Immortal Caifornia: a delve into Steinbeck's novel To a God Unknown
Note: this essay obviously not about Iceland, but it does speak to the deep connection between a people and their land, a bond that is possibly even stronger for immigrants and newcomers who chose a place as their new home, as my Icelandic parents did California. Also, there are a few typos in the text, so please excuse:) The days when our father took my sister and I out to the beaches of our hometown, Pacific Grove, were special days. Not because they were few and far between but because every moment we got to spend on the windswept beaches of Asilomar chasing waves and climbing the tidepool-rich rocks was delicious. Pabbi would stroll the sands while we splashed in the near-Arctic waters of the Northern California coast. He would call out to us to remember the undertow, the sucking force of which would easily sweep a grownup off their feet and into the deeps of the Pacific, to be eaten by the horrible monster that my sister and I we...
