John Steinbeck’s Inspiration to Write

John Steinbeck was an amazing author. He wrote the fantastic book Of Mice and Men about two men George and Lennie desperately seeking employment during the Great Depression and facing tragic difficulties along the way. I know what inspired John to write this incredible story because I was there with him during a particularly rough patch of his life. He and I worked together as farm labourers, which was not a fun job to have; we were shoveling the heaps of rotten smelling manure with flies swarming around; cleaning the acres upon acres of the farmer’s fields that could be frozen; and the whole time trying to not pass out from the scorching heat, or freeze from the terrible cold in the winters. John and I became very good friends as we worked together for almost three years, which felt like forever working from sunrise to sunset. There were a number of us ordinary men working together, but there was one unique man, Leo, who was barely surviving. He had some special needs and the head worker did not like that. Unfortunately Leo was not with us for very long. John bonded with Leo and tried to take care of him like he was his little brother. In addition to his own work he even did some of the jobs Leo was not capable of doing. Both John and I were very upset that there was no place for an individual like Leo to go during this time. There was no support for Leo. He was not capable of fitting in and performing the hard labour that was required. At the time this was basically the only way to survive. Leo’s hardships tore John apart. I could see it in his eyes as he stood beside Leo. John and I slept in the same area, I would always see him writing away in his old brown leather notebook, with the stub of a pencil that he had. He would sometimes read me pieces of the stories that he was creating and they were awesome. He even read me some bits of Of Mice and Men! John finally got up the nerve and decided to leave and see if he could pursue his passion, writing. Unfortunately I was not that brave so I worked at the farm for several more years. It was not the same without my close friend. John was an amazing man, for like me, he wanted companionship during this time. All of the other men here do not care about anyone else and do not need friends or even to talk about deep subjects. I finally got out of that place. Years later, walking down the concrete street that was so cracked you had to watch every step so you did not fall into a pothole, I saw my old pal John! He recognized me right away and we talked ,went on a long walk, and spent the afternoon together. It was as though time stood still and I was brought right back to the days on the farm. He was about to publish his book Of Mice and Men and was grateful for his experience at the farm, meeting Leo, and for the inspiration to write this amazing, but incredibly sad story with such a powerful message.