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Charles Pollack
Professor Knapp
English 1B
December 19, 2011
The Conscience of America: Exposing Truths
In reading John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle, I will explain how Steinbeck’s characters are commonly themed with what was happening during the time of the Great Depression. I will explain using Marxist theory that I come to understand. Steinbeck’s use of a “use-value” system has broader implications of just an ordinary read. One definition is from Scott Wilsons, Cultural Materialism, “…use-value is defined in terms of its usefulness to ‘politics’” (Wilson 91). John Steinbeck gathers information and records them in his book. It is in this time of the Great Depression that greed, corruption and violence Steinbeck wrote for a political audience. I believe that Steinbeck appealed to the American system of government. He wrote about an agricultural system and the failures of that system. Steinbeck reveals the nature of human value and the moral, ethical and political system that is always evolving and changing in In Dubious Battle.
Jim Nolan, a character in the novel, is the product of an historical event, the Great Depression, where society of the haves and have not’s are in play. In Steinbeck’s book, In Dubious Battle, Jim was fighting for “…-hunger mostly” (Steinbeck 19). Jim grows up feeling
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hopeless; fighting perhaps a rebellion against people who had power and money, land and political influence. Steinbeck writes about this hopelessness of experiences; this feeling while fighting against “the establishment”, which he calls “bosses” or “the authority”. In his novel, In Dubious Battle, Steinbeck writes that the “authority’ controls the proletariat. Power, or people that have money, land and political gains, influences his writing. He experiences an epiphany of sorts, and writes about people who are similarly in the same situation, that have anger and feeling the hopelessness of their situation. The “cause” or “Red Scare” is the basis of the writing. He groups all classes of people together but especially the have-nots, “…they are angry but not at an individual but “… the whole system of bosses…” (20). Steinbeck uses the proletarian and the radical groups to formulate the writing of In Dubious Battle.
The 1930’s was a time of fear and anger and hopelessness. Fear inflicted by an economic depression, of communist influences, of widespread emigration. Rick Wartzman writes about this fear, “It was this fear-a fear of radicalism, of unrest, of rebellion…” (Wartzman 123). Infiltration of communism in America’s labor force was a huge source of fear. Steinbeck writes about the worker who is down and out and is angry and who feels hopeless. Steinbeck writes, “ …we were fighting…hunger mostly” and “But we always lost…it got to be part of our mindstuff that we would always lose” (19). The people who lost everything were angry. The people who labored were angry at banks, agribusiness and the political system that seemed unjust and unfair. Steinbeck writes about another fear, “fear… that shined a light on an inherently iniquitous system” (Warztman 193). Injustices from growers to all the way to the White House were common. Was corruption a way life in Steinbeck’s time? Steinbeck writes his vision of a society that was desperate to survive in the worst of times.
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According to Steinbeck, the labor force that binds together for a common goal is stronger than one individual. Organizing a strong union stance is the way to become strong. Steinbeck
writes about labor and groups of workers coming together that will break the system. The individual serves a purpose, but it is the group, which is strongest. In Steinbeck’s novel, it seems that once an individual has deceased or no longer is seen(due to foul play) that there is still purpose sometimes greater then when that character was alive. Even in destructiveness, there is a benefit. Take the character Joy for instance, “He’s done the first real, useful thing in his life” (Steinbeck 128). Steinbeck writes that Joy’s death is more useful then he was alive. It is through Joy’s death that can strengthen the common purpose of the strike. Even Jim’s death has more significance then he was alive. His body is used to ignite or incite the mob to action. The protagonists in the book, Jim and Mac use individuals for the common goal of uniting and strengthening the workers. There is a character named Dick. He is referenced as “… using the bedroom for political purposes” (Steinbeck 17). Dick uses his “bedroom skill” with the opposite sex as a tool for gaining favors to help the cause. In essence, Steinbeck writes about people who use other people to gain or serve a common purpose. Whether it is the political system, agribusiness or the workers themselves, this dark time in history has influenced Steinbeck and he writes about the social and political injustices in his book. He exposes a purpose to readers perhaps to the entire world he lives in.
The purpose includes violence, intimidation and any means to achieve the goal of overcoming agribusiness or the growers to achieve results. Steinbeck writes of the communist fear in America at the time. Most people believe that violence and overthrowing the government
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is the communist way. The communists in the story want to organize and overthrow big business. Steinbeck uses this theory in his writing of the story of In Dubious Battle. In reality, the communist threat in America was real. The fact that many support the “Party” in all aspects of society especially in labor has many Americans in fear. Incidents like the “Great Maritime Strike” (Wartzman 105) in 1934 polarized many Americans especially in the business community. Workers and their “bosses” were at odds about wages, living conditions, unions and the right to work. It usually started with talks and ended with violence of some sort. Steinbeck references vigilante committees that the growers used. All sides use intimidation, coercion and just plain violence.
In conclusion, Steinbeck uses examples throughout his book of human beings at their worst. Steinbeck wrote In Dubious Battle so that we can learn what was happening to human beings in all aspects of society. He wrote with a passion that had real human beings suffering at time of human misery. John Steinbeck wrote to the conscience of America.
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Works Cited
Steinbeck, John, and Warren G. French. In Dubious Battle. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Wilson, Scott. Cultural Materialism: Theory and Practice. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1995. Print.
Wartzman, Rick. Obscene in the Extreme: the Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. New York: PublicAffairs, 2008. Print.
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