This thesis is a study of the characters in John Steinbeck's fiction.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T17:55:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucas_Andre_Berno_Kolln.pdf: 2141701 bytes, checksum: 71d34556cfccf15d79182153dce2a398 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-16 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation discusses the books of John Steinbeck published in the thirties, willing to comprehend the way that the dialogue between the author's literature and his dialectic relation with the historical reality in which he wrote and lived. The analysis of Steinbeck's writings produced during the thirties made possible the discussion about the effects of the 1929 crisis and the empowerment of monopolist capitalism, processes that became very evident in this period. The conflicts present in that reality molded the historical reading of the writer and of the social group that he centrally portrayed throughout his literary production, the small farmers. Steinbeck's deep connection with the old middle classes conditioned his literature and his worldview, since the writer was raised into that way of life and educated into the typical values of that social group. This made his literature, during the thirties, unfold itself in many different ways in order to deal with the experience of the destruction of that way of life in all of its complexity. As the crisis deepened, Steinbeck faced different expressions of it, being the proletarianization of the small farmers and the destruction of the basis of their world some of the most bruising aspects that his literature intended to expose, portray and denounce. Sometimes assuming nostalgic outlines to celebrate the past, sometimes drawing on the satire to question the bourgeois ethos, sometimes rising through the denounce to reveal the scars created by the economic transformations, Steinbeck did not duck the problems placed by the development of the American capitalism. Based on this, his literature has became not only an interpretation of the reality created by the Great Depression through its mechanisms, dynamics and structures, but also the literary testimony of a person who observed the decadence of the way of life in which he grew up and of his peers. In this sense, the dissertation aimed to situate and comprehend Steinbeck's writings in their historical concreteness, that is, in the terms in which they were conceived and produced, in such a way that it became possible to observe several dimensions of the crisis and of Steinbeck's historical reading related to this experience, marked by loss, by misery and by the transformation of the small farmers into agricultural workers / Essa dissertação discute as obras da década de 30 de John Steinbeck procurando compreender de que maneira se deu o diálogo entre a literatura do autor e a relação dialética desse com a realidade história na qual viveu e escreveu. A análise dos escritos de Steinbeck produzidos nos anos 30 possibilitou a discussão sobre os desdobramentos e efeitos da crise de 1929 e do fortalecimento do capitalismo monopolista, processos esses que se tornaram muito evidentes nesse período. A conflituosidade presente naquela realidade moldou a leitura histórica do escritor e do grupo social que ele centralmente retratou ao longo de sua produção literária, os pequenos proprietários agrícolas. A profunda ligação de Steinbeck com as antigas classes médias rurais condicionou sua literatura e sua visão de mundo, uma vez que o escritor foi criado em meio àquele modo de vida e educado dentro dos valores típicos desse grupo social. Isso fez com que sua literatura, ao longo dos anos 30, se desdobrasse de diferentes formas para lidar com a experiência da destruição daquele modo de vida em toda a sua complexidade. Na medida em que a crise se aprofundava, Steinbeck travou contato com diferentes expressões dela, sendo a proletarização dos pequenos proprietários e a destruição das bases de seu mundo alguns dos aspectos mais contundentes que sua literatura procurou desvelar, retratar e denunciar. Ora assumindo contornos nostálgicos para celebrar o passado, ora valendo-se da sátira para questionar o ethos burguês, ora erguendo-se por meio da denúncia para trazer à lume as mazelas geradas pelas transformações econômicas, Steinbeck não se furtou aos problemas postos pelo desenvolvimento histórico do capitalismo estadunidense. A partir disso, sua literatura se tornou não só uma interpretação da realidade criada pela Grande Depressão a partir de seus mecanismos, suas dinâmicas e suas estruturas, mas também o testemunho literário de um sujeito que observou a decadência do modo de vida no qual cresceu e dos sujeitos que eram seus pares. Nesse sentido, a dissertação buscou situar e compreender os escritos de John Steinbeck em sua concretude histórica, isto é, nos termos em que eles foram concebidos e produzidos, ao passo que tornou-se possível observar várias dimensões da crise e da leitura histórica de Steinbeck em relação a essa experiência, marcada pela perda, pela miséria e pela transformação dos pequenos proprietários rurais em trabalhadores agrícolas

The Great Depression Period in John Steinbeck’s Prose The object of the research is the theme of the Great Depression in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and The Winter of Our Discontent (1961). In the novels, the theme of the Great Depression is analyzed through different values: protagonists’ struggle to remain human, land as a value and friend as a value. The aim of the research is to reveal the theme of the Great Depression through different values in Of Mice and Men (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) by Steinbeck.Steinbeck’s novels deal with the question of values, which appear to be relevant in all three novels under investigation. Nonetheless, during the Great Depression period the majority of values were pushed aside, however, values such as: friend as a value, land as a value and mans’ struggle to remain human became the most important within the period. / Šiuose kūriniuose Didžiosios depresijos tema analizuojama per skirtingas vertybes: draugystė kaip vertybė, žemė kaip vertybė, pagrindinio veikėjo pastangos išlikti žmogumi. Tyrimo tikslas – atskleisti Didžiosios depresijos temą romanuose Apie peles ir žmones (1937), Rūstybės kekės (1939), Mūsų nerimo žiema (1961) per skirtingų vertybių aspektus.Visi romanai nagrinėja vertybių problemą, kuri aktuali kiekviename analizuotame kūrinyje. Nepaisant to, kad Didžiosios depresijos laikotarpiu dauguma vertybių buvo nustumtos į šoną, vis dėlto, tokios vertybės, kaip draugystė, žemė, bei žmogaus pastangos išlikti žmogumi, tapo svarbiausios analizuojamuoju laikotarpiu.

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In recent years, the concept of monstrosity has received renewed attention by literary critics. Much of this criticism has focused on horror texts and other texts that depict supernatural monsters. However, the way that monster theory explores the connection between specific cultures and their monsters illuminates not only our understanding of horror texts, but also our understanding of any significant cultural artwork. Applying monster theory to non-horror texts is a useful and productive way to more fully understand the cultural fears of a society. One text that is particularly fruitful to explore in this context is John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel, East of Eden. The personification of evil in the text is one of the most memorable monsters in 20th century American literature—Cathy Ames Trask. Described by the narrator as a monster from birth, Cathy haunts the text. She rejects any and all attempts to force her to behave in socially acceptable ways. Cathy refuses to abide by the roles that mid-century American culture assigned to women, particularly the roles of wife and mother. Feminist theorists have often examined Cathy’s character in this context, although many of them emphasize Steinbeck’s personal misogyny. While Steinbeck’s personal fears have clearly formed the basis of Cathy’s character, the concept of the monster extends beyond idiosyncratic fears. Monster theory, through its emphasis on the particular cultural moment of the monster, allows for a broader understanding of cultural fears. Although the description of Cathy in the text connects her to a long tradition of female monsters, including Lilith and the Siren, Steinbeck’s characterization of the monstrous woman focuses on specific mid-century American cultural fears. The most significant of these cultural fears are those of emasculation and the potential flexibility of gender roles. These fears have often been associated with the feminine monster, but they became a crucial part of postwar American cultural discourse. The character of Cathy Trask, while exhibiting many traits that have been assigned to female monsters during the course of Western history, is essentially a 20th century American monster, one who encapsulates the fears of midcentury American men faced with rapidly changing gender roles and boundaries. The creation of such a horrifyingly monstrous woman, one that continues to haunt the reader even after her eventual de-monstration, testifies to the intense cultural anxiety about gender roles, particularly in the context of the heterosexual nuclear family, present in post-World War II America. This anxiety is dealt with in the figure of the monster Cathy, who represents forbidden desires and is then punished for those desires; her eventual demise reinforces the culturally patriarchal social structure and serves as a warning against transgressive gender behavior.

Deeply influenced by emotional, ethical, and ecological principles, John Steinbeck developed a holistic ideology to describe and analyze the relationships among individuals, society, and the more-than-human world. Although he explored environmental issues with ecological insight and philosophical contemplation that placed him well beyond his literary and scientific contemporaries, Steinbeck’s contributions to modern ecological inquiry and environmental thought have received only intermittent attention from literary scholars. Throughout his writing, Steinbeck develops a view of intellectual holism that encourages (perhaps even enables) us to dovetail science and ethics as we attempt to construct a new environmental paradigm. Viewing the world through his holistic lens, Steinbeck was able to see the global ecosystem, local environments, human communities, and even minute tide pools as objects of scientific and artistic inquiry. Specifically, it is my contention that the American environmental movement owes a greater debt to John Steinbeck than it realizes. In short, John Steinbeck made significant contributions to the growing awareness of human-nature interconnectedness and the parallels between social ills and ecological ailments. Yet, for whatever reasons Steinbeck is not granted a position of honor alongside the other giants of American environmental thought. Now witnessing the full blossoming of 21st century environmentalism, it is useful to cast a reflexive eye upon our ideological forebears with the intent to better understand the genealogy of the American environmental movement. Doing so will not only provide a richer and fuller family tree, but will also promote additional flourishing of new approaches to solving ongoing environmental troubles. / Master of Arts

<p>The paper aims to investigate the failure of the American Dream in the novel <em>The Grapes of Wrath </em>and the factors that affect it. Thus, the thesis of the paper is that it is the classes and castes of Californian that prevent the Joad family from fulfilling the American Dream.</p><p>The thesis will be discussed from four focal points of the American Dream: Freedom, Equality, Individualism and Family and Ideal Home. The novel takes place during the Great Depression, a time when many Americans were homeless and unemployed. An attempt will be made to define the American Dream and give a background to it. Furthermore, the binary pair of “self” and “other” will be used as an instrument of analysis.</p>

In this paper, I explore the environmental philosophy of three Californian modernists, who I have collectively named the Dust Dwellers: John Steinbeck, Robinson Jeffers, and Jack London. I argue that these writers participated in a broader modernist response to the ascendancy of the Enlightenment and its manifestation in industrial progress. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the Dust Dwellers' response was distinctly informed by their American identity. They engaged modernist themes of decay as applied to Western expansion and the dissolution of the American Edenic dream. Investigating the fractured relationship between civilization and the environment, they searched for a philosophy that could reconcile humanity to nature. Specifically, I argue that their environmental philosophy displays intellectual and creative congruencies that can be traced to the common influence of twentieth-century psychoanalyst Carl Jung. The foundational tenet of the Dust Dwellers' environmental philosophy parallels Jung's concept of the unus mundus. Mirroring Jung's interpretation of this alchemic term, the Dust Dwellers describe a cosmic unity that encompasses all of life. I discuss depictions of the unus mundus across the Dust Dwellers' work and outline other implications of this central philosophic presupposition. Ultimately, I conclude that their environmental philosophy, along with other attributes, permits and even encourages scholars to approach these writers as a distinct group of American modernists. / Master of Arts / In this paper, I explore the environmental philosophy of three Californian modernists, who I have collectively named the Dust Dwellers: John Steinbeck, Robinson Jeffers, and Jack London. I argue that these writers participated in a broader modernist response to the Enlightenment's failed pursuit of utopia. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the Dust Dwellers' response was distinctly informed by their American identity. They engaged modernist themes of decay as applied to the American frontier. Specifically, they recognized that America had failed to transform into a new Garden of Eden. Investigating the negative effects of industrial civilization, the Dust Dwellers searched for a philosophy that could create harmony between humanity and nature. I argue that their environmental philosophy displays intellectual and creative congruencies that can be traced to the common influence of twentieth-century psychoanalyst Carl Jung. The foundational concept of the Dust Dwellers' environmental philosophy parallels the Jungian concept of the unus mundus. Mirroring Jung's interpretation of this alchemic term, the Dust Dwellers describe a cosmic unity that encompasses all of life. I discuss depictions of the unus mundus across the Dust Dwellers' work and outline other implications of this central philosophic presupposition. Ultimately, I conclude that their environmental philosophy, along with other attributes, permits and even encourages scholars to approach these writers as a distinct group of American modernists.

John Steinbeck's three novels Tortilla Flat, Cannr Row and Sweet Thursday are significant in the Steinbeck canon. Although having many elements typical of Steinbeck's fiction in general, these novels, which are referred to as the Monterey Trilogy, are unified by common elements that are either unique or handled in an unusual manner. These common elements are setting, tone, themes, structure, and characters. The novels are complementary and form a unified whole. Just as the setting reflects the evolution of Monterey over a period of almost thirty years, so do the other elements reveal a shift in emphasis or attitude indicative of Steinbeck's own changing attitudes. The concluding chapter discusses the particular significance of the Monterey Trilogy as a measure of Steinbeck's ability as artist and craftsman.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-02-23Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:13:40Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 defazio_ahp_me_assis.pdf: 1692517 bytes, checksum: 7e9cb3508e8a110d3480a0f807533dbb (MD5) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Temos no filme Viva Zapata! (1952) o eixo central desta pesquisa, através da qual buscamos iluminar as relações entre cinema, cultura e política norte-americana dos anos cinqüenta, além de questionar como este cinema forma uma visão sobre o outro – nesse caso, os mexicanos. Produzido e lançado nos Estados Unidos em meio ao macartismo – oposição e perseguição aos comunistas, decorrente da Guerra Fria – é dirigido pelo cineasta Elia Kazan e tem como roteirista John Steinbeck, importante romancista norte-americano. Suas temáticas dialogam com a cultura e a política da época, os quais buscamos resgatar através deste estudo. Ainda, sendo um filme norte-americano sobre o México, nos possibilita questionar como este país e seu povo são representados – e ir além, analisando como se formam as visões dos outros no imaginário norte-americano, visão esta que se reflete através de manifestações culturais, como o cinema / The film Viva Zapata! (1952) is the central axis of the present study, through which we tried to highlight the relationships among North American cinema, culture and politics in the 1950s, as well as to question how this cinema forms the view about the other – in this case, the Mexicans. Produced and launched in the United States during McCarthyism – opposition and persecution to communists due to Cold War –, that film was directed by the filmmaker Elia Kazan and had as writer John Steinbeck, an important North American novelist. Its themes dialogue with the culture and the politics of that period, which we tried to rescue through this study. In addition, it is a North-American film about Mexico, which allows us to question how this country and its people are represented – as well as to analyze how the view about the others is formed in the North American imagination, since this view is reflected through cultural manifestations such as cinema