John Steinbeck- a man who knows his "Grapes"

This week's readings were very "real" to me. I have read Steinbeck before, but I never really got to know what his process is for his works. I first read his article on migrant workers. In this he describes the conditions for the working poor, who have to go on day by day, and have to travel thousands of miles to get work. He goes into detail of the different farming communities that exist. In The Grapes of Wrath, the scene was of the "Joads" having to get a loaf of bread to feed their families. This is an interesting chapter because, as in the whole book, Steinbeck mannages to give the reader a hidden essay about daily life for a truck stop waitress. The "essay" chapters are interesting because they often fortell what is going to happen to the main characters, either indirectly or directly. I was curious as to why he created these "essay" chapters. This led me to read his journal that he wrote while creating The Grapes of Wrath. I really liked it because he did write about what happened while writing the book. One of the things involved the writing of his other books. He wrote about how important the book needed to be written by certain times. The notes in the back were helpful, but did not need to be so long. Overall, I would definatly pick up his journals just to see if there are any interesting entries of how to write your own masterpiece.