Final-Research Paper

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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.

Semester Reflection

  As I reflect on what I learned this semester, I cannot help but think of how complex reading and interpreting reads are. I am used to reading novels on subjects I was interested in reading. Just read, finish and wait for something else that interests me. The literature that we read this semester changed my thinking. No, it really changed it! It was more then just reading. It was more than just a “critical theory” application. To delve and analyze the authors work was eye opening. The identification of characters in Persepolis to The Glass Menagerie and In Dubious Battle was revelation to me. I will never read a book the same again. Even reading my Bible will be different. I knew English 1B would be difficult; what journey worth taking is easy? I also learned about plays and how to go about doing a play. To see my classmates do interpretations of The Glass Menagerie was a wonderful experience. The most important  thing I am taking away from the literature is that there are deeper meanings in reads. I used to read like "skimming the surface" now it is like "deep sea diving". Each depth or layer brings something new into view. Best I can describe what I learned. Thank you Professor Knapp for direction.

Difficulty Paper

    The difficulty I found in understanding John Steinbeck’s novel, In Dubious Battle, is how Marxist/Communist ideals played a big part in America.  My understanding of the “red-scare” is very limited. It was difficult for me to understand how Marxist ideology was present in America and perhaps still is. I questioned my familiarization of farm workers. How little I know of the history of America. Researching vocabulary words from the book and researching on Marxist views and of labor in the 1930’s has given me a broader understanding of Marxism and Communism in America. As I add to my vocabulary and research on questionable subjects for my analysis, I gain so much more of an understanding of the novel and the world we live in.

Late Journal Entry- Marxist Theory Perspective

MARXIST THEORY

Jim Nolan is the product of a society of the haves and have not’s. In Steinbeck’s book, In Dubious Battle, Jim was fighting for “…-hunger mostly “(Steinbeck 19). Jim grows up feeling hopeless; fighting perhaps a rebellion against the power or people that have money. He experiences this feeling while fighting against “the establishment”, which he calls “bosses” or the authority. The people where Jim directs his anger is at the “bosses’ who Jim believes control  him and his father and who dictate their lives. Whether it is true or not, to Jim that is his reality. While incarcerated he experiences an epiphany of sorts, of people who are similarly in the same situation, that have anger but are viewed as without feeling hopelessness. It is in this setting of collective thinking or the conviction of this diverse group (while incarcerated with them), that eventually things will change in their favor.  Jim’s views change at this point. 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.

Works Cited

Steinbeck, John, and Warren G. French. In Dubious Battle. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Untited Farm Workers



Who is the voice for the children? What do they want to be when they grow up? America:Land of Opportunity!!There are high school students who work the fields so they can go to college. Do they have to pay the high tuition to have a better life? These children sometimes die in less then desirable conditions. I am one voice for the children. I pray for these children to have everything that I have and more!! God Bless them! God Bless America!!!!

I read about children, as young as twelve years old that drive tractors and work in the fields. Payment is made to parents of the children. The UFW has tackled these problems by the use of protesting, marches and of the vote. Growers and agribusiness also use the vote to hold on to their way of life which exploit children. Labor organizations for both sides goes way beyond the vote. We do not know about these situations of abuse until there is a march or pickets which has hundreds of people involved. Then it becomes news worthy. To be honest, I myself learned the situation from my English 1A class this past spring. My research took me to the UFW website. I became a member. Active in reading only. I learned of high school students working the fields to save money for college. We are so blessed to have vegetables and fruits all year round. We complain of the prices but, at what cost do the children, who provide  our needs, deal with? There is the story of Maria Jimenez. A seventeen year old, pregnant, who died of heat exhaustion, to provide grapes for us.The struggle continues on both sides: Growers and workers. Big agribusiness and the Labor movement.

  Thirty four years ago, when I was sixteen, I was told I could work only in the fields and not the cannery. How dare they think I was one of them! I was furious. Not because I was not able to work in the cannery but, for them to suggest that I work the fields. I thought I was better than that. My grandmother then lectured me on her life. Growing up in the Great Depression and what she and her family did to survive. I apologized for being unreasonable and eventually found a good job with her help. I worked in the city's  street department. A "mans" job for a sixteen year old. My reaction to the whole farm and working in the fields situation was my non-identity to the workers. I was sheltered from all this by my mother, "God Bless her heart". School in the late 60's and 70's never had lectures on Mexican-Americans. It was not until I became enrolled in college, took a course in English 1A, that I began to have identity. It is knowing where I came from, people who struggled and are still struggling to get ahead. To know that time is always moving. Years go by fast and life goes on and on. Time to stop and think. We can make a difference to all people, if we just stand still and listen to them. Then we can have a choice to go on with our life oblivious to everything around us except in our own world, or sphere of influence or actually do something to change lives. I will vote. That is one way of helping. I have a cause to believe in. I can identify now.





Final Draft- Formal Analysis Paper 1

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Charles Pollack

Professor Knapp

Eng1B

11/03/2011

Faith is the Substance of Hope

            While growing up in a violent revolution of Iran, Marjane Satrapi’s faith is shattered, due to real life situations she witnessed as a child. Satrapi’s graphic novel contains both irony and paradoxical situations. She writes about the cost of war; loss of loved ones, religion, Islamic fanaticism and social injustices she must endure on a daily basis. I will list a few examples of paradoxes, ironies and ambiguity statements in the New Criticism analysis. In a time of chaos in Iran, Marjane Satrapi’s young life is indelibly changed. Satrapi’s faith and beliefs are shown to be tested in horrible and in sometimes comical ways.  The reality of living and seeing the  consequences of social distinctions, a fundamentalist revolution and a war, the ten year old Satrapi gives in to the conflicts and loses faith altogether.  

             Satrapi claims at the age of six, “I was born with religion” (Satrapi 6). Yet at no point does she write about what religion she follows. The beginning of the book begins with the Islamic Revolution and the wearing of the veil. Satrapi states, “… [I]really did not like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to” (3). This proves she was not following Islam religion. Satrapi goes on to explain that she is very religious and describes her

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family as modern and avant-garde, a statement of ambiguity.  This contradiction is stated when she describes the time her parents had given such books with Communist and Marxist writings to enlighten her. In the beginning of Satrapi’s story, she believes in the existence of God then her values and personal system of belief disappears so that she rejects religion and faith altogether.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

           Another interesting paradox is the two types of prophet used in the novel. She states, “At the age of six, “… I was the last prophet” (6). The illustration in the novel shows four people kneeling down worshipping a young Satrapi who has a crown of light around her head like a halo. This particular meaning of prophet indicates Satrapi’s claim to interpret or transmit the commands of a deity [God]. I believe she thought that this kind of prophet was someone who has the power to heal and change situations. It is in the next use of prophet, which is the paradox.

            Utilized in another context prophet has a different meaning. Satrapi states several times about the negative situations in her family’s life. She wanted to change the segregation of classes. The maid is an example of social class distinction because she ate in another room apart from the family. Another example is her grandmothers aching knees. As a prophet, Satrapi wanted to heal the pain. However, she quotes Zarathustra, “…behave well, speak well, [and] act well” (7). It is in this use of the word prophet the meaning changes, “… as some who advocates a cause or idea” (Microsoft Encarta Dictionary). There is ambiguity in both meanings of prophet. It is difficult to determine whether she using the religious aspect of prophet or the advocacy of a just cause either way it is another use of paradox.

           A situation that is clear ambiguity is in her defeatist tendency. When asked, in her classroom, what she will be when she grows up she states, “I’ll be a prophet” (8). After the

                                                                                                                                            

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teacher informs her parents, she acquiesces to her father’s questioning and tells him, “I will be a doctor” (9).  Later that night she talks to God in her room and writes, “I felt guilty towards God” and states aloud to God, “… I will be a prophet but they mustn’t know” (9). She flip-flops in-between what she sees and what she imagines. She is beginning to see the world as it really is, consequentially she starts to lose faith. The proof is when she states, “My faith was not unshakable” (10). This is  the beginning of her defeatist attitude and the loss of her belief system.                                                                                                                                          The final paradox and irony comes when she compares God to Marx and tells God to get out of her life. Ten-year-old Satrapi read books by Karl Marx, his theory on dialectic materialism, for her enlightenment during the Iranian Revolution. Satrapi’s faith or belief in a particular religion is never stated. She has read a book about Marxism, but no references of God other than what she imagines. Satrapi illustrates images of God and Marx and writes how they resemble each other. She talks to God and tells Him when to change topics when she gets upset. Satrapi wants something more concrete than just a belief or the imaginations she conjures up. Her world and her beliefs are chaotic at best, but she continues to search for stability in her young life.

            Overall, this graphic novel, Persepolis, is about faith shattered beyond repair, losing loved ones like her Uncle Anoosh, and the loss of religion. Islamic fanaticism and the injustices that she endured daily caused the loss of her faith. In the tragedy of sorrow and heartache, she blames God and banishes Him from her life. God was her comfort and the only thing that she really believed in. She states, “And so I was lost, without any bearings…” (11) it is at this point where she is becoming secular. The irony that Satrapi’s only concession seems to be about

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seeking freedom from war and Iran. Eventually she leaves Iran to find her identity elsewhere in a chaotic world.

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Works Cited

Satrapi, Marjane, Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. Print.

           Soukhanov, Anne H. Microsoft Encarta Dictionary. New York, NY: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2002. Print.

Feed Back

The peer comments and feed back, on my rough draft, showed a weak conclusion. I will need to rewrite it with more analysis and a summing up of points at the end. A stronger conclusion to leave something with the reader to think about. And no Jim, this is not about a feel good or say something positive analysis paper however, I appreciate your comments.