# Warn me about John Steinbeck
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 29, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676 "2010-12-29T03:11:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676/21 "2010-12-29T18:14:25Z")
> [@pbbth](#):
>
> And the farmer killing off vermin is again not what I am talking about here. Is a hopeless, homeless man killing animals for pleasure human and true to life? Probably. Did it add anything important to the story? Not in my opinion. Wiping your ass is part of human nature too but we didn’t get several descriptions of ass wiping in the book and it was no worse a story with the lack of ass wiping. The same would have been true of the animal cruelty.
But it does. It’s a mirror of what is being done to the Okies: note their own bafflement and frustration with how the banks can so casually kick them off their land, their desperate hunt for someone to kill, their hopeless inability to understand how the banks, the system, could care so little for them. They ARE the useless road trash.
Tom’s casual manhandling of the turtle, his utter indifference to the turtle’s own plans, to its pathetic desire to follow whatever is calling it on, is _supposed_ to irritate you. It’s not an accident. It’s not a different attitude toward animals back in the day. It’s the point of the whole story.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676/22 "2010-12-29T18:30:48Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> Face it- a farmer in Oklahoma doesn’t sentimentalize possums or deer or bunny rabbits the way you or I might- he regards them as thieving, destructive pests. He’ll shoot them if he sees them. Even AFTER he’s lost his farm, he probably STILL regards them as no-good varmints thayt need killing.
Well, not possums. The only thing a possum might steal is the food you left out for your dog or cat. But a farmer still would shoot one on sight; they’re (sort of) edible.
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### Author:  [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676/23 "2010-12-29T18:57:37Z")
> [@MandaJo](#):
>
> But it does. It’s a mirror of what is being done to the Okies: note their own bafflement and frustration with how the banks can so casually kick them off their land, their desperate hunt for someone to kill, their hopeless inability to understand how the banks, the system, could care so little for them. They ARE the useless road trash.
>
> Tom’s casual manhandling of the turtle, his utter indifference to the turtle’s own plans, to its pathetic desire to follow whatever is calling it on, is _supposed_ to irritate you. It’s not an accident. It’s not a different attitude toward animals back in the day. It’s the point of the whole story.
I get it, I just felt like it detracted from the story rather than adding to it. I don’t feel like the plight of the animals did much for my understanding of the novel. That is why I asked for more Steinbeck (whom I enjoy very much) with less animal death and cruelty (which I don’t enjoy at all) and I was a bit taken aback that some people responded to, “What are some good Steinbeck stories that don’t involve dead or dying animals?” with, “What are you, a pussy?” or, “Why don’t you just ask for Steinbeck novels without swearing?” It just seems like if someone started a thread asking for good pizza recipes with no mushrooms and some people responded that they should just go eat a damn apple instead if they can’t appreciate mushrooms.
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### Author:  [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676/24 "2010-12-29T19:09:58Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#):
>
> Travels with Charley is entirely animal-cruelty free, and features a Standard Poodle of much distinction.
That book is absolutely delightful. Awesome, non-fiction slice of the open road in America.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676/25 "2010-12-29T19:13:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> Well, not possums. The only thing a possum might steal is the food you left out for your dog or cat.
Possums are notorious chicken thieves.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676/26 "2010-12-29T20:26:01Z")
I feel like there are at least 3 flavors of Steinbeck -
- The Americana Muckracker - Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden; trying to get America to hold a mirror up to itself and acknowledge the plight of the common man.
- The Incisive Short-Story Writer - find The While Quail (which features animal cruelty, to great effect) and you get a very jarring look into human character
- The Magical Realist - Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday; the locations feel outside our reality and the characters like archetypal rogues and rakes. The stories practically glow with charm in an unsentimental way.
I grew up spending a lot of time on the Monterey Peninsula; Steinbeck is woven into the fabric there…kinda like Clint Eastwood 😉
ETA: here is an online copy of [The White Quail](http://www.jstor.org/pss/25114589) that appears to be legit…oops, sorry - it only shows the first page and then requires some sort of log in…
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676/27 "2010-12-29T21:24:04Z")
> [@Beadalin](#):
>
> That book is absolutely delightful. Awesome, non-fiction slice of the open road in America.
Yeah, except he’s a bitch about the South. I couldn’t wait for him to get to _my_ part of the country and when he did he completely reduced it down to one bit of ugliness and thought he’d seen the whole thing. Grr.
I love it otherwise.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676/28 "2010-12-30T04:33:17Z")
In Dubious Battle is maybe my favorite Steinbeck. I don’t remember any animal cruelty with the exception of slaughtering a horse for food. It wasn’t cruelty per say but if that sort of thing bothers you, then maybe should skip it. Great book.
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### Author:  [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warn-me-about-john-steinbeck/565676/29 "2010-12-30T05:25:30Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#):
>
> Maybe it’s that harsh and absolute realism that makes Steinbeck’s stories so memorable. How many people know, after all, that buzzards really do regurgitate when under sudden stress…some sort of defensive mechanism I think, after all, having a buzzard puke on you would probably make you inclined to let it go.
I was going to say something like that, though I had forgotten about the buzzard part until you brought it up. 🙂 Yes, the descriptions of such things are stark and depressing but also quite powerful.
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