- 1. John Steinbeck John Steinbeck (1902- 1968), born in Salinas,
California, came from a family of moderate means. Steinbeck
attended the local high school and worked on farms and ranches
during his vacations. To finance his education, he held many jobs
and sometimes dropped out of college for whole quarters.Between
1920 and 1926, he studied marine biology at Stanford University,
but did not take a degree, because he always planned to be a
writer. Several of his early poems and short stories appeared in
university publications. After spending a short time as a labourer
on the construction of Madison Square Garden in New York City and
reporter for the American, Steinbeck returned to California.While
writing, Steinbeck took odd jobs, as apprentice hood-carrier,
apprentice painter, caretaker of an estate, surveyor, and
fruit-picker. When he was as a watchman of a house in the High
Sierra, Steinbeck wrote his first book, CUP OF GOLD (1929). It
failed to earn back the $250 the publisher had given him in an
advance.After publishing some novels and short stories, Steinbeck
first became widely known with Tortilla Flat (1935), a series of
humorous stories about Monterey paisanos.
2. The theme of the book-the story of King Arthur and the
forming of the Round Table- remained well hidden from the readers
and critics as well.After the success of Tortilla Flat, Steinbeck
moved on to more serious fiction, often aggressive in its social
criticism, to In Dubious Battle (1936), which deals with the
strikes of the migratory fruit pickers on California plantations.
This was followed by Of Mice and Men (1937), the story of the
imbecile giant Lennie, and a series of admirable short stories
collected in the volume The Long Valley (1938). In 1939 he
published what is considered his best work, The Grapes of Wrath,
the story of Oklahoma tenant farmers who, unable to earn a living
from the land, moved to California where they became migratory
workers.Steinbeck's novels(1) can all be classified as social
novels dealing with the economic problems of rural labour, but
there is also a streak of worship of the soil in his books, which
does not always agree with his matter-of-fact sociological
approach. Note- The texts that follow are illegible, so I have
copied the text and removed the pictures, adding it thereafter. 3.
(2) The way west They were going to west. They were travelling by
their old truck. The truck does some bad noise but Al, who knows
something about mechanics, thought it might not mean trouble.
During the journey Al asked his mother if she was scared and if she
thought where they are going will be a good place. His mother
answered him: I am not scared. In front of us, there is a thousand
different lives we might have do not mind where we are. Later, they
need gas and they stopped in front of the shack. A man come out of
the shack, he looks angry. He asked them if they have money because
some people have stolen him so many times. When the family told him
that they have money the man put them gas friendly. When the truck
was filled of gas they get up on it, and started the trip again,
now Tom was the driver. They reached Oklahoma City and then they
were on Highway 66. Then, mum asked Tom, who has been in jail for 3
years, if he is on parole what happens when he crosses a line
state. And Tom explain her 4. that if he does not do anything wrong
the police will not care where he is. They went on through the next
small town and out on the other side. They always stopped near the
road to eat something. In this place, they founded another folk
people like them, who had camping before and wanted spend the night
there. They look so friendly. They invited the family to spend the
night with them like their neighbours.The Death of Grampa They
enjoyed a good dinner together. Later, everybody got their bed,
each morning they get up early to start their journey again. Mum
helped Grampa into the tent. She was worried about him because he
was sick. Casy took a look to Grampa and he confirmed mums worries.
He did everything to help him but the only thing that helped Grampa
was his praying. Casy used to preach religion to people in
Oklahoma. Then, Mum took Grampa outside the tent. Granma sat
proudly and covered her face with her arm. Everybody was sad. But,
now, they should decide what to do with the body, because they
hadnt enough money to bury Grampa. So, Father told everybody that
they will bury Grampa there themselves. When everything was ready,
the two families stood round the grave. Casy said some words.
Everybody was speaking around the fire. They spoke about the things
that they hope to find in California. They like each other, and the
5. families decided to continue the journey together. Thus, with
two cars they can arrive earlier to California.First opinionI
really liked the book. In my opinion, it shows perfectly how was
the situation during de Depression in the late 1920s. The farmers
had to leave their lands and go to California, where they believed
that there was work and good wages. Besides, the book teach some
vocabulary which was used by folks people. And I think it was easy
to understand. The book is highly recommendable because it can
teach something about American History. Silvia PintorSecond
opinionFrom my point of view the book is boring. It told about a
journey that was made a long time ago, who are interested in?
Really I do not like the story because it was tragic, two of the
protagonist died. I prefer read about love stories. In conclusion,
I do not recommend this book; maybe it is good like sleeping
pill.Julian Martinez Third opinion 6. From my point of view, the
book is touching. The Joans family have to pass some difficulties
to arrive to California, and when they arrive there, they have to
look for job, it was not easy. I think the book capture the
situation that the people who have had to move to another place to
get job, very well. I would like to recommend this book to those
who can not accept the immigrants because, thus, they can know how
difficult it is. The immigrants leave their family and everything
to try to get something better.Eduardo Perez They were going to
west. They were travelling by their old truck. The truck does some
bad noise but Al, who knows something about mechanics, thought it
might not mean trouble.During the journey Al asked his mother if
she was scared and if she thought where they are going will be a
good place. His mother answered him: I am not scared. In front of
us, there is a thousand different lives we might have do not mind
where we are.Later, they need gas and they stopped in front of the
shack. A man come out of the shack, he looks angry. He asked them
if they have money because some people have stolen him so many
times. When the family told him that they have money the man put
them gas friendly.When the truck was filled of gas they get up on
it, and started the trip again, now Tom was the driver.They reached
Oklahoma City and then they were on Highway 66. Then, mum asked
Tom, who has been in jail for 3 years, if he is on parole what
happens when he crosses a line state. And Tom explain her that if
he does not do anything wrong the police will not care where he
is.They went on through the next small town and out on the other
side. They always stopped near the road to eat something. In this
place, 7. they founded another folk people like them, who had
camping before and wanted spend the night there. They look so
friendly. They invited the family to spend the night with them like
their neighbours.The Death of Grampa They enjoyed a good dinner
together. Later, everybody got their bed, each morning they get up
early to start their journey again. Mum helped Grampa into the
tent. She was worried about him because he was sick.Casy took a
look to Grampa and he confirmed mums worries. He did everything to
help him but the only thing that helped Grampa was his praying.
Casy used to preach religion to people in Oklahoma. Then, Mum took
Grampa outside the tent. Granma sat proudly and covered her face
with her arm.Everybody was sad. But, now, they should decide what
to do with the body, because they hadnt enough money to bury
Grampa. So, Father told everybody that they will bury Grampa there
themselves. When everything was ready, the two families stood round
the grave. Casy said some words.Everybody was speaking around the
fire. They spoke about the things that they hope to find in
California. They like each other, and the families decided to
continue the journey together. Thus, with two cars they can arrive
earlier to California. CORRECTIONS BIOGRAPHY: Apart from (1)
(Repetition of the word novels) there are no mistakes. Did you
write it yourself? 8. CHAPTER SUMMARY: (2) summary. The corrections
of the text are below; after the opinions, because I had to copy
the text and remove the background picture ti make it legible.First
opinionI really liked the book. In my opinion, it shows perfectly
well what the situation was like during the Depression in the late
1920s. The farmers had to leave their lands and go to California,
where they believed that there was work and good wages. Besides,
the book teaches us some vocabulary which was used by common
people. And I think it was easy to understand. (The book is highly
recommendable because it can teach something about American
History.)-This sentence is neither a complete summary nor a new
point. You ought to either suppress it or change it to turn it into
a new idea.Silvia Pintor Second opinionIn my opinion(*) the book is
boring. It told about a journey that was made a long time ago. Who
is interested in something like that? I dont really like the story
because it was tragic: two of the protagonists died. I prefer to
read love stories. In conclusion, I do not recommend this book;
maybe it is good as a sleeping pill.Julian Martinez (*)From my
point of view is used when your opinion represents a group of like-
minded people. For example, the people who belong to your
organization or party; or people who have suffered the same as you,
or are in the same category at work or in society. If your opinion
is not representative of a group, use another expression: in my
view, in my opinion, as far as Im concerned, the way I see it, to
my way of thinkingThird opinionIn my view, the book is touching.
Joans family have to experience some difficulties to get to
California, and when they arrive there, they have to look for a
job. It was not easy. I think the book captures the situation of
the people who have had to 9. move to another place to get job,
very well. I would like to recommend this book to those who can not
accept immigrants because, thus, they can see how difficult it is.
Immigrants leave their families and everything to try to get
something better.Eduardo Perez They were going west. They were
travelling in their old truck. The truck made some bad noise but
Al, who knew something about mechanics, thought it might not mean
trouble.During the journey Al asked his mother if she was scared
and if she thought where they were going would be a good place. His
mother answered him: I am not scared. In front of us, there are a
thousand different lives (we might have do not mind where we
are.)(What does this mean?Ahead of uslives we might have wherever
we are?)Later, they needed gas and they stopped in front of the
shack. A man come out of the shack. He looked angry. He asked them
if they had money because some people had robbed him so many times.
When the family told him that they had money the man served them
and was friendly.When the truck was filled of gas they got up on
it, and started the journey again. Now Tom was the driver.They
reached Oklahoma City and then they were on Highway 66. Then, mum
asked Tom, who had been in jail for 3 years, what might happen if
he crossed a state border whilst still being on parole. And Tom
explained to her that if he did not do anything wrong the police
would not care where he is.They went on through the next small town
and out on the other side. They always stopped near the road to eat
something. In this place, 10. they found other common people like
them, who had been camping before and wanted spend the night there.
They looked so friendly. They invited the family to spend the night
with them like good neighbours.The Death of Grampa journey again.
Mum helped Grampa into the tent. She was worried about him They
enjoyed a good dinner together. Later, everybody went to bed. Every
morning they got up early to start their because he was sick. Casy
took a look at Grampa and he confirmed mums worries. He did
everything to help him but the only thing that helped Grampa was
his praying. Casy used to preach religion to people in Oklahoma.
Then, Mum took Grampa outside the tent. Granma sat proudly and
covered her face with her arm. Everybody was sad. But, now, they
had to decide what to do with the body, because they didnt have
enough money to bury Grampa. So, Father told everybody that they
would bury Grampa there themselves. When everything was ready, the
two families stood round the grave. Casy said some words. Everybody
was speaking around the fire. They spoke about the things that they
hoped to find in California. They liked each other, and the
families decided to continue the journey together. Thus, with two
cars they would be able to reach California faster.OK-6Please dont
copy an extract as long as that. The contrast between the different
parts of the work is enormous. Pay attention to pasta marrative
verb forms. Dont change from past to present without being aware of
what you are doing.
