John Steinbeck
             John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, in 1902. He was raised in a fertile agricultural valley about twenty miles from the Pacific Coast. Both the valley and the coast would become the setting for some of his novels and short stories.
             In 1919 he attended Stanford University, where he took literature and writing classes. In 1925 he left the university. He did not attain a degree before his departure.
             For the next five years of Steinbeck's life, he worked as a laborer and a journalist in New York City. Then he worked as a caretaker for an estate in Lake Tahoe. During these five years, he was also working on his first novel, Cup of Gold.
             He then got married and moved to Pacific Groove where he published his next two books, The Pastures of Heaven and To a God Unknown. He also worked on some of his famous short stories.
             He gained success and financial security with his book Tortilla Flat. This was full of stories about Monterey's paisanos.
             In 1952, he published East of Eden, a story about the Salinas valley and Steinbeck's own family history.
             The last decades of his life were spent in New York City and Sag harbor with his third wife. Throughout Steinbeck's life he published twenty-five books. After his death in 1968, four more of his books were published. Six years before his death, John Steinbeck won a Noble Prize.
            
             Of Mice and Men
             The book Of Mice and Men is about the trials and tribulations of friendship. Throughout the book, George is continuously telling Lennie that if he were alone he "could live so easy." When Lennie gives his answer of leaving, George instantly jumps down Lennie's throat and reminds Lennie that he "was jus' foolin'" and wants Lennie to stay. The relationship these two characters posses is that of best friends who will be together until the end. Since George never wants Lennie to go off on his own he ...