Cannery row

In over thirty years of writing, from the late 1920s to the 1960s, Steinbeck has given ample indication that he is not the naive proletarian he has at times been called. His stories although almost always encouraging his reader to sympathize with his proletariat style characters are much more varied than this and it is believed by many critics that Steinbeck worked hard to lose his image of “communist radical”. This is what led Steinbeck’…

…often condemned as a communist. Steinbeck however did prove to his critics that he was not a dangerous political radical but simply a writer who had strong views on a persons right to a dignified existence regardless of social class. As one of the most influential American writers Steinbeck is best thought of as a master of the American mind set who helped his countrymen to realise as much as he could have them understand.