbeck and '•His C ritic s , p:., k i .. ' ■ •■ ' ; '• •• • ; ; rz’ongly classifi edg: in in automatically circular pro cess, the unhappy'writer can only writhe in rage, frus tratio n ,, or. despair ..y- . ■ although Steinbeck does not fit nicely into any on® pigeon-hole., h© ' doe.s; share 'a tti tud es .and ideas of several • ■■ • ; schools of,thought, which .we shall now. attempt to demonstrate., • - . 1 ransc end ent al 1 sm ■ - • ' . ' . Steinbeck seems to be sympathetic with many, trahs- ' . ■ cendentalistic Ideas. Frederick I.Oarpenter in "The , ■■ ■. ' \Phllospphi c al loads": describes the: eletnents of t ransc end en- : f talism that exist in The drapes of frath very well. 1 But although he is no longer a m in ister, Jim Oasy ; continues to preach. His. words have become simple and . his ideas unorthodoxo "Just Jim Jasy now. 11 n* t got .the. call no more, dot a lot of sinful ldears--but they s.eem kinda, sensible.'V - -I century before, this same ex-,. . . ' v perience and essentially these .sam'e .idea.s had occurred .to another preacher?' .Ralph. Walda Emerson'had given up . the ministry because; of hi s. unorfhodoxy. But Bnerson ; - . had kept on using big words. How G.asy translates themg . "Why do we g o t' to hang i t on 3-od - or Jesus'? .Maybe i t ' s . . a l l men an1 women we iov.ej maybe.that's the Holy Sperlt-t' ■ the human speri t— the whole ’ shebang. Kaybe 'all men got . one big soul ever'body's a part ofAnd so the Emer- . : son!an oversoul comes to earth in Oklahoma. ' . Hnorthodox Jim. Oasy. went■ into the Ok 1 ahoma wildern.eas: : t o -save hi s . so u l.. . And. in the wild erness h e. experienc ed - the, religi ous f eeling of 1 d ent 1 ty: with, nature 'which has : ' ■ .always, been the ■heart of t ran sc end ent hi mysticism ? . . "There was the h ills , an1 th e r e . was me,. a.n' - we wash't . separate no. more,.; He. was one thing. An' th a t one thing rwas holy." Like Emerson, Oasy came to the conviction ,. that holiness or goodness results, from this feeling of unity-? "I got. to thlnkin* how .we was holy when we was : :: one thing, an1 mankln' was holy when i t was one thing." l^Yitonia Sei.xasy " John.: Stelnb eck .and the-tortf el'eo- N ; logical Bus," Steinbeck a,nd His Oritlcs, jop. 275-76. . : . . 87 ■Thus - far Om Oasy s transd.endentaliam has - remained : vagu@ ■ and apparently' iusigmlf 1 3 ant. But the corollary ' : . : . of . thi s ‘ mystical philosophy ’ is .that: any man1 s self- . 'seeking destroys the unity or "holiness" of natures- . "an' i t Ethis one th ln s l on‘y"got unholy when one , . ; mis'able little fell,a got the hit in his teeth, an" : " run off his own way. /.Fella like that bust the hold- - v, ness»'r Or, 'as Emerson'phrased i t , while, discussing ■ , ' Matures . "The world ..lacks unity because .man is disunited , ■ .with himself.' hove is its .demandV 11 So Jim Sasy preaches the religion of loveol ; ' - :■ . ! :3arpenter a ssa rts th a t 'possessive egotism- may beCom© ' the' unpardonable sin to a preacher of the. .oversoul. He says that the lust of po'ss essi on i sol at es a man from his •fellow-/ man .end .destroys the' unity of nature and the love of men» parpenter also states that, from the. transcendentallst point /of' vlew,. if a- society /has adopted ownership as its- social norm, then FroteStant non-conformity may become its highest 1 virtueo-' Then he raises this questions ,•/- 0 0How can men be sure that their Protestant rebel- lion does not come from the -devil? To this there has ■ . always, been but one answer--faiths faith in the in- ' stincts of the common man, faith in ultimate social . - - ' progress, hand faith in the direction in which democ- . / / racy 1 s moving =,/ So Ma Jpad counsels the discouraged. ../". , Tom? . "hhy., Tom, "we’ re th e people, th a t l iv e . /They / .... / ainVt:gonna wipe us out. ■ Why we" re the .people--we. go /. " on," And so Steinbeck himself .affirms a final faith in. progresss . ’IWhen: theories', change and disintegrate, , man. reaches,. stumbles forward <, -. .Having/ stepped .for ward , he may slip back, but only half a ■ step/ never /the full step back." Whether this be democratic faith, ■ ' . or. mere transcendental optimism, it has always, been the motive force of our American Tife and finds reaff 1 rma- ■/■■ - tlon in this .novel...' . . ' - ; h ^Frederick 1. G.arpenter/... "The Philosophical Joads,“. Steinbeck and . His Grltlcs, pp. 242-43 « , ' ;' -■ /. - . 2Ibid, pp. 243-44. v • ■ ■ ■ : ' ■ ■ 88 Elements of transo end entail, sm may be found in other ■ ’ w ritings of , Steinbeok<. In So 1 G-od Unknown E lizabeth says j- "There are some times/ Joseph* when the love for people is strong and warm like a sorrow," Joseph answers$, " ,, .and ' there are times when the people and the hills and the earthy all 1 everything except. theVstarsp 'are one^ and the love of them a ll i s strong like-' a sadness<>"1 (He f ee ls s however* ; - ; that the stars are strangers and sometimes evil,') Joseph also considers this possibilitys ,lChrist n a iled up might he more than a symbol of a ll pain. He might ■in Very truth contaih all pain» And he said in his mind* . "Ohrist in his little time on the nails carried within his body all the suffering that ever was* and in him it was un=■ distorted,"^ ■ Hama .'tells Joseph that he can81- see units* only the whole* and she says of Joseph in a speech to Elizabeth* ■ ■ "I fell you this man is not a man* unless he is all men,0» He is all these* a repository for a little piece of each .man8 soul* and more than that* a symbol of the. earth8 s soul*88? \ ' Steinbeck6 s discussions about "gr-oup^man" seem to be associated with transcendentalism. Several, quotations • xfo A Cod Unknown a p 0 76 0 ' / , \ . . 2l b i d n po;-;71c.:r\ ;;:A:'V: : A - . . . ' " ■ : ' " ; .%bldl. P. 90. / ' -• ■ ' : , v " ; V : 'V ; : v ; . .. 89 from In Dubious Battle concerning the nature of group-man demand our attention at this timeo Doc Burton states: "I want to watch these group men for they seem to me to be a new individualp not at all like single men. A man In a, group isn't himself at all? he's a cell in an organism that isn t like him any more than the : c e lls in; your- body a re .lik e you0n^ . . Here is another of Doc's speeches: “When group-man wants to move, he makes a standardo 'God w ills th a t we re capture the Holy Land o'1,2 He goes on to say that the group probably does not really care about the standard? it just wants to move, to fighto He also thinks that a person can be ah effect as well as a cause« Mae, because he is a leader, thinks that he is- a causee Doe Burton compares him with an eye cell. Every \ cell is a part'of the whole and must perform its particular function to provide for unity and effectiveness. Jim and Doc engage in another conversation later: • fjlimsj But I'm not lonely any more, and I c a n 't be , , licked , because I'm more than myself. ' (Qdocs J. Pure religious- ecstasy. I can understand ■ ' that. Partakers, of the blood of the Lamb. ICrimsJ Religion, hell'. . . .This is men, not God. This is something you know. - . • , . ,^)oc^ Well, can't a group of men be God, Jim?3 ■ ^-In Dubious B attle, p. 159?, ' - %%id, p. 151. . : • ■ - 3ibid. p. 260. , 90 .V ' 'Mow note- th is excerpt from The Bed Pony in which Grandfather is describing the "westerin$" to Jody, Jody's .father, 3arT# • has hurt Grandfather' s feelings . hy manifesting his boredom and irritation at 'hairing td- hear the same did h stories oyer again» . . ' * "I shouldn' t stay here, feeling the way 1 doHe - - ’ . exafflined his fine old hands». "I f eel as though the crossing wasn't:worth doing,.* ' "I tell those old stori ess. but they1 re not what I • .w a n t to tellT only; tenow how 1 want .people, to feel , :'rWhen 1 - t ell f hem , • j: / , % / - - ' ■ . . . : % , 'I'1;' ' ’ ■ 11 It. wasn'vt> lhdlah.:B''th at were important, nor adven- . turess nor even git ting out here.. It was a whole bunch ' - . V of ..people made Into one big crawling beast. ; And I was . ' the. head. It was westering and westering, - Every man wanted something for'himself <, but'the big beast that ;• was all Of them wanted only, westering. I was the, leader but I f 1 hadn' t : been there,, someone else would have been the head The. thing had to have a head , ■ ; .i , . J. . "Under the l i t t l e ; bushes the - shadows were- black at ■ .; ■ white noonday. -When we saw the .mount.alns at . la s t , w e. ,. criedl-all of us. . But it wash't /getting here, that matl ' : • ■ tered's, i t was: movement and w estering! v ; ■ :. : 11Je carried life out here and set it. down the way ; ... those ants carry eggs. Arid. I was the leader,. The wes- ' ■ 'teririg was as big as God, arid'the slow steps that made ; . . 'the movement piled up and piled up until the continent "• ' was crossed*'1 ' • 1.■ : ■ ' ! In- Sea of Oortez Steinbeck describes some of the na- V 'tlves:pf Mexico. They seemed to: liv e on remembered! things,: to be so 'related .to: the seashore: and the rocky h i ll s and the loneliness that they are these things. Something ip .me "tell me I will rain tonight» Of course,. I am the whole' thing, now that. I think about it. I ought to. know when 1 will rain.11,2 ..r ;:^■:.^The^'^ d ^'fbri,t.v'^, pp. 90-91 <,■ . ' - J. - '% ea;. ofv:Gortea,v p. 75. 91 In .the same book ■ St'feinfceck: deolaress' ;; ; The differential, is 'the true universal, the true cat- ■; alyst, the cdsmle solvent/ Any investlgatlon carried . -■ f ar: enough w ill _bring to lig h t these residua, 1 or rath e r w ill leave them s t i l l unassailable as Emerson remarked a hundred years ago in, “The Overspulll*--will run in to : the,briok' wali - of impossibllity of perfection- while at ■ the same time -inslsting ,on the validity of -perf ectlon,^ , “I am much more than the sum of' my cells a,nd for all : I know, they are much more than the division of ,me ; ; v v flh e n vBcoldgy has' a . synonym, which is ALL, ."3 : ■ , : - And s finally,, from Sea of ?Gortez, let us note a pas-: sage which we have quoted previouslys (See page'54°) ' ■ , . _ Ind it is a. strange thing that most of the feeling ; we. call religious, most ,of the .mystical outcrying which is one of the most prized and used and desired reactions ,; - .of our spool@s, .is. re a lly {the understanding and. the. a t- , tempt to say that man is related to' the whole' thing, re- • .lated inextricably to all .reality, known, 'and unknowable„ / This is simple thing to say, but the-profound feeling • iof' I t made a Jesus, a St» Augustine, a' -St» Francis / /Ektelnbeck also manifests bis warm feeling for St, ■ : Francis in Tortilla F l a t , a Roger Bacon,, a Charles ..' ' .Darwin, and an E instelny • ' . , . , ' ;■ . ’.is have mnhtiohed iosephts feeling of. uni ty ’ with- ua- ture in To 'A Cod Unknown as-illustrated by his. final speech: "I am the land-, and I am the -rain * : The grass will grow out of me in a 1 1 ttle: while.“5 , ; ' :. " . ~x’S-ea, o f C ortez, p« 1501 ' - -2Ib id 0 po 165.. .. ' , ; . - ■ 3lb id , p« 35* , % 1 :: ' v '.'v a :;.-,;.' %bidi pp./:gl6-l?l '. ' ; c . .. ; ; ' . 3';o a Cod Unknown, p i 214. ,. ' " , &@f erring' again to The G-rapes of Wrath,- we find a scene between Ha and Rose of Sharon in which Ma says> f . ' ■. * * When you1re ybung , Rosasharn, ever'thing that•hap pens; is a thing ail -by 'itself» It' s a lonely thing««« ■ . There1 s a time of change, ah 1 when th a t oomes, dyln 1 is _ a piece of all dyin', and bearin' ie a piece of all bearin' ^ an' bearin' an'' dyin 1 is two 'pieces of the . same: thing» . In' then things ain' t lonely any more<,i . : ; Tom' Jo.ad .explains, hi a ml; ssi on. to ;Ma» " He 'menti ons a passage of. scripture to which Gasy has referred? • - ; .Joes, Two are better than one, because they have a' good reward for their labor. For if they fally the one will Tiff up -hIs fellow, but woe to him that is alone f ' when: he falleth,: for he hath, not another to help him . ' - up? y . Again, if two lie- together, then they have heats . t ' but how can one be warm' alone? Ind. if : one prevail ■ against him., two shall v/i thstand him,. and a three^fold oofd is not quickly b roken.• ■ . . ' Tom talks, more o f. Jasys . ' • , Says one time ,he'went out in . the wilderness to find • his own "soul, an' he foun* he didn! have no soul that , was hi.s'ny, Says he foun': he jus'i got a l i t t l e piece of' : 3, great big souT. ::•Says a wilderness'ain' t no. good, ; ' oause hi s 11 t t l e pi'ec e :of. a soul wasn ■ t "no good 11 ess , it was with the rest, .an' was, whole.3 • ' Yet, in spite of. the-importance of the group, of the importance of identifying one's own. self with humanity ..and wbrkihg co.op.eratively .with .them:,. Steinbeck feels; that there is a plac-e; for separateness, Steinbeck says in^East of. Eden that, i h a' time ' of tension such as. that in which, vr.e liv e , he . asks himself what he. believes In,, and his answer is? - ' : - 93 . "And this I believes that.the free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing- in the world...And this I" must‘fight against: . any. idea/ religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.«. .If the glory can be killed, we are lo st.111 He f eels„ as Roark does in Rand1 s Fountainhead 0 that the group never invents or creates anything, that the pre-- ciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man. •What i s th is glory to which' he refers? Sometimes a kind of glory lig h ts up the mind of a , man...And I guess a man's importance in the world can. • be. measured by the quailty and number, of his glories. It.is a lonely thing, but it relates us to the.world. It is the mother of all creativeness, and it sets each man separate from all otheh men.^ ; .. ■ . ■ ■' - ' This "glory" may be some simple sens dry aesthetic experience that has real meaning for a person, or it"may come from,..creative endeavors by him. . . ; ;. The. question asked by Poo In In Dubious Battle " ..« can't a group of men b.e G-od. might lead us to the belief that this is Steinbeck's conception of G-od. However, in East of Eden, ' he states .directly: "Mass or collective pro- duc.tion has entered our economics, our politics, and even our religion, so that some nations have sub.stituted;, the idea ~ ^EastTof Eden, p. 132. . . ■ ' 2Ibid, p. 131. - ' 3Ibid, p. 159.' \ . : ;; - , . 94 .collective fpr the idea.3od<,- This. In .my time is the dan- : s e r ,c l - L-. : ■ . ■ ' , % Naturalism . / ,' . V .. . - Woddhurn."Ross, -.in .:his article/. " Jodn St ei'nbecki Natu4 ' ralismVs. Priest," -is concerned about the tendency of ethics : to become re la tiv e in modern tim es,^ - : 7 ' . •' But if, on the one hand, naturalism leveled values, on the other, by,.pointing to. nature,- rather than to >3od1 , - \ ' , .as the .source.'.of. value, i t really,:d'eprived- manhiM of' . : ' .any s ul t abl e : found at i on for'.a moral .-code. ... - %7 ' ■ ’. ■ , 4 ;;.;::;/:.../dbstdrn.^ society now ■does-rexper-ien.ee' d iffic u lty in - - ■: : - dl sti ngui shl ng b etween .11 the, most . calculating self i sh^ r ' ' ;. : ness", and " the most devoted heroi sm," ’not ;slmply because, ..'it .-is. deceived by hypocrites, but because all ' ethics ■have tended to become purely- re la tiv e : and because per manent objective criteria by which acts can be measured ■ are lack in g ,3 . -- i- ; y. ' . ., . , Ross suggests,that much of the significance of the .work Of' Steinb eck.-. 11 es in 'hi s. p art lal,..-af f 1 ll.at ion w ith'the : . ■ : ancient religions of India and China, which confirm--'■the valid- - ity of mystical, intuitive faith<,, (he have noticed that . Steinbeck introduced To ,4 d.od Unknown with one of the Vedic hymns;and that Rama, ...one - of the principal ■characters .in." that, work,>l s a name ■found;-in -V edi c lite r a tu r e meaning woman.} ‘ .. .Steinbeck has. certain attitudes of the complete natu ralist, as Ross points out. He accepts-the solentisf1sf East "of Eden, "p. 131. • : ■ . , , v ; . : Sifoodburh ■ Q R o s s , " John ,St elnbbckrS .baturall sm’. s ■.;.■; Priest," Steinbeck and 7H1 s ,0rltics, pp« 206-15. . ,- / -■■:■’ 4 ■ ■ ' ^Ibldf ppo 206-07; 9 5 ' reppesetttatlon of life. He has an almost professional inter est' in biologyj.. as he. demonstrates in Sea.' of 3 ortez» : '' . : .He emphasi aes In 'hi s sto ri es and novels the "valne of human acts and a ttitu d e s which he considers in harmony •• with- natural law. ' Junius; Maltby in The Pastures of Heaven pays for his.love of the natural life with the . lives of his wif e and two; children 'and,- to-the’scandal . • of the neighborsj, raises a third child without regard to ■ t ; " .artificial, c ivlll %e& y aluesy and; Btelhb edir apparently ■ sympathizes . With Mai thy throughput. He leads the reader ’ to dislike the stiff, .unnatural garden of Mary Teller'-.in The Long Valley in the story, "The. White ^Uail;His friendly description of natural conduct in Tortilla F lat1 and Oannery Row iCand Sweet Thursday] is, of course, fa- • . ■ miliar.. To a great, extent., .though not completely, - Steinb-eck accepts fhe' ethical Implications which many f ■ . have seen in natural science. One need, only. mention, for. ; . instance, the L.opez:'.sisters In The Pastures o f,Heaven and ' . : refer again to "the boys": of Cannery; Row and to the Jpads to make this fact clear. His position, , in so- far as he • - is a naturalist, appears to be the commonplace one that, 1 since •humanity is a'product. of. natural forces and since : the. .prof oundest biological urge is the' urge for life, for. survival and reproduction, then virtue consist's in what- ; ever .furthers these ends.^ " , • Ross points: out., .'however,; that Steinbeck s: writing ■ '' i s- dutslde"the strict scientific , naturalistic tradition, in ’ - • that it is not objective. He has a love, a spontaneous af = : feotion for the world around him; and, to Steinbeck, that is ..- the. most 'Important reactlpn that a man can have. Be loves. ■ the natural world, "natural'' human beings, and "natural" - ' ethics.. •; . V/--.,:; : .- ... . . - ■ • . •■ ... Many of Steinbeck's ideas are the result of his emo- • ' tional bias, rather, than'intellectual convictions or' reasoning| ^ e 1 nbecks IHaturallsm':s Priest','1' .p. 208 , ''• ,:' ." Rbss - meiit 1 ons tit s -al.truiair ■ exampl e of th l s--th e a l- - trusim of Map and Jim In In •Dubious .Rattley the altruism of . Rose of .Sharon-when she feeds the 'starvlng mana the altruism ' ; of the people who share their breakfast In "Breakfast," a story In The Long V a l l e y He. might also have mentioned Ma' s • feeding of the hungry children as;,another example<> Rossfsays? - •• - ■, „ „,Steinbeck1 s ethical system, which*»= finds u lti mate virtue only in obedience to the natural law which ' demands- reproduction and survival, is in reality conv- • plicated by the introduction of" a second major virtue- 1:: / : |^.ltruism ^,f whose demands must: be expected, a t times to -. vf be .contrary; to .those, of the :fbrmer>2^-f . r : .' f.. As Ross also says, Steinbeck* s ideas about the my- / stical unity of the cosmos (his transcendentalism) go beyond what his scientific- naturalism would support, but these ideas'. -are probably -connected with his 1 ove of the natural<, Steinbeck -is hot satisfied to stop merely -with a description of thingsj • he is interested .in organization, despite his claim to- non- • : • teleological thinking* ' He says. in Sea of '0ortez that he and ..Ricketts .are .'asked, "Then. what: do you search for?" The an- \:;BWCr-":i.S'f:;f ::; - , \ \ - : -t.-v ' ; ■_ f ■ .And- vthia.is' an embarrassing question* We ■search ,A v;; for something that will seem like truth to us; we search for" understanding;' we search for that principle ' which keys us deeply into the "pattern of all life; we search for the relations, of .things, one to another,- as ' this young man searches for a warm light- in his wife1, s. eyes ■ a n d fth a t' one for the hot, warmth: of: fig h tin g .3. ;*";V ~^TrBr'eakfast„" The Long V a lle y , pp. 89-92 . - . 2"John Steinbeck: -'Naturalism's Priest," p. 209* Steinbeck-'seems to feel that there is a meaning in things which eludes explanation in terms of knowledge. As an example of ■th.l;'ss Ross' c.ites a passage from T_o A God Unknown Elizabeths, Joseph’s- wife-,, muses; at- the close of :the festivals It was- such an odd*' day, - There was the outwardness, the people coming and the mass- arid the feasting, and . then the dance, and last of all the storm, Am I being silly, Joseph, or was there a meaning, right under the surface?. ; It- seemed like' those, pictures of simple larid'- scapes they' sell. ip. the cities, • When you- look closely , ' you .see all kinds of figures hidden in the lines,. Do .- ' you know the kind of pictures I mean? A rock becomes a sleeping wolf, a little cloud is a skull, and the line •• of trees marching soldi era when you look closely 1 Did the. -day seem like that to. you, Joseph, full of hidden • meaning, not quite;understandable?^ V . ‘ - Ross finds this to be the basis of Steinbeck' s re ligions he i.s not religious in the. orthodox sense but is re ligious in his love of nature and contemplation of man' s re-- lationship to the cosmos; he is religious in that he seeks; to transeend scientific explanations based-; on sensory exper iences „■ As we have already observed, -Steinbeck affirms the holiness of nature, ' , ' - .- - ' . ‘ .; Ross finds "Sweetheart,” which is painted over "Gran ' Poder de Jesus" in The Wayward Busy-a ^'symbol of. the; substi- tution by a wicked generation of a superficial- interest in - sex for a profound sense of the nature and reality of .things, The "Repent" sign which is also observed on. the journey,- he. ■ : ^ ~ ^1TJohn St einb-eckg Naturalism's Priest,"-p, 212, . - ig: iMiaa^lYe . of the need to repent,; hot:- of o onv en- . tibhal. gln^ the failure to aooept life and nature, ■ the failure' to love life and man, and the failure to feel ■ f: the .mystery and unity of. creation. • - :; Ni.nete©nth.roehtury. fea/rs th ai the d ev elopment .of ■ naturalism meant the end of reverence, of worship, ' and, of. august sentiments", are not warranted .in the .. - 'oase- of^telnheofco;!^Steinheclt f-Si' I think, the first ' f.sighifihant' noy ellst' tofhegin -;f0' build a mystical. religion upon a naturalistic base, ([Some critics y; have; cfificised-yhim f or* thi's^ rv oOertainly, -the.: Sea-; f V Vthrn world -is gasping in the religious' vacuum Into ■ • .fwhioh ft; has beeh' plungedf ... it eeeks- an affeotive re- - \ • lationshi'p with the universe« SteinheGk* s. answer is ‘ - ...arresting for the reason that it does not require the • •Wegfftq* forget or deny what it has 1 earned about na- • ture in the last hundred years.Steinbeck is in the ft. ; current :of positive scientific thought; .in 'that re- ' .■ : specf :h.e. do'ts - notsw im y upstream . Yet.; he is both ;■■ y , ' rational and. irrational; he accepts all that reason - ' : yrcantteil;hiiH yBnd/yherfflitS’ hihyyi^ and .aff ectl ons- 1.::;;fb addVwhat they:W to the world created by reason : y y y and 't o .' d et ermine.:.:hi s' pds.i tl-dn't oward1 t h e : unlvers e as- ’y ;'y 'y'' I t :then 'appears-. ' .f ;: "'- Vy--.y ' % ;y ■; y :.... ■ y.;'-';; f h i a ynew'-r ellgioUs ■ a f t f t ^ -whl'c.hy: Bt el nbeck,. -at y y - least' in some vague way, has been able to construct ' - for' himself 'out .of unpromising mat erials; bears; bn i t y.. y y y : :: they marks .of y i t sy p e ril oUs' bi rthV: I t i s extremely prl™. f mitiye. It rejects, more than two thousand■ years of - ; ;y ;* theolpglbal'thought...yy -it1. abandons a ll attempts-; to .'dl.s- .• ‘ . . . y - c ern f In a l - purpb ge s. In y .l if e.'. y ,11 yv 1 r tu al 1 y- f .educ es man : ; : again to animism; for, .unlike Wordsworth, Steinbeck does ..not see through nature to, a God'beyond; he hears . no intimations of immortality .^ee section on Death and Immortality, pp. 78-8.43 There is only nature, ultim ately m ysterious, to which a ll things belong; bound together in "a unity concerning whose' stupendous grandeur he can barely hint. But such a nature Steinbeck loves, and before i t ,, like- primitive man, he is reverent .1 '^“john -Steihbeckg Naturalism" s; Priest;^- pp.y214-15 = No 31 sens si on of St. ©Inis eek1 s natut’allsm would be com plete without a fuller study of hls non^teleologioal thinking<, The greatest objection to teleologleal thinkinga Steinbeck says?. is that when people arrive at "answersp" they close their minds emotionally to further and possibly opposite an- swerso He feels that many people desire to hang on to their ‘ utifhinking 'b e lie fs In re llg io n a sci@nc e, in sfItu tlo n sp and the like/ for emotional support 0 Steinbeck believes that non-teleological or "is" thinking might be substithtsd in part for the usual cans©- ■ effect methods I Ndn^teledlogical thinking is ah attempt "at most to answer the already- sufficiently difficult questions what of how instead of whyo • He goes on to'States "The whole picture is portrayed by 1 g9 the .deepest word o f deep, ultim ate, r e a l i t y 9 not shallow or partial as reasons - are> but deeper and participating p pos* sibly encompassing the Oriental concept of b e in g ,"2 ’ Steinbeck does not claim that the Indian is the noble, savage who lives in logic» "His magic and his techniques and his teleologies are just as full of nonsense as o u r s o"3 ■r "Life has one final end9 to be alive = o o11^ 1 . . ^-Bea 5f Qortezr p- 135 = - ' . : 2lb i d a pp= 150-51= . i ., - - -i,'. . " ■ : ' ^Ibld„ p. 209= ' . ; , ; ^ Ib id , p = ; 24lo . V ■ Univ. of Arizona Libraif : ; y ; : ; ; ' : ■■ ■. :■ - 1 0 0 - Antonie. Seixas discusses ••Steln'beok1 s nonr te le o lo sio a l tb'lnlElng in "John StelnbeslE end the Eon^iel.eolpsical 3ns =''. A, . • ■' According to Sea of C ortez,- th is .attitu d e riconsid.er,S' events • as. outgrowths and expresal ons rattier than .as re- ' stilts'1, of specific q auses«, - I t concerns 11 self '!i sot A wi tti \ . what could he, or should hey:.:9r ;ml; 5 h t ' he, -but •rattier ’ v . ■' iflth: what actually d's'---attempting at most to answer the • already sufficiently difficult, questldns what or how In- : ■ stesd of why ," : "To most men,*1 • wrote Steinhesk, 11 the : ' most hateful statement possible is A THIB3- IS B13AU3S . IT IS- . d1’ for- they feel that such a statement leaves out’hope--a telief in the purposiveness of,events by A which a ll th in g s occur to. some . "good" end „ . ’• ’ t yA ■. (Seen in' this- lig h t, Steinbeck Vs. achl evement in Of , • A - .Mice--and: Men i s ' even more ifflpressivet - the hardest task : a V a-.writer can .set himself is to tell the story .of "some- -. ' . thing that happened11- wlthout explaining " why"--and make • it convincing, and moving:. And 'in th islig h t, the. death of Lennle is necessary; not. so much tragic br brutal, . . as simply part,of. a . pattern of events „ j1 , The editors of Steinbeck and His Critics say that Bur to n Raseoe says th a t in Of Mice and Men Stelnbeck was. expound ing. "the coiriplete ;hbn-md,raiity of nature in tier physical as pects and of the morality .of expediency'that must necessariiy ar.lee from nature's 'blundering.H e mentions the scientific objectivity in .Steinbeck' s'thinking; -a ■. ...In.Antonia Selxas' article,- the author discusses The hatward. Biie. - in the. lig h t of St einbeck's •naturalistic . or , non- teleologic al approach A . ' ■ ■. I t .seems th a t,th e .a u th o r did not fe e l much warmth or love for the passengers of his bus=. He delineates them ■ with the objectivity of a man viewing little animals through a microscope. He describes them meticulously... V' ^Antonia Selxas,- "John Steinbeck and the 'Hon-Teleo- logic si bus , " p., 2 7 7 c ' . . ;A’ ' ;:a:V ': ^ - ' a :;' ; - : v ■ .. . -Introduction to Steinbeck and HIs 0rltic sA p. xii. 1 0 1 . VSn&v;though Steinbeckdevotes- pages to marvelously ae- ' lectlve descriptions of his main characters^ he doesn't tell you" how: they got that way» or why. It 1 sn." t necessaryo For they .are all "type' specie ■ mens"-—not merely "products,1! but. components of our ci vilizations «.»...... ' - 1 /. • - • ■ . The author seems to be saying, "Here, is a ty p ical group of homo Americanus. See, this‘is how they look, this is how they act„7r~ And ,• though he seems to be more ;Charmed by c e rta in of hi s •specimehs than "by,1 ;otrierS j' he- .' , is like an entomologist describing the antics of a group 1 of insects| he neither praises nor blames => ? , She proceeds to explain some of the symbolism of that novelg however, she warns the readers . , : '' ’ I.; But it. must not be thought th a t there i s ’any "answer." : - In these symbolisms, that any solutions are suggested* The bus is wayward; its passengers -"are the way they are" and as members of society, they cannot.be blamed * If, 'we look to The Wayward Bus for "whip," we will be dis appointed ,.. perhaps repelledj and we will misunderstand ' the author yet again* If we regard it- as an account, "not of what could be or should be, or might be, but rather of. what actually is," .-the gamesy we bah, play with . ■ ; I f a ■ sy mbOll skr are -endless *^;.V ■ ;'y y/vv":; v '''•-"a -Steinbeck in • speaking of non-teleological methods in • , Sea of Cortez, affirms: - ;'v,v. .-f' i ‘ ... non-' t el eol ogl o al methods, more than, any other seem • : ■ capable of great tenderness, of an all-embracingness f 1 which is rare otherwise* Consider,- for instance, the • fact that j.-. once -a. given situation Is deeply’-understood, • no apologies .are required *’ ’There are. ample difficulties even to.understanding conditions "as is.*" ■ Once that has-been accomplished, the "why" of it (known now to be simply a.relation, though probably a near -and- important one)- seems- no longer to be -preponderantly important, . • •"""^Antonia. Seikas, "John Steinbeck and the Non-teleO-;' -’..;: logical Bus," pp*.,277-79* . \ f 1 0 2 ■ v , v ' It'-^neeclnv tvtoe’ eondoned or extenuated9' i t ju s t " i s ' : "■ : ■' It ds Seen merely: as p a rt of a,, more or le s s dim whole pio ture. o <,tfith the non-teleologiGal treatmeiat there is ' ' r-'t • h only'■the love hnd: understandIi^.-of: instant' acceptances ■■ ■ vaf ter jthat ; f undamental: has . been achi ev ed, the next steps, J ■ ■ ' ::;''i‘f any should he neoessary, ban be considered more sen- >• : Bibly.l , t ; Woodburn 0. Ross declares that Steinbeck bears a • : > strilElng 'resemblance':to Auguste 0omtes who is considered the father of sociology and positivismo2 He compares the two " , men In the following respeotsg Both men object to causal or ' ■teleological;thinking and advocate thinking in terms of de- ■ scrlptive,lawso ' Both men regard the rational mind as exer- eisingrelatively little influence■over human conducto He ' quotes 'from. G omt 6 8- 1 . • "V' .1" i't \ v ;:;: The mind I s .not supposed .. to controlbut- to ; serve; . when it.thinks to dominate, it servesa in reality, the personality>„«without being able to avoid supporting . .' some pas si on .or other .I, In facts, re a lity , demands above .. all force, and. reason offers nothing but light;." force ... - . . . must come from elsewhere.»3 ■■■;;- ' ■ ■ - ■ , -■■ . ■-' - . ; ' . ROss .mentiohs ''Steinbeck8 s love f or the di spossessed . and h is emphasis; upon th e ir social v irtu e s . He follows this. 1 with another quotation from Comtes v . ; - : > , ' ■ ' . ; ■.-t- The habitual mode of life of the.,proletarian is much I /. ' ■ ■ more . appropriate t o the spontaneous dey elopment. of our ’ better instincts . . .It is "there that one finds ordinarily ; • ^ HiiTo f G o'rfea p: -pp* 1 4 6 -4 7' ■ '■ ^Woodburn 0-6: Ross, "John Steinbeck: E arth and S ta rs p 111 ■ Steinbeck and His Gritlcs..; PP^'I67°-62 . ' , 3IbidV p, 179o ,:v:V : v . ; '' : . \ ^ . ;the/best models of true frt endshlp^- even: among .those 'whom a constant poverty 9 too of ten depreciated by our . 'aristocratic ‘customs, seems to condemn to the least moral elevation.1 - / " / ■ ;//■ .-' Ross mentions Steinbeck's feelings for certain natu- rafobjeots s,s:practically’ turnins into, fetishes. To 4 God -Unlinown contains ;several examples of this, Ross says that . d omte also? - ' " ' ■ / ; . . . .regards genuine primitive-fetishism as represen- / ting the attitude of the mind/ next to positivism, most .; / suitable for .mand.. By 'treating each object separately - . ■ : .inste.ad of ' establishing classes^ f etishism-:encourages ' ‘. accurate observation a.nd, permits man to reach conclu- _ ' . /. sions about nature more accurate than, those of the priest or metaphysician.^ - . .: / ..Lastlys 'Ross points but th.at both men are f ascinated with, th e' id ea that groups should ...be regarded as separat# e n title s , . ; : - - ’ ’ ■ ’ - - - ■’. / : /-.-'c .'"In his 'Byst’lme de .politique positive Jomte seeks to establish the Worship of the. Great Being* Humanity, The. ittdlvidual f ad es Into;, relativ e'• unlmportance; 1 ndeed * . h e .is actu ally 'an abstraction of the mind, and only a group com posed of all men has real existence . "3 ■ Two differences between the two mens - according ;td: Ross*, do exist* however.: (I}- Steinbeck ■relegates reason ’ /■ t" John 8telnb eck: Earth, and Stars p.-' if9. ' "/ .'//v ■ ■ 2Ibid, p. 180. ; ,.y'' ' 3lb id , p.. 180. / : . /I,/'-: V ■ ■■-ii p'J ,;M ■ . \ ' ■; ■■ ■■■•; -■ • 104 more oompletelj to the background than Oom.te and allows his .. affections.to dictate judgments. ( 2 ) Oomte discusses duties of citizens?. Steinbeck discusses ^rights of citizens. . The, .editors of. Steinbeck and His Oritics mention an : essay by Donald■ Weeks called "Steinbeck Against Stelnbeck," ' ; r which;,, appeared in- The ,Paciflc S p e c ta to rJlutumhs 1:194-7,ifi. v ; ; : which Weeks says ;that: ^robablylSteinbeok. s association with - Dr» Edward. Rlckettss the biologi.st, may have produced the philosophy of the Sea of 3ortezV " a; philosophy' which encour-- ■ aged Steinbeck to rationalize hi s' sentim entalityH e be-;- • 11 pves that Steinbeck’s. idea that "a thing is because it is'' is justification for a sentimental handling of the- incompe- ■ t ent and malad j u ste d «,11^ ; ' ■ . ' ' ■' - , . Editors Ted lock Wand Wicker make, ref erence to another /essayv written by Edmund Q = .Richards, called "The challenge of John Stelnbecks 11 in The North - American' Hevi ew. Summer» 1937 =• Supposedly s Hichards f inds ,Steinbeck1;s revolt against, Puri tan! sir. not without; rellg lp n i hoifever', i t is "a kind of mys ticism which i s not the/iess impressiye because it i s as : naturalistic as his sfhlns ."^l. ■ - '-l ', - "-1." ;i. 1 .; 1 . ^Introduction• to Steinbeck and His Sr-ltlos, p» xxii , 2Ibid, p. •xxiilo/; ■ l :l'; ■ . 'V , ■,:;■■■■ , . 105 ■’ ; , : ■’ Human!sm . , Desplte Stelnfc 9 0 K.s refusal to classify himself as a humanist for :the .imerlcan.Human!st issocla.tlonj, he has many traces of humanism In his writings. If we define a humanist (using Webster} as uone whose attitudes of thought ' and action center around human Interests'or ideals,! then we - can apply, that definition to Steinbeck. ' For this reason we . , cannot simply tag him as.-naturalistic.or animallStic 1 he is these 0ihgs, but :-he. Is mdrp. f' ,. ■ ■ . :. ■ . /Steinheck^s 'affection-for human beings'and the uni- yv'ers©’’is o la te s him 'f rom other n a tu ra lis ts who have taken a - more grim., and f a t a l i s t i c a ttitu d e toward l i f e. - - . : ' Joseph Warren Beach speaks' of Steinbeck thusf . .rl .a fs to ry t e l l e r worthy to be compared with Obekhov Or ihatple' ■ France for his skill in Shaping -up the stuff of human lives / in forms, that delight the mind and 'imaglnatioh."! ■ • ' - -' In ’ ref erring to ' Of Mice - and - Men, this critic praises the'hum anity of' the .book:.I, '11 One who has not read th e book ■ can • hardly b©- made1 to' 'appreci ate . th e, tone of humani ty and beauty ■ 'with'which Steinbeck'-invests this' tragic episode."-; " : Lincoln G-lbbs in "John Steinbeck: Korall st" says of , Steinbeck, "His human sympathies..are equally .acute, and. he : T” . / Steinb-eckt■ -•■Jpurneymab A rtist," pp. 30-81. Sfb l d , p. 90. ;b; :' : ' ; . : "' :"v\; , '■ ■■■ ■ .V ■ ' /, : - ' - :v ; V ■ 106. . has .the-, priceless graoe of . discovering the redeeming trai t in the most .degraded person/,,"! . . , , ' ■ , ’ - .His .real' interest in the welfare' of peoplea manifested in. hi s books , parti cularly. those books d emonstrating - th e ex- \ . ploita.tl on of .thei-poor and unfortunate by the rich and power ful ( or the conventional) y has given him. the tit 1 e- of "Stein- . ■ beck:^: the. Ref ofmer ." .. . ■ ; ■ ^xSteinbeok- posseseed a lively interest In socialism • ' ■in hi s- youthf ul' .periodj and he hoped ' that some ' f prm-' of. th is , system, might, be. '.adopted which would perpetuate'human v a lu e s. ; He abandoned th e ides,- of a super-imposed c o lle c tiv ity , .how ever, 'because he felt that mah -s 'greed and selfishness would ’ . prevent Its successful operation. f .He .has, however, never. ' . ■abandoned the id ea that men* should, work together, cooperatlvaly; to. help meet the needs of people» . . - ' . Steinbeck has placed more stre ss upon man1.s physical well-being than upon more abstract' spiritual well-being» - ■ icoprding to- Robert Bennett, a f ri end of Steinbeck's during ' hiS; college, days, Steinbeck- Interrupted a church service that’ , they attended together by te llin g th e m inister whose sermon was abstract and other-worldly, ■. ■ -■ , " l lot of orap«,»«if the soul • Is. immortal, why worry about it. .it s the body .that'. . »yesf, you all look, satisfied . . ■ - 'fj6hii” Steinbeok-s M o ral!st$tr pv ^ here, while outside the world "begs for 9. crust of bread or a •ohano e .to, earn' 11»' Feed the body and the epal wlll 'taKe Care of .It se lf 1")-,, " , : f ' ...... / ■ ", . ■' .Jim..daey:'::says before'• the trip to California Is undep”- ,fabenr/e ify: ^ If''// - V IVI j 1 ■ , : ' I gotta' see them folks that's gone out .'on the road,.»« : , I'hey gonna need help no preachln' ; o.an give 1 eiiil.' Hope: : : of'heayen when their lives/ain' t lived1?. Holy Sperit when th e ir ovra. sp e rit is .downcast an' sad! I'hey gonna heed help/ Ihey got to live before they 03.n afford to . .•...'die/2..- /.../, . /Steinbeck Is like Samuel/.; whose concern with other . people, :1a/v ery deep/. - - Ih Sast :of; Sdeh Steihbeck sa.ys; of Lee? : " » , o i t sadd ened him b eo ause Samuel-, could hot mihd /.hi s own. • business when there was - pain, in'any man/''J' /, ..-,;/ Referring again to the good Friday service in Mexico which deeply .impr'esaed Steinbeck, .he. writ ess. . - " / ■ 'ATe were probably literally' affected .-by'the .aervlce - v " and/the people . and thel r f ©ellng. about i t / the/crippled . . and' the pained.; who were in t.h?e. ohurch, fhe: l i t t l e half*-/ / ' hupgry children,.;,the andent women with ©yes/of pstient ■ tragedy who •stared up-at the plaster saints, with .eyes "of such pleading/ / We liked them and .we f e l t a t peace / with them, ind strolling through■the streets we thought a long, time of these people in. the. church0 ■ ~ fRob erf: Bennett/ The ¥ ra t fa.; of' John Bt ei nb eck. ■. (Los Angeles s. The Albert son Press in association with Buns ter. dreely, 1939) , /P> 7/. ' • /' . ;. :/ •■// "■ y'. . ' . ; . : ' ■ ^The Grapes of f r a t h l / p r 123» , ' •: / / ’ ;"/' ' / / , ¥e thought of the splrlts of kindneas' which periodically cause them to.be fed9 a little before they are dropped back to hunger.. And we thought of the good men who ' ■ labored to cure them of disease ■ and poverty .l -While paying tribute: to .'these people who 'minister to the sufferingj Steinbeck goes on to state a thought which re curs. several times in his writings: ' t • ' . And then we thought 'of what they are, and we, are— products of disease and sorrow and hunger and alcoholism. And suppose some all-powerful mind and will should cure • our species so th a t fo r a number of generations;, we would be healthy and - happy? We are the products of our di sease -and suffering„ These'are factors as powerful as • other genetic factors« To cure and. feed would be to -change the species, and the re s u lt would b e ' another ani- '■ ' mal e n tire ly . We wonder i f we would be able to to le ra te - • our own species without'a history of syphilis and tu~ b e rc u lo s is . We <2on! t know, . • ■•The new animal resulting from purification of the \ species might be one we wouldn't like' at all. For it is through struggle and sorrow that people are able to participate in one another—the- heartlessness of the healthy, • well-fed,, and uhsorrowful person has in it an / infinite smugness.2-'' - ' The follow ing quotation is from Samuel in.; East of Edens ' , . ■ ■ . : And. I guess humility must be a good 'thing, since it's a rare man who has riot a piece of it, but when you look at humbleness' i t ’s hard to see where its Value lies unless you grant.that it is a pleasurable pain and very precious. Suffering--! wonder has it been properly looked at. We have a right'toilife and death arid p a i n . 3 ^Sea of Cortez, p. 117» 2Ibid,' p. 117. ^East of Eden, p. 168. : ■. ' . . . : : 109 Lee ectoes him laters "Nobody has the right to re move any single experierice from another= Life and death are promlsed o j ¥s hnve a right to ...palne"3- . ’ - ' ; • Even though Steinbeck makes these statem ents eon= oerning .the iralue of suffering, he pictures his most admir able charaoters as those who try to lessen suffering9 misery*, and- poverty o - Steinbeck has.ohampioned the -underdog con stantly—= the poor such as Kino or the paisanos of 0 allforala/ the poor and dispossessed such,as the Joada and other fruit pickers*, the homeless, such as G-eorge and Lennie and other paneh-hands = Mistreatment of minority groups caused by racial prejudiGe is dealt' with In "The Vigilante/' -a- story in The Long V alley o and i t is an element in Of Mice and. Men0 : . . Mac says in In Dubious Battleo You see a guy hurt or somebody like Anderson smashed, or you see a cop ride down a Jew girl*, ' anr you' think what the h e l l 's the use of i t o v- i n ' . then you think of the millions starving, and it* s all right againo It' s worth ito"2 . -• Maxine Beach, editor of Current Biography, refers to The Grapes of Wrath as., a social novel with a, powerful theme-- ''' " ^East .of Eden, p., 593 ° " 2In Dubi ous B a ttle * p. 337° 1 nat a novel of propagandas but an inspired human traot'j,, : v ; :. angry at a great - injustice., /but full of the affirmation of ,/ . ' hurtian d l g n l t y ^ /// : ; /:v ■ : /: ,/; ' I'/ ■ I ; - - a ■;/; a : ' . / / '■ /■ / .In Twentl etb 0entury Authors ' the. editors note that ' - . T Ko Whlpple attributes to Steinbeck " a pre-occupation witti ’/ / ' phybloal suffering,, cruelty, and violence/' but says that he ■ f it ■ : r ' -has/ S' compassionate und erst and 1 ng of t be/ Inarticulate.- and e.eml*artlculate ^whlcb’ warme-all hi s books s' - / ./.:‘. : : , / / /-. . / '. : ' Burton HascOe 'Cominents on:Of Mice and Meng, , • / / •/ . / , . '/I /■ / /'/ Compassion for the misfits of life, for those - who •/ _ / •■'/.;/• are handicapped by the impond erabl es; of •' her edl ty ^ and. . ; ; • , : , V _ environment and for those who are warped physicaJly. and // / /; ;//emotlbnally s, / is' so deeply and so understandingly/ f elt • / // ■ „//;> ' ;/ ■ and - expressed, by Steinbeck : that b ef ore the curtain cornea' : - ■ ///:'/,: ' down on the first act, the light/ Superficially cynical i" - \ / /,, / mood of the. less sensi tive:members of the audience has ‘ -' / ■: . . / changed p and pi ty and wonder has taken possession of .-■-'•/■/ • /.\,r;/////. - them;. : I -'f I,..' a'/:/'',.:/-" "'/- : .// ^ f / I ' t / f / ;.;/■;■■ /.»:. .the re la tio n sh ip between George and Lennie i s ’ a."/ /"'- \ "//;r; . - - ./ / /" paradigm of all the nonphysicalnon sexual 3 »»..." spiritual" ' - : . s.emotions,.concerns:, and aspirations in the world.i //:;'//.."a-;' / -He praises Steinbeck' for/having/compassion without ' -.; / . . sentimentality. - '/. ,"./ / / . ¥e have already mentioned Steinbeck' s reverence for.:./ : . /: life and his belief that man has' much good in him /as well as . / \ ...: evil. Steinbeck issues his proclamation of faith in man in '•/’ ' v ;/-, 'liarr@ nt Bi ography . Maxine Beach, ed . , . ( Hew York: '- / / /:/ / .. : ': The / I . /¥> 'Wilson Go. / : 1940) ,:/p. /75ffy/.^ / . ' ' : //: ,,//. / %a/'/ /-; - ^Iwenti eth G entury ' Authors, :Stanley J . Kuni tz and ^/ - " Howard Haycraft, edsi,. /('lew York: The H. ¥. Wilson d o ../ 1942) , ; ■ /■ - . / . pp. 1338-39/:./ / " //://: /': i / / , '///:://,//. // '/ : / : ! / /''//."' ■ /'.■ - ../ -;//;' : ’ ■ .-;/ 311J ohn St el nb e.c k 9 " p . 60 „ - - / ' -/f , many of Ms books< Boo in-■In Dubious Battle gives Ms testi mony I don’t believe in, the cause's -but X believe in men ;X : just: believe th ey , m:.mensV and not animals =,»«I iiave ' . some skill in helping rnen 9 and. when I see some who need helps I jmst do it* X don’t think about it mueho. If a painter saw a piece of canvas, and he had colonss well, he’d want to paint on i t » He wouldn’t figure out why he, wanted to»l • - In Cannery Row another "Doc" declares,- "The sale of souls to gain the whole world is corapletely voluntary and . ■ almost unanimotis=-'buf not quiteo " 2 In The Pearl Kino announces, "X am a mano” To Juana this meant that he "was half insane and half god,"3 Steinbeck believes that people have succeeded in the face of great odds, not because they trusted G-od and let the smaller securities take care of themselves, but, as he ex presses itg . ' - ."X think that because they knew beyond doubt that . they were valuable and potential moral units-®beoaus© of this they could give G-pd their own courage and dignity and then receive it back<, Buch things have disappeared perhaps be- Cause-men do not trust themselves anymore»« “^Xn- Dubious B a ttle , p = 194 2oannery Row, p 0 151® 3The Pearl, pp <> 80=81, v ’ >' Gy E’Us T rask, te l l b Adam $, E.early all men are a fr a id , and they ■don't even know names or numbers, fear of a faceless death. But if . . you can bring yourself to face not shadows but real death, described and recognisable.,»othen you need never be afraid again, at least not in the same way you were Y ;,v f ; before/*1 ■ " ; ■ . V -■ ■' ; ' ' : .."'/■ '; Edwin Berry Burgumg in his "The Sensibility of John Steinbeck,” discusses the optimism of The G-rapes of Wrath *" '■ :"fhe enduring factor in the, hew optimism is that, under/Tom' s guidance,';fheyv begin, to trust themselves o"2 , , Woodburn 0 e Ross say s. of St einb eekg ■ ” H e i s «««brutal. and tender, rational and irrational, concrete and abstract„ His imagination provides for' huriahlty a home in the universe which; his senses do not' percelvef^ ./ ', We have discussed the religion of love under the 1 topic of transcendentailsm. It is also pertinent to think of it In terms of humanism<, When Jim 0asy is asked,. “Don't : you love / Jesus?” ; h is; reply i s i ” Ho $ ■ I don11 know nobody v. 1 named Jesus, 1 know a bunch of stories, but I only love p e o p l e . ; \ In referring to the need that people have for love, , Samuel, rebukes Adam who' has fai 1 ed to recognize the fact : • -^East of Eden.' p. 2 7 » 2Edwin Berry Burgum, "The S e n s ib ility of John Stein--' beck/' Steinbeck and His Oritios. pi 115° , . 3" John Steinb ecki Earth, and ■Stars,” . p, 173 , ' ' ■■ ^The Grapes of Wrath, p.. 32 , : ' ■'Y- ■ ;■ v j - ■ Y V ' Y Y'V-'Y' - v r Y 1 1 3 ' that til s : one-y ear old twins • are alive."He"'has not even given them nameso "And' y 0 # bave 1 eft them fatherless<» Can't you feel, the eold at ni ght' df' a 1 one child? What warm Is there, what bird song, what possible mbrnlng can be good? Don't you ■ remember, Adam, how if was, even a little?"” . . .. - ■ Referring once more to Bteinbeclc 8 s • optitni stic f a ith in the human race, let us notice two mpra passages.. Joseph ' ... ■Warren Beach lists the first one, ’ takeh from The Grapes of Wrath0 as an important clue to the author 6 s "hope and faith in humanity , 11 although he has mixed feelings toward it as literary arte ,2 ' ' . ■ For man, unlike. a,ny other thing organic or inorganic ' in the uniyerse, groifs beyond his. work,, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplish ments.'. .Having stepped forward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never the full step back. : This you . may say and know. 1 1 and know it»And this you can know-- ; .fear the time when Manself will'not suffer:and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself , and this bne quality' is man, distinctive, in, . : the universe »3 : '. . . — : ■ The other selection is found in the journal that Steinbeck kept while he was working on Fast of Eden. . ' The writers of today, even I, have a tendency to celebrate, the destruction of the spirit and God knows / ^Eastnf Bdena pi-259. . - - ^Joseph Warren Beach, "John Steinbeck? Art and Propagandas" Steinbeck and. His C ritics* p. 2 6 0 » : - ^The Grapes of Wrath, pp. 204-05. 114 it is destroyed! often enough» It is the duty of the writer to lift .up. 5, to extend,^ to eneourageo If the . written word has contributed anything at all to our developing' species and our half developed culture, it is this=--=-great writing has been a staff to lean ohg ■ a mother to consult, a wisdom to pick up stumbling folly, a strength in weakness' and a courage to support weak cowardice* And how any despairing or negative approach can pretend to he l i t erature I do not know * I t is - tr u e th a t we are weak and sick and ugly and ' quarrelsome "but if that is; all we ever were,, we would, milleniums ago have disappeared from the face of the earth and a few remnants of fossilized jaw hones, .a few teeth in a strata of limestone would he the only mark our species would have left on the earth l"jphn Stelnhecks A Literary B iographyp* 21. V . ; - ; v ' ■■ ' BXOQR&FHIdAL' DftIA : it is not my purpose to ' write an. extensive biography of .John Steinbeck,» I will merely -'present a .sketchy outline ■ ;o:f his; Ilf eg.- focusing, on a ' few ideas dr' incidents, that are, ' pertinent to.the main topic of this thesi s„ Peter Li sea is my main source for this sectlono' ■ ■ :;v: Btelhbeck Was; born op February 27» 1902 ^ inSalinas, Qalifornia>; to john .Ernst ■ Steiiibeck9: Sr » 9 who, was for years county treasurer 9 and to Olive Hami 1 1 oniSteinbeck, a- former schoolteacher. , Many, of Steinbeck 1 s. novels; ..are laid in the . fertile Oalif orni a valleys with which he is so. fam iliar» John. Steinbeck was one of f our children,' the only sont. Mary, One of his sisters,' longed to be a boy, and her •attempts to beeome a boy■ are humorously expressed in East ,, . \ • ' •:' - .. ; 1 d'U ; ' i • ■'..hi' Steinbeck attended Stanford Uhiversity. for several years| he did not work for a. degree, however. He has been married three times« fIn 193O :he married Garol Henning,; and he was divorced f rom, her 'in 1942, ; In 1943 he married G-wyn 0onger, who bore him two sons, Tom and John. He was divorced from her, and tie married • £1 alne Sao11. In .1950 SI no e . th at ;tlm e -hei has "been lli/l tig In'; New York 0 1 ty - ^ ' Heter LI so a , ' In 11J ohn St el nto eok s - A L iterary B1 og'raphy' says th a t St.elnb eck* s child hood* must have teen- oomparabl'e to' ■ that ; of the hoy Jody In Lhe,Red..L oot » 1 ; : y . • • : .'.floStelnheok was, a,. sensitive' boy » ; Heplylng 'to.^a-.pub-- 11 sherds request-for early ^b 1,ographical 1 nformatid#,' 1 -• V, ■ , Stelnbeck ;wrote back, th a t' t,he. most-Isportaiat ;th 1 tigs In ■ ' ;hi.s: chlldh;.0'od" would-be. pf no ■meaning to 'O th ers, i t ' the way the sparrows hopped about on the mud s tre e t early ■ In the morning , when I. was 11 ttle'. v.the .most tremendous , morning i n . the world. when my .pony had a d o lt ." IhlS' : sensitivity to the.experiences of childhood is also ■ . revealed in some ■■■remarks' S 1'eito.beok made .early in 1 9 3 6 $ when, he Was. thinking about The Red Pony; "I want to ; ; 're-create a child's world, not of fairies and giants' . : but of colors more clear than they are to adults,, of 1 ta s te s more sharp and Of queer heart breaking feelings ;■ . th a t overwhelm children in 0; moment. . .1 want to put ; down the "way after no on felt--and the feeling about, a • bird that sang in a tree in: the evening." .This acute .consciousness of the. way "afternoon felt"; remained in ;. . the man. who wrote The Red Pony .2 ' t - . During the periods when .Steinbeck was not in atten dance: at Stanford, he worked on ranches and on a road gang./ One wlriter Sfelnbeok -w-as caretaker of an estate in. th.e high Sierras, and later he worked at a nearby fish hatchery. In - referring to those years, Moore writes; "He ^Steinbeck^ has - ■ said that the solitude of those ,two mountain winters refined all of the malic e out.Of hi s system."3 ■■ ■ ^Twentieth 0 entury tut hors, First Supplement, p. 9 5 5 ." / 2"John Steinbeck; y.Literary Biography," : p. 4. - ■ ,.3‘The Novels of John Steinbeck, p. ; 7 9 . ; ■ 1 1 7 : ■ In. the early 1 9 3 0 1 s Steinb eok b'eoame a c q u a in te d a s :-w.ehsty-e noted .prior to this, with Ed, Rloketts' In lac if ie Q-ro-ve =,■ ■ 'Ricltetts. ran a sm all'oommeroial laboratory, special- izing in marine Invertebrates. This .man. was an important in<- flu eno e up on 51 elnb eo k 1 a philosophy$ and he represents many of .the doctor characters .in Steinbeck, s workso-- . ■ . ' : : ' ‘Peter Li sea 11 ath several bpoks and 'suthors that : ;v ^ ■ 'Steinbeck has . admired ,1 Among the contemporary group' of '•■writer's;, .are Df Hi- Lawrence, .fi 11 a 0 a th e r$' Sherwood Anderson, and Ernest Hemingway „ Lisca says, th at • of t h is . gr oup, H eml ng-: way has .had ' th.e.'.greabest influence upon Steinbeck 1 s prose. ' Y He gobs on to ' say,' "But Steinbeck i s ■ not an av 1 d readierbbf ' fiction, ■ and his most steady, interest has been in the- Great Books s ■ the Bible and Apocrypha, the literatures of ancient . Indi a, Goethe, Dante/ the church f athers, and ; the Greeks-- ; especially; the' histori'ans-Herodotus,; Xenephon, and' Thucy- - dides / . ■. ■ C -' . . Steinbeck is of German and Irish descent. After he wrote The Q-rapes of .Wrath,: he was accused; of b el rig .Jewish . He answered, the charge ..by saying, litrp sorry f dr a time; when one must know a man .s race before his work can be approved or - disapproved.' I cannot see how The Grapes of Wrath can be / . "r~^TrJohn Steinbecks 4 Literary Biographya '1 p= 5»; • ,;' ; - -p ., .5 . :.; • : : .-Y: . V I t ■ y ' • 113 Jewish propanda, hut then I have heard 1t :called lommuniet propaganda, alsp0,‘1 ': ; . ; ■. ' Steinbeck traveled wlth.some\"Okles" to California 9,hd worked with them. After The 0-rapes of ./rath was pub lished, a’ proup' of "bheai sent him a patchwork dog sewn from pi eoes o% their shirt-tails'and dresses wi th a- tag around Its:- ;neclt IfisoTihed 11 til grant 'John ,11? ' a ' ■ ' ' .. . Stein'fceok1 s ethl.os and his" artletie high standards are revealed In this' excerpt of a letter to hi-s agent and ■■■: pub'll sher ' In which he . tells- them not, to;print f re Lettuceburp, 'the fore-runner of the drapes of «.rath? ' ; - . - ». =f hit is going to beta hard letter to wri te <, I ■■. feel-badly about t.t> You see th is book is "f.iDished' and ' .. it - ie,' a bad book and I must get rid of it. It can't be ." printed o- It lo b?.d because,l t isri1 t honest» Oht the- . v - 'jlno'ldbiius a ll hapc eneti bub--l ! m ■ not, te llin g as much of the truth about them, as J kn'ow^e »1! ve;.written' three books 'now' that w.ere dishonest- beeauee tbef: were' less • than the best I could do. One .you never saw because I : burned i t the day 1 finished i t . The second was the murder, novel, a n d 'th is i.e. the,-third. .The f i r s t two were -./wri if = -i under'rather. frantlt;;Vflhanc 1 al' pressure, , and . tui 1n s t one 'f r o m an ob 11 gat $ on p r e s su r e I - f e It.:. = ' - . ' . lot o 13c in t-he;-'writing of it have I felt the-, curious ■ . war,” pi .asur-e -t-hataoomes; when" work i s going wellKy i ' whole rk drive, has been aimed a t making people- under- ; stoA'd rnjB.' other and then 1 'd elib erately wrl us th is . - : book, the a,lm of whic,h is to-cause hatred through par-, tl-ali.underetandingy @y father would h-avs called. It a sm art-aleck b.ookoft 1. • 1 ■ '■ . , . ■ p-^JotaiTstsinb^ck: k Literary-Bicgraphy;,'1 p. 13. - ; ’ -ibiK: p: 1 3 . . - , ; :i'i ; 119 »o vl- hope youg • Pat? won't think I've; doutlercrossed you, • In the. long run to let .'this book out. would he to \ , . douMe-’Ordse, you, ' Sut to let the bars dovm. Is like a . . first theft, Its 8 hard to do, but .the second, time- it .. i s n 't so hard, and p retty soon i t is easy , , ,l£iae was a ■ - thin, brittle book, and a,n experiment hut at least it was 'an honest experiment, , , f : / ' . . ■_ I think, this' book will be a. good lesson for me. ..I think I got to b el I'evlng . o rltl c s—th bush-t I oould write easily and-that anything 1 touched would be good simply beoause I did It, fell, any .suib Idea" oonsoious or un- oonsolou3 1 s esploded for some tlm.e to oome, I'm. in . ■ little danger now of believing my own: pufcllolty,,. . . . Again I'm sorry« But I'm not ready to be,|» haok yet,- John c4- . '918 real o ono ern_ f or - th e dreadful plight of the mi - grant workers is also revealed in a letter .to Elisabeth Ofcla, h is agent, ' ' ' , . 1" ' . . , • , ' . I must go . over into the interior v.all-eys,n frhere are five thousand', faitiilies starving to 'death over there, not just hungry but actually starving. The government is trying to feed them and get medical attention to then, . ■ with the 'Fascist group of utilities and hanks and huge growers sabotaging the thing, all along the line, and yelling for a 'balanced'budget,., .1 must get .down there ■ 1 and see it and see if I can do something to knock these murderers on the heads, / " '. '.. Do you know what they're .afraid oil- They think that if - these people -ire allowed to live in camps with pro- ■ per'.sartl tary. facilities they will organise, and - that Is' the bugbear of the large landowner and the corporation r v farmer. The states and counties will give them 'nothing ■ . fc ecauce they arc outsiders ,. v But the crops' of any part of t,h 1 s e t.atb 3ould ."not be . harvested with. out them,.., ihe- , leath of nhlldrepi!by. starvatlori in our valleys is simply ;. ■ stsggeringk .k l' li. do what 1. o.an». ,Futiny how. mean and how / l i t t l e booke become in the face of such tragedies,^ " ‘" " " p - V e w is 9.anhett,/':OJ0h-c':'3t*inbeck* s . lay of iritlu g ," Stel'ubock /'and Hi s 1 rltio s k 'v pp.- ' : . ; i k; '.' - ^Ibid, p. 32. .’ , ' . ' ’ ' • ' One of-tHe things he did was to write The Grapes of Wratho Anotiaer of h is plans was to work on Of Mioe and Men for Hollywood for sik weeks for six thousand dollars9 in order to give th ree thousand migrant workers two d o lla rs each* His '■publisher, ..Pat Oovioi, flew to California to try to talk him out of it, Liaea reports 6 •• In 1936 Bteiribeek had, written a series of articles on the migrant worker, called fhelr Blood Is Strom » fhe San Franolsco Hews published: • this seri es in October, 1936 » In Duhlous Battle gave a sympathetic treatment to the migrant workers, and i t also appeared In 1936 = For th is book Stein beck received the Oaliforhla Oommdnwealth Club’ s gold medal» Li sea says of thi s hovel,' “It remains today the finest strike novel written in Americao'1! When Life magazine offered to send Steinbeck into the field with a photographer to write about the migrants, he said that he would accept no money other than expensess "I'm. sorry but 1 simply can’t make money on these people» The suff ering i s too great fo r me to cash in on i t I '2 Steinbeck has won several awards for his works. Tor t i l l a F la t was his f i r s t book to make money. I t appeared on ' • ■' I"John Steinbeckg £ Literary Biography," p. 10. , ■ 2ibid. p. 1 3 = . . : fc est- e el 1 er ;11 :b t s f'or .; ;e ev eral month s =„ reo elve'd tb :e; . 0. stl 1 ■£ ^-3:'6mmonw.eal^ ' £, smaual gold ,medal %f pr 'the .b ast novel - by . ■ 3:a,llfonfi was: p'rodyo ed as a-'£%ge- ^ and was made Into .a mdti'on plo tune-, : ‘/' v - ' ; \ - - . 1 ', - ' ’' . Of Ml3 e and Men was put 11 shed In 2 3 3 1 and was an lm~- - 'mediate beat”seller'^/. 1 was also a Book-of-the-Month seled-. tion, and it was sold to Hollywood = Later it was prodused on Broadway andwbrpugbf Steinhegk. the Drataa":Btl 1 1 os ■ 01 role: imwa.rd «' : (Steinbeo'k i s a mod est man s ' he -did not Stay , f dr - the : : laurels.. After he had completed/the stage version, he did . "not ev-en w,ai t for the play to be prbduced.; '"b,: ■'■,:/ ■ / • ; mTh.e 1 rapes of-brath of 19o9 brought 'Stelnbedlc. the Pulitser .Prize and got him elected to the National Institute f Of. 'lrt£-: and / Letters.,- i-It was a, b e.st- s b lle f g and I t was - .also made into a motion- pio/ture. .In 19^2 :-Stelnb eok'-s contribution, to the/war effort of the a llie d forces, The Moon -Is l Dowh, - brought, him. d.eCora- f tiongby th.e' king: of Horway-.;/; - .'a:'-; /-.- .1 •;/' -' / ;b-' ' Inbther example of :St.elnb;edkl‘ s integrity Is illua-: brated by an ep 1;sode■:-c o n n e b t -;w-ith his book, Bombs;'Away, f - / lie warn asked"-to- w rite/a 'final"•chapter giving an acc'otint' Of' an actual/bombink run» / He' befused . to write- this because he .- • had never been; on. ;a bombing run, and he f ear ed . t h at hi, s/de- - script ion might be false. - . - l a s ': 5oiflb-s ^vfay had a wide sa le and was fc'oughl tey H o llj- V ' wood; l o r .|25G.:4,OOd.9 hh.t 3 1 einBe 0 .kwi th hi s typic a l . generosi ty ^ turned over all royalties to the 11 r Forees lid Society Trust, Fund. -• ' ' ; ; , ■ ;1 . The ;ljed -Idny . and l/iv a Zapata ’were' made in th motion v ■ • pictures',' and most'authorities: considered them excellent; ' The F o rg o tten . V illa g e , and The P e a rl were also filmed.:.:;' Xw. - •.East of Ed eh, published in 1952 $ also made the best- ' • seller. 11 slsi '.although there ' Was' 11 ttle agreement -.among the.:"1:. - brltlcS'.'as ' to. its worth 1.: Some-';hailed ; i t :onthuslastically - . , ’ as -Steinbeck8 s ■greatest;.worki: others denounced i t as, fu ll of ; ;: vlol.ence and b estiality . East’of Eden-was made into a moving ' .picture, too,- - ' ' 1 Xr'iv' ' v ,...... Steinbeck made- explicit his .moral position and his faith in man in East of • Eden, y.—i d fy ' - ' . ' : - - ; ; - In an article, that Steinbeck wrote for the Saturday. -. . . 2ey_i@ws he explains .the-.popularity of Joan of -Arc s; story, at- : tributing th at popul ar-i ty' to i ts Universali ty and t o the; mi i 5-;. aculous realisation of :Joan* .a dream .v ■ Bedause ttiis -mlraole. 1 s'- • so well-documented, Steinbeck says th e r e -is ftp:w in. our.■mihds the conviction that-if it.happened' then, it'could happen again;. He coneludesi ;' :Mfh ls: ■ 1 s .Perhaps thd..greatest' miracle, of; al 1-- the: little b it of Joan liv irg in all-: of - us i 11Joh n'~Bt ei nb eck, '-f'The: Jo an'.in-' lllc;o.f Saturday ;; Review, January" 14,- 1956., p. 126, ^ 12,3 ■;: \ :-lti his- 11 Rati onale'1" elnfceck' etatess • , ' •" ' ^;lv':--^Ls;;f:or my 11 reasbnefl-.expoBf tiion of p rln o ip lee," I ' , . . : y;sffspeo;t ''%bat they afe/iio b if f erent frbm tbbse: of -any l.^S L n:-llvihs; out/:h.iS:/llf-p.""'-;Iil,k-e/::ev.eryq'ne>.\r;,S!ir-atit'.;;tp b e :'; ' ■ - :good/,ahcl : gtpopg and vi rtuous:' and: wi se and''loy'ed., I l . ; < : think ^that wrl;t 1 ng may: be simply a ffiethoa dr technique ' ' ■■ fo r o ommunl c ati-on with other- Indi vldqaXsj yand i t s ■: v, V ' stimulus, the loneliness we are born to> in.writihS:,, :,:v > : ' ■ perhaps we hope to achieve companionship, fhat some -i':- 1 'people fihd- ''in.^ rellgion:s:.; a w riter may find -dn his craft' ' .•, or whatever-:i:11iabphrp11 on ■ of the: small- and frightened and-; lonely' 1 nto the wholetmd, complete$ . a kind of break- ■ ; - ■ . ing 'through to glory ^1 , - ■ : - •" n : ■ : ' . Ijohn Steinbeck9 "R ationale," Stei nbeok .and His Critics, p.-309. '• ; ■ ' CHAPTER VI' ' , i " ■ We ha.ve searched for religious elements in the . works of-' John Stelnbeok, and we have •been abundantly . v , : warded» Religious' all'usi ons and id eas are profuse „ : ' • ' Had of. Hameis ' : . ; : ' ; r; ' - (1) Many of Steinbeck's characters are named after ' ; Biblical characters. Names that..are used are JohnTom, Mary (or'a defl.v#ive), .Joseph or Joe, Samuel,, Elizabeth, James or Jim, Noah,, Ruth, 'B.et.er, Rose .of. Sharon, and Jesus " .('Maria Corcoran) =■' At times -these- ch aracters show a marked :ii^vdih^ r • Bltill-o:aii 1 pf edep-easbrs§ at other times T .■ t;' .; . no relationship-; is apparent = ' : • , , . . • p j ,. ' • (2) St einbeck • sometimes uses names; which are; non- - Biblical, but -which have the same initials as certain Bib- lic a l c h a ra c te rs« Jim Casy and Juan .Chicoy bear the same' ; ihi11 ald 'as- thds'e; of 'Jesus Christ, . and; they serve as Christ i p ' figuresop Caleb, .Cathy, 'and 'Charles bear, the in itials of Cain and"represent him, Adam and Aron"haveVthevlhltiar of ,' ■ . and they re-enact,, in'-a sense, the. role' of • Adampalso. has the name; and role of Adam, as' father of 'thq boys, . and.p the role of Cod, also, as the rej ector of the gift, . . : '^ 124 " , Gal and Aron not only represent Gain anQ. Abels but .they ::aJ.so represent, the Old- Testament Oateb and Aaronj, who ; • hoped: to reaoh t&e-,3romiaed- band . ■ Galeb arrlyeS, . but Aaron does rioty the implication is that this is also true of the twins who bear their names. '• h (3 ) Bon-Biblioal names with,rel 1gious slgnifioanoe , are"hsedby Steinbeck„ Rama 9 a name from Vedic. lite ra tu re , means woman, and Juana also means wtiman>. Kino Is named for '■ : thn missionary explorer of the Southwest« The Red Saint of vdPanama:' i.s the/voluptuous Catholic matron over whom men are-, willing to ■kill: each other. . . ■ ■../.h; - (4) Animals are sometimes endowed with names with . religious significance; A dog in In Dubious Battle is named' Mary; two broken-down old horses are named Doxolpgy (in East of " Eden) and . Easter (In The Red Pony) *, These glorious names are given to the horses to compensate for their ugliness and p o v e rty r i- ::. 0,). 1 ;i , ; ;; ;5 ' : '. y ■' ' ;• ‘ ■'t'' . . '." ;;:A '(5) Titles that suggest aspects of religion are, on occasion, used ^by :: St einbeck o - These are Gup of Gold / The Past- ■ures of Heaveh, To A God Unknown, "St, Katy the.VIrgin," The ■. Grapes of Wrath/ East- of Ed en,. The Pearl „ The Wayward Bus , and •:Burning Bright ,' (The evil'' of pride is "burning bright . Steinbeck borrows quotations of " a .'religious : • 'nature to introduce several of hi s. books» These quotations . a r e from Ml 11 on * a . Par ad is e Lbst (ih In Dubious B a ttle ) , a V edio- :, hyom (la: To A'Cxpd Uakno*a) Sv egyman ( In The Wayward- ' : -,; Bus) , and Blaise' s " ih e ■ Tiger” '(In Burning B right) . ■ - del 1 gl oms ’' 0harac tens ' : ,, . •; T ; v ■ ,■. ) (l}kDiffer|nt Types-of lathollos'are portrayed/ Some ' --are simple,' bell evln0 in : magic formulae (the pal sanos-an Tor- ti'lla Flat, and Juan, who Is somewhat. more - sdphl s tic at ed,. dn The .Wayward Bus) 1': . Some are;mof;p 'm.a:t-ur-b and hay;e breadth of und ers t and lug ■ (F ath er mg el o in To. .1 'Sod. TJnknown, Fat her' Sam on • of To r t i l l a F la tth e prl est who conducted the 3-ood .Frid.ay . . sert:ic'e descrlbed in Sea'iof: ..To rt'ez• and. the nun portrayed, in - :; The Short Rel gn - of'''-Flppln;;JVj ,,.;y;-;'@thW's 'carT shown Who arp 3 acho lic in namf ?r. but .they have.::missed< the' - sp ir it of .thei r T eligi on-) though f olio wing the . rl Tual (Th e Bed - -Saint 1 n 3 up of Gold ' and :- the p ,riesf and...the doctor in The Tearl ) . - ,. t'f, / v':'f - T:3)::'Zro'te;htaritsna,re;' often':flitured- '"as 'crudely; eyan--. -v- gelistiS'; and narrow-minded (.5uftoft ’ 1 n To'; 1'‘ 1 oT■ .Unknown and . the .Jehoyl tes i n 'TheiGrapes of .-'Wrath) 1. --IraPma :ln The ■ Grapes'- - - of irath l.S,-profane, tut ;sh-s .possessbS/; a, ".shrill, f erocious '' re lig i o sity " -' although i t seems to. .be - th'e .rhythm .of chanting . andTamon-.1 tig"- -that fascinates her, rath-er; than, religious principles - or';ideas, -Lisa, a Presbyterian;, is depicted us. •; ''stern, righteous', and narrow™minded, •tut not -as .orud-e"'(in. iEas.t'df ,£den) iron and the Episcopal minister (In' last' of. Ldeh) are shown to t c .rather naive and Ineuperienced, and i ' ; al^ g i^ r a p e s v of Tlratfe, ,p» 105i .' '-.ff'T;; ...ni v'-.-'- . 1: ; 1 2 7 'they are self-righteous, but they possess some v irtu e s. Jim Oasy did belong to the 'school of crude, evangelical Protes- t ant ism, : but. tie: has renounced i t and turned to a more human-, i s t ic type: of ;r e lig io n 0 . ■ . ■ % / ; ^ . .. (3) The-mentally disturbed whose neuroses or psycho ses 'have taken a religious turn are depicted hy Bteinbedk-.. ; : Uncle John is plagued, by abnormal guilt feelings (In The Grapes of Wrath)>- Adam; frask 1 s mother'commits -suicide as .:: ; . payment for her sins (mostly imaginary) to her god of ven=. geance (in East of. Eden),, John Battle tries to drive a devil out of a snake, and the: snake strikes' and kills him. John s . mother spends her last years in a mental institution em- • broid.ering religious patterns .(in The Pastures of Heaven) . v . (4) Unconventionally religious characters are treated most, sympathetically by Steinbeck. Joseph is a fertility priest (lh-To A God Unknown) . Oasy seems to be, a ;transcen-. d e n ta lis t -preaching love for humanity, (in The. Grapes of Wrath) .'Jim and Mac do not consider themselves religious, but their dedicati on to their' cause assumes, a religious f ervor (in In . - " Dubious B a ttle )-, and Juan Ohlcoy (of The -Wayward BUs)..o. Samuel ■and Lee (of East of Eden)., and Pippin (of The Short Reign - of Pippin IV) seem to have religious natures which are primarily humanistic» All of these characters are dedicated to the im provement of the welfare of human beings or the land, as in the case of Joseph. , , v .:; - , ■ ' , 128 ■ ■ • Religious Ideas In the Themes (1) Steinbeck rejects the conventional morality of the middle class, its Puritanism 9 hypocrisy 9 excessive con form ity 9 lack of originality 9 s t e r i l i t y , and a r t i f i c i a l i t y => He bates smugness, s elf ^righteousness, and the exclusiveness of religious sects, and he often attacks these things by his use of sexo An example of this is his comparison of the church with the whorehouse in East of Ederu Books written "by Bt einb eek that attack ace epted middle=-class values are Tor- ti 11 a' FI at „ Q annery RowSweet Thursday, The Grapes of Wrath „ In Dubious B attle. The Pearl« The Wayward Bus„ and, The Short Reign of Pippin IVn a satire on the governments of man« Steinbeck feels that the middle-class man has be come s o f t , lazy, and inept in h is comfort, and th a t he has lost his compassion for his fellowman. This, to Steinbeck, i s a great wrongo . (2 ) People need to help each other. This novelist finds generosity and compassion abounding much more among the poor than among the ones who can afford to help. This idea is particularly expressed in The Grapes of Wrath.'. '(3)' Sympathy for the dispossessed is commonly re vealed. This group includes the migrant workers in In Dubious , Battle and The G-rapes of Wrath ' and the homeless ranch-hands ' in,,Of Mice and Sen. (41 Love .of the land ' and Identification, with it are common themes = Joseph (in To A SodCUhfenown)^■ Jrampa, Oran- ma, Mul ey gt 'ahd. ^ ■ f arm;®r■: ( i n '.d'he'Srapes ; oT' Wrath) ,:: Seorge and; Lenhi.e,\( 1m Qf; Mice 'and Men):-, Joe Saul ;;(in the. farm section of Burning Bright) Old Si tan 6 (in The Red Pony) and Steinbeck himself ( in Sea _of Cortez} seem to experi ence this ’emotiono : . . ' - '■ (5)- Matter Is invested, with'Bpirito This ■idea is primarily- expressed in To A Sod. Unknown, tout it ; can also be found in The Pearl■and In Sea of Cortez, . (6) Reverence for .lif e .i.s an 'integral; part of Stein- -beck8 s ’ philosophy and' Is .a running thread throughout- his works, . Affirination is. made 'that; life is unif 1 edj,- holy 9 and worth liv in g » The doctor is ' elevated in many of Steinbeck's :toooks to:ecausd he is working to sustain life; he has aligned himself, with 'positive lite-perpetuating forees., ' ■ ; -(7)fBellgious sacrifices, valid and invalid, are. . portrayed o:';: Despite St einto.eck ’s love for Ilf eg he feels that there are id eals and values th at are more important than one own- I l f e; o r . personal W elfare» H e. fe e ls that; 1 to ;■ will to;e; a ’ f ). terrible day when man is no .longerwilling to di-e.' for an - : '' ■' He; delineates-'sacrifice as. valid) when there is an ob . )eotive need for it and when the'sacrifice produces the.de sired result v Sacrifice is. invalid when it- is committed • merely for an emp11onal, subjeotlve effect within the indivi dual. : ; I'V ; : : . ' 7 : \ ^ ' •; ■ ■ ; Examples of valid saerificlal characters are Joseph .(In To A G-od Unknown) s Joy and Jim ( in in Dob ions B a ttl e) ^ Uasy and'Tom (in The Grapes of W rath)$ Juan (in The Wayward Bms)v George ( in Of Mich and Men)a n d Mayor Orden and Dr. W inters (in The Moon Is Down) » In The Red Pony the mare i s sacrificed in order that ■tha colt .might. live p . ■ . Examples of invalid sacrifice are the animals that the little man hy the sea; sacrifices (in To A God Unknown) * the rat that is sacrificed to satisfy the girl8 a sadism (in "The Snake" in The 1 onK-.7a!le y )i 1 and;Mrs-<»' Trask0 s s a c rific e ■ of her own lif e (in East of Eden) <> (8) Good and evil, are considered as n a tu ra l phenomena in life, with the murder trait in man appearing as regularly as his sexual .hahitSo . On the whole, however, Steinbeck is optimistic o He feels that the sale of souls to gain the world i s still ah stained from by a few people» People yet exist who have int egrity ,. compassl on, generosity, and high id sals»:: ’ Steinbeek finds good as eternal, but - evil as constantly re- spawning <, People with much evil in: them also have some good ness and beauty within them, Steinbeek feels» He finds a regular pattern - in human "sinful" be- havior—first love, then feelings of rejection, then the crime of revenge for the ■.rejection, followed by feelings of guilt ■ and remorseo. ■ ■ ■ . v ;.■- ; -'Steltibecjfcf a non-teleologioal thinking makes i t hard for him to assign-blame* ' He finds redeeming traits in very degraded people« .• ' ; ., ' He deals with psychopathic" personality in' East of Eden and'd1sousses the ^possibi1ity that a twisted gene can "cause a'malformed soul' or mind„ . • . 't'--' ' ' Steinbeck affirms in East bf Eden that man has free will to make moral choices „ "limshel11: ( thou mayest) is. the * crux of the book„ ' : f . , (9) Death and immortality are discussed in some of Steinbeck* s writings, with indications that he' considers a ': future life entirely possible." He feels, however, that it ■is. ; wrong td. place' emphasis upon heaven or the after-life when due regard'should be given to living Ilfeto the f u lle s t on the human, earthly level. If there'is life after death, it will take care .of' itself j . the - decisions;there will-be made for us, he sayst/ Here 'we have decisions that we must make for ourselves; 'we-: need to concentrate upon doing our best ' upon earth. ■- . . ' • Correspondence with. Philosophical Systems.- (I) Elements of transcend entailsm are found in : ; Steinbeck's works. These include belief in the unity arid holiness of nature and belief in the over soul, the idea that' each man is only a piece of a large soul--human!ty. Love for iaxtoianfty is necessary; one -person can destroy the ;h.oli- ness.and break the unity by selfish, possessive egoism, ; , 'Steinbeck', say a s, how ever .9 that even though on© should i&entify one's : self, wi th the group and - work 0 0 operatively ■ with i tth e r e is still a -place remaining f or separateness, :. It ;is the Individual apart from, the group who orea,tes| the , group creates nothing?' but it uses what Individuals create = • : : v ' : (2)' Steinbeck is a naturalist In that he accepts .the : .sclentiat's. representation of life. His interest in non- ■ teleologleal thinking stems from hi s biological ' view; of ' lif e : Despi t e hi s 0 la i m t o 'non - 1 el eologic al th i nki ngs howev er i he • is- interested In: organisation. He ,considers groups ;as ■ s'epa- " ra te e n t l t l e s , This idea i s based.' p a rtly upon o bservations , , that he,made bn his expedition In the Oulf of California with , : Dr..,, Ed. Ricketts■ '' -f' ,' ' - V . f y , ' . . f - . ''' ■. ; He departs from his naturalismin his attitude toward ' life and naturbj however o' He'feels, intuitively the unity and mystery 'of nature . and’ is revereht before i t . 'Hi s , al truism i s something', apart f rom his ratiohal explanation of the world, It is profoundly important lo Steinbeck to love life and man kind 6. ' Steinbeck has been bo th prai sed and censured by : 0 ri tic s ' for his combihatlon of .hatxirslism add mysticism, , , . . • Steinbeck, feels that the rational mind exerts li'ttie -, /. control over human 'conduct9 that human beings are activated by irrational forces, 1 , f ' / y. (3) Steinbeak-. may .cert ainly be considered a humanist in that his main concerns center around human interests and id e a ls ..P e r h a p s th at is- well illu s tr a te d by the name th at he gave to The Gorral of -Earth—The Pastures of Heaven. This again shows his .focus upon life , on the human le v e l| i t seems to be. heaven enough, for Steinbeck. - ■.* / .f v-'- • . ' His interest, altruism, and sympathy with the poor and unfortunate have caused people to look upon, him as a re former . He .d'Smons trat es th es e qualities in'his writings, and he constantly adyocatws:/fair: treatment and necessary reforms. Most of his books' do th is to some' ex te n t. but In. Dubious Battle, The 'Grapes’, of Wrath; The Forgotten V illage, and The • Short Reign of Pippin IV particularly, do. ■ ' . . ■ -. Despite .his advocating, fair treatment and reforms, he finds suffering important in mold!ng .peopleiapd in,'helping them to participate in one another. ''v..: , ' Steinbeck believes in the; dignity- of humantbeingSp ■ and he asserts his faith in man. Man must - trust hlmself if he is to be effective, Steinbeck says. ■ (4) He feels that it is the duty of the writer to lift up the - human spirit p that, there is no place for pessi mistic and futilitarian writing that celebrates the destruc tion of the human spirit. • Steinbeck, as. a man is a human! tarian9 a sensitive writer, and one with high standards of integrity., honesty, ■ ‘ : 'He has trled to alleviate suffering and to Improve ttie lot of migrant workera.ln Oalifornla.o He fcias- written - to help create tolerance and understanding. He' has no real ■ malice t o ward any on e £,. and he say h th a t he would hate fo r . anyone to .'hate him' too mnch. / •’ . : - : ■ /' ■ : . Stelnheok' writes'..from the joy' or "glory" of creat ing . He, thinks: that; perhaps he fihds in ; wri ting .'what ■ some find, in religion--an absorption into: the whole and complete. The val i dlty, of r ell glen for St el lib eck seems to b e- d et ermined by Its- effect upon: the individual' s 'life,;1 If it broadens' his • sympathiesj,. compassion,, and understandings, helps him to love men and aid them .in meeting their needsand causes .him to mefge his .being Into: som et hi ng greater than, himself., then it : is falido ' Although Steinbeck does not seem to be convenflon- ally religious, judging.from his writings, I feel' that we v must Say of hi m , as Sal ry S i Ison said ; to :0asy, /'You got a . ..." dod, Don't make no difference if you don" know what he looks ilk a."!; , ' : 'f f .;-: - ^The~~g-rapes of S.rath'a p, 2 9 8 *>, ;' f - . . . . .BIBLIOGRAPHY . ' - ; " ■ .. ; Bennettg. Robert» The. Wrath of John Stelnbeck or B t« John Goes to .Churcho (Los Angeless The A lbertson Press . in association with ' Bunster Creely s 1939) ° Beaohj,: Joseph Warren. American Fiction 1920- 1940 . (New Yorks'. : The (MacMillan Co, ,1 9 4 1 ) . v . : Blacks, Maxine ( ed t} 1 Our rent Biography. (New Yorks The H. V,, ;. Wilson. OoI940TI PP» :Y56-58 e I . ' ^ A '-l B lair/ Walter, Theodore Hornberger, and Randall Stewart '(eds»};. The Literature of the United States. Vol. I . (New' : . , Yorks S cott, Foresman, and O.o4s,- 1946) 3 pp. 871-937. Nalbg' Bernard. : "Trade Winds-s 11 Saturday .Review„ Feb . 27 A 1 9 5 4 v : p : 8”v ^ ; 4 /: ' 1: ' v ; : i; ' EUnitZp Stanley J . 9 and Howard Hay cr a f t ( ed s.)« Twentieth 4 - 44 . 4: C entury Authors. (New Yorks The H. : N ilson Go., - - - ,lF §17 ^p p o 11338^-39 »i ' . :, ;: : Kunl t z , ' Stanl ey J „ > and Vi net a G olby ( eds.) . • Twentieth Gen- \ , / tury Authors. First Supplement. (New York: The H. :' .4 4 • • Wo SIT son 0 ov r ' 1955)«, ; pp v 954-55 4 ■ V 4:4. Li scas - •Pet er . The Wide. World of J ohn St elnb eck . (New Brunswick / .New Verseyg Rutgers Uniy ers ity P re ss, 1958):. . ' Moor©/ Harry. T o The Novels of John Steinbeck,. ■ (Ohlcagoi; Nor-, ■ 4 •. ' 4 ' mandie Hous,e9 :1959iA .'. : '.. 4 ■: . iy.t "4 ;V;. Page,: Ourtls Hidden .(ed:o) The Chi ef Am a rl oan Poets. .(Cam-. ; ^.^brldg.ef The R iverside-Press j 1933T s.' p:. \4P2. i -'I ■ v; 'Steinbeck:.■ John. Bombsi Away« (New: Yorkg The Viking P re ss 94 1942:) :» Burning,: Bright o... (New Yorkg' The Viking P re ss 5, _> Cannery Row_= (New: Yorkg The Viking Press. 1945) Cup of G old.• (New Yorks G ovici-F ried©$, 1929) ., o -'Fas't' of Ed e n ; (New York g The Viking Press, i ' io" Forgotten V illage.- The* (New Yorkg The Viking Press a; 1941 Grapes of Wraths, Theo- (New Yorks Random - House4 19391 In-Dubious 'Battle*; (Hew 'York 8 C ovici>Frl ede. * "The Jpari'In' i.2.1 !o£ Us,";' Saturday Revl ew« , J an * 14 g ; 1956 , p ;,. 126 * " - - .0 Log From Sea of C o rtez$, The» (New Yorks The Viking Press 9 19507o Valleyc, The« (Hew York: The Viking Press ,1938)" ■ , . 0 Moon I s Down, The * ( Hew Yorks The Viking ■Press P ^ ^ V 0 Of Mice-and Men* (Hew Yorks 0 ovlol*=Frl ed©, 19377. o Pastures of Heaven^ Theo (New York# er, Warren, and.Putnam, 1932J7 ;» .PearlV The® (Hew Yorkg The Viking P re ss„ l W I o . ~ “ ; , Port able Steinbeok« (Hew. Yorks The Viking 1 9 4 6 ) o - . •; ...... Red Pony, The* (New Yorks.Bantan Books, .® Russian Journal * I,*' (Hew Yorks The Viking Pressj Sea of C o rtez„ (New Yorks The Viking P re ss 5 1941)1 .0 Short Reign of Pippin IV, The» (New Yorkg The Viking. Press, Inc *"”195717 '* Sweet Thursday * (New Yorkr The Viking Pressi 1954)O * To i. G-od Unknowno (Clevelands The World Publishing Go*, 19337 * T o r tilla F la t = (New Yorks Gossett and Dun= lap, 1935)7, '' ^ ■: ( v • . Wayward, Bus* - The. : (Hew York;? The; Ylklng. ;• : ; ' Preesg yl947# 6 : - - ' V- ' ^ ' T edlodkFW «^J r V9 and 0 » V-,. Wieker ( eda») 0 Steinbeck and . E is G r ltic s * (Albuquerque? . U niversity of New Mexico Presss 1957) » ; . ' 'v ' \ ■ l Wilson,'- Edmund» '‘The Boys in, theiBaek Room'on C lassics and. ' -goxnmerc 1 als A (New Yorkg F arrar, ' Straus and Com- : ■ pany, 1950)\ pp. 19-56. AA "