Answer:
John Steinbeck and his community were so alienated during his lifetime that the author once objected to the dedication of a local school building after him, believing it would provide an opportunity to curse his name. Their relationship was rocky and largely unforgiving, with periods of love and hatred and most feelings in between.
"Steinbeck was never popular with the growers here, "said Basil E. Mills, the founder of one of the large farming businesses that dominate the Salinas Valley. "It is a unique marriage on both sides."