1. John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck (1902-
1968), born in Salinas, California,
came from a family of moderate
means. Steinbeck attended the local
high school and worked on farms
and ranches during his vacations.
To finance his education, he held
many jobs and sometimes dropped
out of college for whole quarters.
Between 1920 and 1926, he
studied marine biology at Stanford
University, but did not take a
degree, because he always planned
to be a writer. Several of his early
poems and short stories appeared in
university publications. After
spending a short time as a labourer
on the construction of Madison
Square Garden in New York City and reporter for the American, Steinbeck returned to
California.
While writing, Steinbeck took odd jobs, as apprentice hood-carrier, apprentice
painter, caretaker of an estate, surveyor, and fruit-picker. When he was as a watchman
of a house in the High Sierra, Steinbeck wrote his first book, CUP OF GOLD (1929). It
failed to earn back the $250 the publisher had given him in an advance.
After publishing some novels and short stories, Steinbeck first became widely
known with Tortilla Flat (1935), a series of humorous stories about Monterey paisanos.

2. The theme of the book-the story of King Arthur and the forming of the Round Table-
remained well hidden from the readers and critics as well.
After the success of Tortilla Flat, Steinbeck moved on to more serious fiction,
often aggressive in its social criticism, to In Dubious Battle (1936), which deals with the
strikes of the migratory fruit pickers on California plantations. This was followed by Of
Mice and Men (1937), the story of the imbecile giant Lennie, and a series of admirable
short stories collected in the volume The Long Valley (1938). In 1939 he published what
is considered his best work, The Grapes of Wrath, the story of Oklahoma tenant farmers
who, unable to earn a living from the land, moved to California where they became
migratory workers.
Steinbeck's novels(1) can all be classified as social novels dealing with the
economic problems of rural labour, but there is also a streak of worship of the soil in his
books, which does not always agree with his matter-of-fact sociological approach.
Note- The texts that follow are illegible, so
I have copied the text and removed the
pictures, adding it thereafter.

3. (2)
The way west
They were going to west. They were travelling by their old truck.
The truck does some bad noise but Al, who knows something about
mechanics, thought it might not mean trouble.
During the journey Al asked his mother if she was scared and if
she thought where they are going will be a good place. His mother
answered him:
“I am not scared. In front of us, there is a thousand different lives we
might have do not mind where we are.”
Later, they need gas and they stopped in front of the shack. A
man come out of the shack, he looks angry. He asked them if they have
money because some people have stolen him so many times. When the
family told him that they have money the man put them gas friendly.
When the truck was filled of gas they get up on it, and started the
trip again, now Tom was the driver.
They reached Oklahoma City and then they were on Highway
66. Then, mum asked Tom, who has been in jail for 3 years, if he is on
parole what happens when he crosses a line state. And Tom explain her

4. that if he does not do anything wrong the police will not care where he
is.
They went on through the next small town and out on the other
side. They always stopped near the road to eat something. In this place,
they founded another folk people like them, who had camping before
and wanted spend the night there. They look so friendly. They invited
the family to spend the night with them like their neighbours.
The Death of Grampa
They enjoyed a good dinner together. Later, everybody got their bed,
each morning they get up early to start their journey again. Mum helped
Grampa into the tent. She was worried about him because he was sick.
Casy took a look to Grampa and he confirmed mum’s worries. He
did everything to help him but the only thing that helped Grampa was his
praying. Casy used to preach religion to people in Oklahoma. Then, Mum
took Grampa outside the tent. Granma sat proudly and covered her face
with her arm.
Everybody was sad. But, now, they should decide what to do with
the body, because they hadn’t enough money to bury Grampa. So, Father
told everybody that they will bury Grampa there themselves. When
everything was ready, the two families stood round the grave. Casy said
some words.
Everybody was speaking around the fire. They spoke about the
things that they hope to find in California. They like each other, and the

5. families decided to continue the journey together. Thus, with two cars they
can arrive earlier to California.
First opinion
I really liked the book. In my opinion, it shows perfectly how was the situation
during de Depression in the late 1920s. The farmers had to leave their lands and go to
California, where they believed that there was work and good wages. Besides, the book
teach some vocabulary which was used by folks people. And I think it was easy to
understand.
The book is highly recommendable because it can teach something about American
History.
Silvia Pintor
Second opinion
From my point of view the book is boring. It told about a journey that was made
a long time ago, who are interested in? Really I do not like the story because it was
tragic, two of the protagonist died. I prefer read about love stories. In conclusion, I do
not recommend this book; maybe it is good like sleeping pill.
Julian Martinez
Third opinion

6. From my point of view, the book is touching. The Joan’s family have to pass
some difficulties to arrive to California, and when they arrive there, they have to look
for job, it was not easy. I think the book capture the situation that the people who have
had to move to another place to get job, very well. I would like to recommend this book
to those who can not accept the immigrants because, thus, they can know how difficult
it is. The immigrants leave their family and everything to try to get something better.
Eduardo Perez
They were going to west. They were travelling by their old truck.
The truck does some bad noise but Al, who knows something about
mechanics, thought it might not mean trouble.
During the journey Al asked his mother if she was scared and if
she thought where they are going will be a good place. His mother
answered him:
“I am not scared. In front of us, there is a thousand different lives we
might have do not mind where we are.”
Later, they need gas and they stopped in front of the shack. A
man come out of the shack, he looks angry. He asked them if they have
money because some people have stolen him so many times. When the
family told him that they have money the man put them gas friendly.
When the truck was filled of gas they get up on it, and started the
trip again, now Tom was the driver.
They reached Oklahoma City and then they were on Highway
66. Then, mum asked Tom, who has been in jail for 3 years, if he is on
parole what happens when he crosses a line state. And Tom explain her
that if he does not do anything wrong the police will not care where he
is.
They went on through the next small town and out on the other
side. They always stopped near the road to eat something. In this place,

7. they founded another folk people like them, who had camping before
and wanted spend the night there. They look so friendly. They invited
the family to spend the night with them like their neighbours.
The Death of Grampa
They enjoyed a good dinner together. Later, everybody got their bed,
each morning they get up early to start their journey again. Mum helped
Grampa into the tent. She was worried about him because he was sick.
Casy took a look to Grampa and he confirmed mum’s worries. He
did everything to help him but the only thing that helped Grampa was his
praying. Casy used to preach religion to people in Oklahoma. Then, Mum
took Grampa outside the tent. Granma sat proudly and covered her face
with her arm.
Everybody was sad. But, now, they should decide what to do with
the body, because they hadn’t enough money to bury Grampa. So, Father
told everybody that they will bury Grampa there themselves. When
everything was ready, the two families stood round the grave. Casy said
some words.
Everybody was speaking around the fire. They spoke about the
things that they hope to find in California. They like each other, and the
families decided to continue the journey together. Thus, with two cars they
can arrive earlier to California.
CORRECTIONS
BIOGRAPHY: Apart from (1) (Repetition of the word “novels”) there are no mistakes.
Did you write it yourself?

8. CHAPTER SUMMARY: (2) summary. The corrections of the text are below; after the
opinions, because I had to copy the text and remove the background picture ti make it
legible.
First opinion
I really liked the book. In my opinion, it shows perfectly well what the situation
was like during the Depression in the late 1920s. The farmers had to leave their lands
and go to California, where they believed that there was work and good wages. Besides,
the book teaches us some vocabulary which was used by common people. And I think it
was easy to understand.
(The book is highly recommendable because it can teach something about American
History.)-This sentence is neither a complete summary nor a new point. You ought to
either suppress it or change it to turn it into a new idea.
Silvia Pintor
Second opinion
In my opinion(*) the book is boring. It told about a journey that was made a long
time ago. Who is interested in something like that? I don’t really like the story because
it was tragic: two of the protagonists died. I prefer to read love stories. In conclusion, I
do not recommend this book; maybe it is good as a sleeping pill.
Julian Martinez
(*)”From my point of view” is used when your opinion represents a group of like-
minded people. For example, the people who belong to your organization or party;
or people who have suffered the same as you, or are in the same category at work
or in society. If your opinion is not representative of a group, use another
expression: “in my view”, “in my opinion”, “as far as I’m concerned”, “the way I
see it”, “to my way of thinking”…
Third opinion
In my view, the book is touching. Joan’s family have to experience some
difficulties to get to California, and when they arrive there, they have to look for a job.
It was not easy. I think the book captures the situation of the people who have had to

9. move to another place to get job, very well. I would like to recommend this book to
those who can not accept immigrants because, thus, they can see how difficult it is.
Immigrants leave their families and everything to try to get something better.
Eduardo Perez
They were going west. They were travelling in their old truck.
The truck made some bad noise but Al, who knew something about
mechanics, thought it might not mean trouble.
During the journey Al asked his mother if she was scared and if
she thought where they were going would be a good place. His mother
answered him:
“I am not scared. In front of us, there are a thousand different lives
(we might have do not mind where we are.”)(What does this
mean?Ahead of us…lives we might have wherever we are?)
Later, they needed gas and they stopped in front of the shack. A
man come out of the shack. He looked angry. He asked them if they
had money because some people had robbed him so many times. When
the family told him that they had money the man served them and was
friendly.
When the truck was filled of gas they got up on it, and started
the journey again. Now Tom was the driver.
They reached Oklahoma City and then they were on Highway
66. Then, mum asked Tom, who had been in jail for 3 years, what
might happen if he crossed a state border whilst still being on parole.
And Tom explained to her that if he did not do anything wrong the
police would not care where he is.
They went on through the next small town and out on the other
side. They always stopped near the road to eat something. In this place,

10. they found other common people like them, who had been camping
before and wanted spend the night there. They looked so friendly.
They invited the family to spend the night with them like good
neighbours.
The Death of Grampa
journey again. Mum helped Grampa into the tent. She was worried about
him
They enjoyed a good dinner together. Later, everybody went to bed.
Every morning they got up early to start their because he was sick.
Casy took a look at Grampa and he confirmed mum’s worries. He
did everything to help him but the only thing that helped Grampa was his
praying. Casy used to preach religion to people in Oklahoma. Then, Mum
took Grampa outside the tent. Granma sat proudly and covered her face
with her arm.
Everybody was sad. But, now, they had to decide what to do with the
body, because they didn’t have enough money to bury Grampa. So, Father
told everybody that they would bury Grampa there themselves. When
everything was ready, the two families stood round the grave. Casy said
some words.
Everybody was speaking around the fire. They spoke about the
things that they hoped to find in California. They liked each other, and the
families decided to continue the journey together. Thus, with two cars they
would be able to reach California faster.
OK-6
Please don’t copy an extract as long as that. The contrast between the
different parts of the work is enormous. Pay attention to pasta marrative
verb forms. Don’t change from past to present without being aware of
what you are doing.