Skill and Craftsmanship in the Works of Steinbeck Essay -- Biography B

Skill and Craftsmanship in the works of Steinbeck Throughout Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony and The Grapes of Wrath, rear end Steinbeck professes his admiration for the man who displays skill and craftsmanship in his work. A man who does his job exceedingly well is, by extension in Steinbecks works, a poor boy who is satisfied in doing his best in affection for his craft - a direct contrast to the multitude of humans who are merely unsuccessful and dejected dreamers. The emphasis of skill and craftsmanship is particularly evident in a description of polished in Of Mice and Men He moved with a loftiness only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen. He was a jerkline skinner, opened of driving ten, sixteen, even twenty mules with a single line to the leaders. He was capable of killing a fly on a wheelers butt with a whip without touching the mule. (97) Steinbeck makes it clear that the professional prowess of this man is to be equated with his authority, under standing, and compassion. Slim is, for example, the only man who tries to comfort George at the end of the novel when his companion, Lennie dies. When Steinbeck describes Slim as a person whose authority was so great that his word was interpreted on any subject, be it politics or love (98), Warren French notes that Steinbeck breaks his editorial silence...to make it absolutely clear how Slim is to be regarded (78). Clearly, Steinbeck regards Slims virtuously upstanding character highly enough to consider it prudent to describe outright his feelings toward him. In regard to the other characters, he had been satisfied to let an target description and an account of each characters actions stand on their own merit. On a similar note, Bil... ... these characters - Slims, Billy Bucks, Docs, and Casys- tremendous will to achieve the human ideal. Works Cited French, Warren. John Steinbeck. New York Twayne, 1961. . ---------- John Steinbeck. Boston Twayne, 1975. Heiney, Donald W. Essen tials of Contemporary Literature.New YorkBarrons, 1958. Lisca, Peter. The Wide World of John Steinbeck. New Brunswick, NewJersey Rutgers University,1958. Mintner, David. The Fate of Writing during the vast Depression. A Cultural History Of the American Novel. http//ocean.st.usm.edu/ wsimkins/minter.html>. 19 June 1997. (5 May 1999). Steinbeck, John. Cannery Row. New York Bantam, 1945. ---------- The Grapes of Wrath. New York Compass, 1958.----------. Of Mice and Men. New York Bantam, 1955.----------. The Red Pony. New York Bantam, 1948.