y his father in Pacific Grove, California, where he survived by living on the land. From this vantage point, he composed his first successful novel, Tortilla Flats (1935), a warmly humorous, episodic treatment of the lives of the Mexican-Indian-Caucasian mix peopleùthe paisanosùwho lived in the Salinas Valley and whose earthy, uninhibited lives provided a colorful contrast to the valleyÆs more ôrespectableö society (Timmerman 84). Thus began a career of attending to the plights and concerns of the workers, and the themes of the workers vs. the bosses, townspeople vs. country people, and past vs. present. Steinbeck is concerned with the simple people who farm the lands, struggling to find a place for themselves in the world. His characters ôglow with life,ö (ôJohn Steinbeck Pageö) and reflect the simple passions of simpler times. Life is hard for these people, and the women are no exception.
A perhaps typical æSteinbeck womanÆ is Ma Joad, the mother of the family traveling west in The Grapes of Wrath. Ma JoadÆs strength is apparent in her muscular build, and in her actions and attitudes. Her strength is for her family, and she uses it to encourage them. For example, on the road, Ma Joad says to her starving children: ôIÆm gonna set this kettle out, anÆ youÆll all get a little tasÆ, but it ainÆt gonna do you no good. I canÆt heÆp it. CanÆt keep it from you.ö (Grapes ). Her strengths are marshaled to help her family immigrate west. In contrast, we have Rose, abandoned by her husband Connie. Her baby is stillborn, ôdropped dead,ö typical of the women too weak to endure the hardships of a life of deprivation. Ma Joan and Rose offer a stark contrast to each other, and help us to understand the kinds of women who populate SteinbeckÆs fiction. On the one hand, there are the ôsalt of the earthö women, the strong women who care about their men and who help them. On the other, there are women who ar...