John Steinbeck offers a description of this valley, which is so positive I have been trying to find exactly where it is located and I want to go see it for myself. Pastures of heaven, must be very nice.
This book is a series of twelve short stories about the people of pastures of heaven. This is an earlier book of John Steinbeck, published in 1932. I love short stories, and I love John Steinbeck, so this is the perfect book for me.
The first story told is that of Bert Munroe, a father with wife and one child, who come to the valley to change their bad luck. He has had several business ventures which have fallen through. Often they looked like they would bring success, but in the end did not. He takes up the farm which is supposed to be cursed. Past residents have fallen on bad luck with a past family being subject to epilepsy and crazy fits, and they all die in the end. The next family to be on the place just disappeared mysteriously. Bert says it’s funny about the place because maybe his bad luck and the places bad luck will cancel each other out, and it does. He becomes a prominent member of the community and is well liked and accepted.
Edward “Shark” Wicks is believed to be wealthy with many investments. However his investments are just pretend, but he lets others believe he is doing well. He is cursed, or blessed with a beautiful daughter. He protects her chastity jealously. When he goes away on a trip, comes back and discovers she was kissed by a guy, he ends up with a gun headed towards the boy’s property, even though he really doesn’t want to do anything. Before he can back down, he is confronted by the police and arrested. Bond is set, and the whole town comes to realize he has nothing. His wife is the person with all the power of healing. He is a broken man, but she lets him know they can go away, and he can have his shot for real.
Junius Maltby comes to the valley for his health. He was a successful clerk in San Francisco. He rents a room, but when the widowed proprietor worries about what others might say, He marries her. She has two sons. They die from the flu, and the black death takes her, but before she dies, she gives him a son. He knows nothing of parenting or farming. The farm turns to weed and they are poor. He hires a German to run the farm, who knows less than he. They live in bliss, until the county makes the son go to school. Father sends him in rags, and the community feels they need to do something about it. However he is a leader among the boys, and well liked. They imitate his clothes. His father and farm hand join in the games. However, at the annual School Board visiting the school day, a wife of the school board presents him with new clothes. This causes his father to realize what others think of him, and he leaves the valley, going back to San Francisco to work at a job he knows.
No comments:
Post a Comment