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Meaning
This reads as a defense of choice itself, not of instinct or mere function. It can be taken to mean that what gives human life its dignity is the ability to choose, even when choice brings risk, uncertainty, or moral weight. It lands in a conversation about freedom, where deciding is presented as the thing that makes a person fully human.
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Original Language & Translation
Originally said in English.
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About John Steinbeck
American writer and novelist
John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer and novelist. He lived in the 20th century and won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is known for his fiction and for writing that brought him wide and lasting readership. He was also an independent journalist and a war correspondent during World War II and the Vietnam War. His work was recognized by the Nobel committee for its realistic and imaginative style, with sympathy and social insight at its center.
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Explore Reflections
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Books by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men
1937
The Grapes of Wrath
1939
East of Eden
1952
The Red Pony
1937
Cannery Row
1945