l throughout Western culture of defining women either as good mothers or bad whores (for even when they are kind-hearted there is still something always slightly repugnant about the prostitutes in Steinbeck;s work) or in some rare cases as perfect because absolutely unavailable virgins.
Before beginning an examination of SteinbeckÆs female characters, it is useful to provide a thumbnail sketch of his work as a whole and to describe its importance within the realm of American literature. Steinbeck, who died in 68 at the age of 66, won the Nobel prize in literature for his considerable talents in describing the unremitting struggle of people who depend on the soil for their livelihood. Born in Salinas, California and later educated at Stanford University, as a youth he worked as a ranch hand and fruit picker. These experiences of his working the rich earth of CaliforniaÆs valleys certainly influenced much of his later work.
In The Pastures of Heaven (1932), a group of short stories depicting a community of southern California farmers, Steinbeck first dealt with t
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