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 manpower, The Red redbug and The Grapes of Wrath, John 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 hero who is fulfil in doing his best in love for his craft - a direct contrast to the multitude of humans who atomic number 18 merely unsuccessful and unhappy dreamers. The emphasis of skill and craftsmanship is especially evident in a description of Slim in Of Mice and Men He moved with a majesty solely achieved by royal family and master craftsmen. He was a jerkline skinner, capable 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 piteous the mule. (97) Steinbeck makes it clear that the professional prowess of this man is to be equated with his authority, un derstanding, 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), rabbit 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 morally upstanding character highly enough to consider it prudential to describe outright his feelings toward him. In regard to the other characters, he had been satisfied to let an objective 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 allow to achieve the human ideal. Works Cited French, Warren. John Steinbeck. new-fangled York Twayne, 1961. . ---------- John Steinbeck. capital of Massachuse tts Twayne, 1975. Heiney, Donald W. Essentials of Contemporary Literature. rude(a) YorkBarrons, 1958. Lisca, Peter. The Wide World of John Steinbeck. New Brunswick, NewJersey Rutgers University,1958. Mintner, David. The Fate of Writing during the Great Depression. A ethnical 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.