Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Book Reports The Dramatic Narratives used in John Stienbecks Novels The Dramatic Narratives used in John Stienbecks Novels In John Steinbeck’s novels, Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, and The Red Pony, Steinbeck used dramatic narratives to express his views of the world. The characters behavior in these novels was used to keep the reader interested. Steinbeck seemed to use a beautiful valley that always had disaster hanging over it as his setting. In all three of these novels John Steinbeck used great dramatic narratives. These narratives were used to help explain all of the problems, situations and events surrounding Lennie in Of Mice and Men. They were also used in The Red Pony to describe Jodi’s first pony and all of its problems. Steinbeck was able to use short and direct statements that helped the reader understand what was happening in the book. In Cannery Row John Steinbeck used this narrative to describe the excitement over Doc’s surprise birthday party “Mr. Malloy on his hands and knees, peered out of the boiler door to see if anyone had gone to the party yet. In the Palace the boys set restlessly watching the black hands of the clock” Many critics didn’t approve of Steinbeck’s writing style. Some even attacked him for how he treated his characters. On the other hand, most of the critics commended Steinbeck on his writing style and his use of narratives. If it wasn’t for Steinbeck’s creative dramatic narrative in the last two chapter of Cannery Row, the other critics would be right about his treatment of his characters. The Life of John Steinbeck by Harry Thorton Moore, stated this about Steinbeck’s treatment of his characters. “Steinbeck has sometimes been condemned for treating Men as if they were no different from other animals; butExactly what he attempting to do in the last two chapters of Cannery Row is to distinguish men from the other animals – or at least to indicate that men have capabilities available to no other animals, if they are willing to avail themselves of them.” Character behavior was a factor in most of Steinbeck’s novels. In The Red Pony, Jodi’s desire for a pony and love for it kept the reader reading. In Cannery Row Mack and the boy’s inability to fit in was a factor of excitement in the story. If it weren’t for the outrageous behavior of George and Lennie in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the novel would have never become the exciting story that it is. There is a sense of the characters personalities that show who is in charge right from the beginning of the book. This is shown in the quote from George explaining to Lennie where they are going and the only way that they are going to get the job. “That ranch we’re goin’ to is right down there about a quarter mile. We’re gonna go in an’ see the boss. Now, look – I’ll give him the work tickets but you aint gonna say a word. You jus’ stand there and don’t say nothing. If he find out what a crazy you are, we won’t get no job, but if he sees ya work before he hears ya talk, we’re set. Ya got that?” According to Warren French in his book John Steinbeck’s Fiction Revisited, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men was originally supposed to be a play. In order for the story to work as play Steinbeck had to use a lot of character behavior. In this quote French describes how the book was written. “Structurally the novel was from the first a play: it is divided into six parts, each part a scene – the reader may observer that the action never moves away from a central point in each of these units. Steinbeck’s manner of writing was coming over quite firmly to the dramatic.” Steinbeck used the familiar valley setting in most of his novels. The image of a beautiful valley was used to offset the disorder and the chaos of the characters. In Cannery Row the town of Selena was set in a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides and the ocean on the other, Of Mice and Men, was set on a ranch which was positioned in a pristine valley. The Red Pony was a perfect example of Steinbeck placing his story in a beautiful valley. In this quote Jodi is wishing he could go with his father and the ranch hand riding down the valley to town. “Jodi did not ask where his and Billy Buck were riding that day, but he wished he might go along. His father was a disciplinarian. Jodi obeyed him in everything without questions of any kind.” In the book The Life of John Steinbeck Harry Thorton Moore describes how The Red Pony became part of a larger novel. In the following statement Moore tells how once the story was added to the novel the story was enhanced greatly. “The Red Pony by itself was a bit disappointing, but once added to The Long Valley it became a thing of beauty.” It was through Steinbeck’s ability to use dramatic narratives he was able to describe his characters and their surroundings. Through his characters and their surroundings, Steinbeck was able to voice his views of society during his time as a writer. Warren French best described this in his review of Steinbeck’s novel Cannery Row. “Cannery Row then is not even simply an attack upon conventional respectability and an inflated sense of self-importance, although Steinbecks sees these twin evils as the truly destructive forces in a sick world. The novel is rather a defense of poetry.” Bibliography: Ø Steinbeck, John. Cannery Row. New York, NY: Viking Press Inc. and Penguin Books USA Inc., 1945 Ø Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York, NY: Viking Press Inc. 1937 reviewed 1965 Ø Steinbeck, John. The Red Pony. New York, NY: Viking Press Inc. 1937,1938 Ø Moore, Harry Thorton. The Novels of John Steinbeck. Chicago, ILL: Normandie House, 1939 Ø French, Warren. John Steinbeck’s Fiction Revisited. New York, NY: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1962 Ø French, Warren. John Steinbeck. New York, NY: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1961 Ø Moore, Harry Thorton. The Life of John Steinbeck. Chicago, Ill: Normandie House, 1945 Word Count: 925
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