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7-1-1985
John Steinbeck's concept of the individualistic
survival of the American dream
Brenda Foster Scott
Atlanta University
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Scott, Brenda Foster, "John Steinbeck's concept of the individualistic survival of the American dream" (1985). ETD Collection for AUC
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ABSTRACT
ENGLISH
SCOTT,
JOHN
THE
BRENDA FOSTER
STEINBECK'S
AMERICAN
Advisor:
Thesis
CONCEPT OF
July
The purpose
diverse
ing
Flat
of Wrath
(1939).
Elizabeth J.
of
this
The
the
common man who,
on
Of
Mice
and
of
and
people,"
the
examine
the
Men
OF
study
(1937)
author,
but
forces which
tend
to make
life,
discussion
only
of
to
the
find
that
unifying
represent
also
to
society or
him subhuman,
the
contain
focus
on
a
the
those
external
those
internal
pursues
the pursuit
themes,
are
Considered
in a continuous conflict with
a
focuses
ideas.
tends
rather
and The Grapes
only
Steinbeck
to dehumanize
three
linked by unify
not
recurrent
tend
the
to
chosen
forces which
In
is
which
novels
works
comparative elements
useful
SURVIVAL
Higgins
thesis
novels
(1935),
significant
"novelist of
1975
1985
The
Tortilla
and
INDIVIDUALISTIC
novels of John Steinbeck which are
themes.
most
THE
FISK UNIVERSITY,
DREAM
Professor
dated
B.A.
the
a
is
desirable
in
study
vain.
will
focus on Steinbeck's common people—the paisanos of Tortilla
ii
'
Flat,
and
George
the
Milton
Joad
Wrath.
family
of
personalities
also
phies
of
the
consider
Small
other
of
these
novels
between
in
literary
the
paisanos1
paisanos
lack
acceptance of
crude
chivalry
siders
the
Danny.
It
parent
those
examines
of
that which
of
is
these
is
his
his
to his
comrades
which
analysis
shows
that
the
level
as
desire
the
that
dream
of
or
the
(1)
the
basic,
and
of
the
misguided
conflicting
bourgeoisie
acts
of
brotherhood,
conflict with
the
of
chivalry
(3)
the
person's
the
a
to
result
his
to
by
for
con
his
innate
demise.
function
ap
in
The
on
described
the following:
of
the
paisanos
(2)
the
paisanos within
personal
to
the
character,
Valley,
the
the
of
also
society
traits
strug
reader's
conflicts
desire
commitment
iii
the
study
Monterey
performed
desire
and
a result of
character
study
philoso
individuality,
bourgeois
the novel becomes destroyed as
and
considers
central
lead
the
and
It
The
and the
ultimately
The
external
them as
for
Stein
life-styles
and
the
on
ideas.
Flat.
characters.
of
based
techniques
in
and Men,
The Grapes of
novels.
morality
good
struggle
considers
situations
same
Tortilla
in
the
internal
conventional
internal
loyalty
of
the
Of Mice
migrants
characters
those
in
from which the author develops his
gles of
the
and
contradictions
Chapter One
in
Lennie
The development
beck 's use
will
and
the
freedom
in
brotherhood,
and
(4)
the
lack
of
a purpose to
sustain the
bond
that had
been created by Danny and the paisanos around him.
Chapter Two examines the external forces which dominate
the
lives
Men.
It
of
considers
ments which
who has
George
tend
become
ments.
The
achieve
a
Milton
Lennie
of
of
by
shows
that
unintentionally violent
acts,
given
in
society
Lennie1s
condition,
given society
makes
described
them
who
too
destroys
the
of
the ordinary
man's
the external
forces
but
Wrath.
episodes
also
It
and
in
and
examines
attempt
which
cause
considers
human
the
a
their
George's
hope
Chapter Three
so,
possess
the
and
factors:
(1)
a
propensity
for
with
others
type
of
or
of
tolerate
within
handicap
society,
and
Lennie,
the
the
which
(4)
the
which
in
struggles
of
dream.
the
internal
to pursue
only
a
meaningful
prevent
degradation
symbolic
those philosophies which
iv
ele
George
accept
companion
both
not
of
to
own
ele
as George,
unwillingness
novel
conflicts
objectionable
final destruction
turn
(3)
the
him
the
those
and
or the desire to
several
gives
(2)
of
dehumanizing
lives
to
Of Mice
as well
dream
the
due
in
victim
same
the
in
which
Small
society
those
destroyed
Lennie,
fated
a
stability
becomes
the handicap
a
to dehumanize
analysis
Lennie also
as
entrapped
mode
and Lennie
him
in
elements
life
from
The
of
and
doing
Grapes
of
numerous
are manifested
in
the
actions of
how
the
the Joads and other migrants.
dream
or
the
desire
to
The analysis shows
regain
a
viable
existence
within the American social structure becomes virtually anni
hilated as a result of the following:
as well
as
the
economic
forcible transferral
and many
of
other migrants
stitutions,
of death
and
morality
as
(2)
exploitation
the
defined
by
degradation
of
banks
the
a
the
society
placed
that
loss
other
family
of
them.
results
by the
and
unit
morale
of
pragmatic means
upon
natural disasters,
farmed
(3)
the use of unethical yet
timate
land
to the
dissolution
desertion,
(1)
the
Joad
in
family
lending
as
and
a
a
novel,
to survive
the
in
result
loss
of
and
(4)
the
ul
JOHN
STEINBECK'S
INDIVIDUALISTIC
SURVIVAL
A
SUBMITTED
IN
TO
PARTIAL
THE
FACULTY
DEGREE
OF
THE
AMERICAN
OF
OF
OF
ATLANTA
THE
DREAM
MASTER
FOSTER
DEPARTMENT
ATLANTA,
JULY
OF
OF
SCOTT
ENGLISH
GEORGIA
1985
UNIVERSITY
REQUIREMENTS
BY
BRENDA
THE
THESIS
FULFILLMENT
THE
CONCEPT OF
ARTS
FOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Above all
is said
that
I would
like
through
Him
to thank
all
the
things
Almighty
are
God.
possible.
It
And
through Him the completion of my work has been made possible
despite the
presence
stances.
can
I
truly
like to thank Dr.
Dr.
David
writing.
Dorsey
And
seemingly
say
that
God
insurmountable
is
Elizabeth Higgins,
for
their
expertise
able.
Dr.
in
finally I would especially
gratitude to Johnnie
desire to aid me
be
of
appreciated.
Robinson
in the
God
final
bless
all
circum
I would
also
Charles Duncan and
advising me
like
in my
to express my
and Geoffrey Roberts.
Their
stages of my work will always
of
VI
you.
TABLE
OF
CONTENTS
Paqe
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
vi
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER
1
ONE:
TORTILLA
FLAT
-
MAN
AND
HIS
UNREALISTIC
DREAMS
14
CHAPTER
TWO:
OF
MICE
AND MEN
REALISTIC
-
THE
DESTRUCTION
OF
DREAMS
38
CHAPTER THREE:
THE
GRAPES
VALID
AND
OF WRATH
ESSENTIAL
-
DESTRUCTION OF
DREAMS
58
CONCLUSION
85
BIBLIOGRAPHY
90
VII
INTRODUCTION
The novels
levels.
That
of
fact
John
Steinbeck
is due
in part
are
diverse
to his
a novelist, which enabled him to create
a variety
phical
of
structures
aspects
of
his
circumstances which
portion of
childhood was
to
are
the
life
in
north
in
reveals
his greatest
the
and
areas
south
of
of
as
literary works with
and
manifested
some of
spent
themes,
several
experimentation
in part
life which placed him
Steinbeck's
which he derived
valleys
and
on
his
in
to
fascinating
work.
various
The
from
Steinbeck's
Pajaro
Salinas
early
sources
fiction.
the
biogra
and
and
the
Jalon
Gabilan
Mountains and Pacific Ocean to the east and west of Salinas.1
It
is
in
these
habitants who
Row,
of
would
that
be
Sweet Thursday,
three
hood was
the world
and
areas
works
to
be
extremely
the
and,
became
focus
him.
sensitive
of
He
to
of
familiar
such
particularly,
discussed
characteristic
around
he
a
was
its
in
this
young
very
Ipeter Lisca, "John Steinbeck:
works
as
Tortilla
study.
boy
much
processes
with
very
His
they
one
child
cognizant
of
in
Cannery
Flat,
aware
as
the
of
nature,
relate
to
A Literary Biography,"
in Steinbeck and His Critics, comp. E. W. Tedlock, Jr. and
C. V. Wicker (Alburquerque:
University of New Mexico Press,
1957),
p.
3.
2
man.
He
were
of
wrote
of
those
significance.
...the way
the
aspects
of
his
Such memories
sparrows
early
life
which
as
hopped
about
on
the
mud
street early in
the morning when I [Steinbeck]
was little... [and] the most
tremendous morning
in
the
colt...^
would have
pressed
The
little
him
birth of
Red
world
when
as
a
colt would
years
in
others;
child.
become
high school,
ford University,
were
that would
become
much of
later
that
time
That
had
however,
a
they
experience
explicit
point,
laboring
surface
in
as
Dubious
Battle,
chosen
for
Wrath,
the
the
discussion
final
ford was
periences
Tortilla
that
of
2ibid., p.
Of
a
a
He
4.
road
in
his
in
this
a
im
of
short
indicated
in
years
the
novel
a
Those
and
this
He
hired
the
at Stan
experiences
novels.
study,
in
spent
hand
and,
experiences
such
second
works
novel
The Grapes
study.
of
Another
life as a student at Stan
sugar
the Mexicans
as
Men,
discussed
chemist
his
characters
and
his
the
various
gang.
the
Mice
within
in
ranches
of
held during
there with
Flat.
lives
on
as
with
evident
on
novel
position which he
as well
occupied
working
would
In
to
pony
Pony.
His
at one
[Steinbeck's]
importance
greatly
the
my
beet
became
that
there
factory;
another
were
his
source
"some
ex
for
fine
3
little things
that
happened
was assistant
chief
in
chemist
the
amd
big
sugar
majordomo
mill
of
when
about
I
sixty
Mexicans and Yaquis taken from the jails of northern Mexico"
which were to be used in the novel.■*
After Stanford,
Steinbeck
several disappointments
works,
as a
several
result
jobs
he
as
and
to
reporter,
as
common worker.
as
Lake Tahoe and as a
ies.
During that obscure
ed by
the
Depression of
Cup of Gold,
not
until
the
Steinbeck
to work
which
at
1929,
publication
odd
jobs
but
He
only
to
gain
obtained positions
laborer in fish
he
published
relatively
of
success
to
York
hatcher
period, which was also overshadow
too was
experienced
New
and deckhand—and
California,
more experience
caretaker on
in
disillusionments—unpublished
laborer,
returned
a
experienced
his
unsuccessful.
Tortilla Flat
as
a writer
compensate
first
for
and
works
in
novel,
It was
1935
no
that
longer
not
had
published
and published works that were unsuccessful.^
Steinbeck's previous
experiences with
"grass-roots"
information
derived
labor
during
1930's
strikes
successful
Battle.
treatment
the
of
a
His sympathy with
"Biography,"
4ibid., p.
9.
from
workers
became
California
6-7.
the
strike
the common man
pp.
laborers and
involved
source
in
In
of
his
in
his
Dubious
in America becomes
4
evident,
as his concerns were
communists or
capitalists
but
not
"with his protagonists
rather
as
humans
'subject
as
to
the weaknesses of humans and to the greatnesses of humans.'"5
Furthermore,
Steinbeck
nia.^
the
publication
as an authority on
of
the
this
novel
established
labor conflicts of Califor
While briefly commissioned to write articles for the
Nation and
problems,
the
San Francisco News
concerning
current
labor
he wrote:
This thing is very dangerous.
Maybe it will be
patched up for a while,
but I look for the lid
to
blow
off in a
few weeks.
Issues are very
sharp here now.?
After the
publication
Steinbeck experienced
as
the
of
rousing
a novel and as a Broadway play.
with the
laborers
Steinbeck found
were
himself
not
in
so
he,
finally
accept a
$1000
involved with
where
thereafter
he
associated
from Oklahoma to
their plight that
persuaded
contract
to
6Ibid., p. 11.
do
at
otherwise,
from Hollywood
5Lisca, "Biography," p. 10.
7Ibid.
both
his connections
Shortly
they traveled
1937,
of the work
However,
Oklahoma,
in
He lived in the federal camps with the workers
and became
though
and Men
success
destroyed.
with the migrant workers as
California.
Of Mice
for his
one point
planned
work
to
on Of
5
Mice and Men for the purpose of giving
grants.
His
concern was
genuine,
for
the money to the mi
he wrote
"I'm sorry, but I simply can't make money on
to
an
agent:
these people...
the suffering is too great for me to cash in on it."8
life with
work,
ors
the migrants provided
The Grapes of Wrath.
for
this
election
to
novel,
the
Steinbeck
group of
the
received
migrant
from pieces
of
including
and
humble,
laborers
their
the
of
Arts
several
Prize
and
a
and
hon
and
an
Letters.
attention,
noteworthy,
him
shirt-tails
received
international
but
sent
for his greatest
Pulitzer
Institute
national
one
source
Steinbeck
National
During all
the
His
honor.
patchwork
dresses
dog
and
"A
sewn
bearing
around its neck a tag with the inscription 'Migrant John.'"9
It
of
his
is on
years
California
beck,
Mice
and
and
those of Steinbeck's novels which are
of
that
association
this
(1937),
cording
to
America
Dreamer,"
suggests
study
particularly
Men
with
Frederick
fall
focuses.
the
and
novels
The
Ives
into
that Steinbeck,
The
of
novels
Tortilla
Grapes
Carpenter
distinct
Oklahoma
Flat
of Wrath
in
of
(1939),
"John
categories.
13.
and
Stein
(1935),
Of
ac
Steinbeck:
Carpenter
using a partisan technigue,
8Lisca, "Biography," p.
9Ibid.
laborers
products
reveals
6
characters who
that he
are
dreamers
[Steinbeck]
destroyed."
depicts
Secondly,
"dreamers...with
"with
imperfect
"dreams
Steinbeck
increasing
which
are
describes
realism;
realism:
and
selfish
and
dispassionately
but...[with]
dreams
which, for one reason or another, were doomed to defeat."10
Steinbeck
himself on various
support Carpenter's
on
the
the
observation.
character of Mexicans,
sale
of Tortilla
can't remember
on a
occasions made
mental
remarked
of
"Mexico
I
Of
about
equal
made there
Mice
and
I
Men
fades
to reply concerning
of Wrath,
talk
and
he
noted
watching
that
them
thus
very
in depth
to
our dream
the
novel
was
was
"simply
hoping
that
by
I
live
level.
He later
"a
study
of
still later, when
the political nature of
act,
there
all dreamlike. "H
that
he
quickly.
the people
the dreams and pleasures of everyone."12
asked
commented
trip made possible
think
are
that
Steinbeck
after a
it very well.
level
The contacts
Flat;
statements
The
listening
the
Grapes
to
projection
men
of
the microcosm will define the outline of the macrocosm."13
comp.
^Frederick Ives Carpenter, Steinbeck and His Critics,
E.
W.
University of
ULisca,
Tedlock,
New
Jr.
and
"Biography," p.
12Ibid., p. 11.
13Ibid., p.
C.
Mexico Press,
13.
9.
V.
1957),
Wicker
p.
77.
(Albuquerque:
7
Here the migrants represent diminutive figures in search of
a
universal
dream.
Throughout these rather diverse novels,
though at
pose.
different
stages,
In portraying
tive of the
common man
consistent
in
al
his pur
the common people he remains descrip
"interplay
there
remains
Steinbeck,
is
of dream and reality."14
the perpetual desire
for
For the
the
American
dream, which is the realization of the desirable and useful
aspects of life,
and the continuous struggle to attain that
dream.
For
Steinbeck's
that of
acceptance
tion in their
with the
common man
chapters,
society.
those
It
relation to
its
is
forces
of
forces
The
which
to
which
study
dream
continuous
tends
is
examines
category
a
becomes
freedom from exploita
also the
which
internal
subhuman.
each
such
into society and
external
society or
characters
one
dehumanize
tend
to
divided
of
of development,
reveals Steinbeck's shift from romantic,
conflict
make
into
these
the
the
three
novels
in
a procedure which
idealistic dreamers
to realistic, pragmatic dreamers, all of whom suffer the ex
periences
of
having
their
Chapter One entitled,
realistic
Dreams,"
14Carpenter,
is
a
illusions
shattered.
"Tortilla Flat — Man and His Un
study
of
Steinbeck's
"American Dreamer", p.
68.
common man,
a
8
person who
seeks
The author's
dreams
that
are
characterization of
impractical
the
paisanos
in
nature.
of the
novel
will reveal the character's lack of that conventional moral
ity which
is
characteristic
It also
examines
the
them as
a
of
result
of
their
as well
as
"Escape and
Steinbeck;
the
A
which
chivalry.
comparison
parallels
governing
Commitment,"
The Man
that
class.
is
good
in
Their
code
of
features similar to that of Thomas
demonstrates
between
American middle
of
crude
Morte d'Author.
each work
the
acceptance
chivalry has allegorical
Malory's
of
as
of
vital
between
themes.
discussed
structures
The
by
and His Works, will
the
concept
Peter
be
elements
Lisca
examined
of
in
in
terms of Danny's relationship to the
fraternity and his de
sire for
result
individual
character
traits,
the
inhabitants
for
independence,
its distorted
the
of
dreams,
As
a
misconceived
the
the
Chapter Two,
table
freedom.
Monterey
Valley
brotherhood
is
idea
of
of
and
of
destructive
benevolence
Danny's
paisanos,
to
desire
along
with
destroyed.
entitled,
"Of Mice and Men
—
The
Inevi
Destruction of Realistic Dreams," examines the friend
ship of
George
dream possible
Milton
and
the
- Lennie's
handicap.
tardation,
has
a
and
Lennie
Small
which
makes
circumstances which defeat
Lennie,
predilection
who
for
is
a
their
the dream
victim of mental
unintentional
re
violence.
9
In both
does
the
not
ing a
novel
tolerate
and
the
this
actual
condition;
functional part of society
concept of non-teleological
tors
that
destroy
world,
thus,
society
and
the dream of becom
is destroyed.
thinking will
the dream of
cannot
Steinbeck's
reveal other
both George
and Lennie.
fac
To
accept Steinbeck's concept, one must consider the principles
of this ideology.
In Lester J.
Marks'
discussion of Stein
beck's novels, he presents the author's definition as it re
lates
to Steinbeck's works:
..."teleological thinking"... is frequently asso
ciated with the evaluating of causes and effects,
the purposiveness of events.
This kind of think
ing considers changes and cures—what "should be"
in terms of an end pattern... it presumes the bet
tering of conditions, often...without achieving
more than a
conditions.
superficial understanding of those
In their sometimes
intolerant re
fusal to face facts as they are, teleological
notions may substitute a fierce but ineffectual
attempt to change conditions which are assumed
to be undesirable, in place of the understanding
—acceptance which would pave
the way
for
sensible attempt at any change which might
be indicated.1*
Steinbeck's treatment
reveals rejection
natural process
alize
of
of
of
the
the
characters
ideas
things.
of
in
"change
He does
not
feeble
attempt
15Lester Jay
Marks,
John Steinbeck
(Paris:
to understand
and
The
cure"
attempt to
and
Thematic Design
Mouton,
still
Of Mice and Men
the major occurrence in the plot, which,
would be a
a more
Hague,
in the
ration
he considers,
change
elements
in the Novels of
1971),
p.
20.
10
of existence
cal
as
his
itself.
ideas
...through
He,
are
"is"
therefore,
becomes non-teleologi-
reasoned
thinking,
associated with natural
selection as Darwin seems to have understood it.
They imply depth, fundamentalism, and clarity—
seeing beyond
traditional
or
personal
projec
tions.
They consider events as outgrowths and
expressions rather
than
as
results;
conscious
acceptance as a desideratum, and certainly as an
all-important
prerequisite.
Non-teleological
thinking concerns itself primarily not with what
should be, or could be, or might be, but rather
with what
actually
"is"—attempting at most to
answer the already sufficiently difficult ques
tions what and how, instead of why.16
Marks'
view
beck's]
of
Steinbeck's
scientific
approach
essentially emotional
reconcilation
to
life
and
religiousness"
is
of
his
"his
view
examined
[Stein
of man's
as
it
re
lates to his treatment of the illusions of the characters.17
According to
cal,
as
he
to exist
of
Lennie
this
critic,
allows
in
a
series
the human
Small.
Steinbeck
of
unexplained,
condition
Again,
the
remains
and
inner
to
non-teleologi
fateful
result
struggle
events
in the death
that
emanates
from the concepts of "Escape and Commitment" will be examined
as
it relates to George, who
desirable
The
is destined never
to realize a
life.
final chapter,
struction of
Valid
entitled,
and
Essential
16Marks, Thematic Design, p.
17Ibid., p.
19.
"The
21.
Grapes
Dreams,"
of Wrath - De
will
reveal
11
through several aspects of
ity
abil
to function independently within a social structure.
considers
the
external
from establishing
a
nature,
and
tradition,
tually making
the
breakers. 1^
Tom Joad,
Jim
natural
and
the
cesses
of
prevent
the
Joad
existence—the
family
forces
of
the financial establishment—as even
and
examined
Casey.
and
other migrants
a higher
meaningful
events
process
Steinbeck
that
It
other migrants,
pragmatic
law
Steinbeck's ideology of non-teleological
be
to observe
forces
Joads,
thinking will
and
the annihilation of a man's
remains
level
the
major
Although he
of
to
as
in
the
novel
consider
common
esthetically
of meaning
to
the mere
a
in
Ma
Joad,
scientifically
occurrences
actions
as
aware,
seems
as
the
to man
characters
of
the
in
a
Joads
species
of
that
attributes
he
existence
of
animal,
the pro
nature.
Man is man because he has the ability to perceive
his position in the macrocosm, to perceive that
he is related to the whole thing.
Man discovers
and reaffirms that all things are one thing and
that one thing
is all things.
And it is this
discovery of
the
physical
unity
of
all
things
that provides
him
with
his
faith
in
a
vast
spiritual unity.^
The view
use of
Ungar
the
of
oneness
philosophy
18Paul McCarthy,
Publishing
Co.,
of
in
turn
is
manifested
Transcendentalism.
John Steinbeck (New York:
1980),
p.
77.
19Marks, Thematic Design, p. 82.
through his
This
philo-
Frederick
12
sophy will be
cape and
studied as it
Commitment"
Casey, especially
for
in
relates to the concept of
the
their
characters
desire
for
their sense of social consciousness.
Ives Carpenter
in his
discussion
Tom Joad
"Es
and
Jim
individuality
and
According to Frederick
of Transcendentalism,
the
concept includes a number of forms, philosophical and reli
gious as well
relates to
as
these
societal.
areas,
talism is as follows:
to Idealism,
as
it
In defining
Carpenter
(1)
was
states
philosophically,
conceived
(Emerson derives his view
the
from
by
that
of
Transcenden
Waldo
there
not previously
there was
a
in
was
the
very
nothing
in
experience
important
class
the
of
of
It is his
intellect
the
Emerson
Immanuel Kant and
John Locke and from the philosophy of Buddhism).
belief "that
it
it is comparable
Ralph
ideals
concept as
which
senses
ideas
[and]
or
was
that
imperative
forms which did not come by experience but through which ex
perience was
on the
full
idea
acquired...;"20
that
the
soul
concurrence...[furthermore]
sought to reassert
I
"human
(2)
am1 )
and
to
religiously,
and
the
it
divine
20Frederick Ives
His
manifestations
Carpenter,
in
based
[were]
Transcendentalism
the mysterious nature of God
rediscover
is
('I
in
merely
am that
nature
and
"Transcendentalism,"
in
American Transcendentalism;
An Anthology of Criticism, ed.
Brian M.
Barbour
(Notre Dame:
University
of
Notre Dame
Press,
1973),
p.
24.
13
in the soul of man;"21
the belief
a
new
in
that
hope,
the
all
and
nature
in
societally, Transcendentalism is
members
all
and
(3)
of
social
companies
resources
of
do
signify
man,
popular opinions will well allow."22
ples
that
The
focus on
the
characters
conclusion
the
will
failure
of
develop
in
than
a
adhere
greater
the
laws
"to
trust
or
the
it is on these princi
the
reemphasize
the
structure
novel.
those
elements
ordinary
laborer
to
on
which
during
the
j
i
years
of
the
Great
Depression
exist
a
level
that
is
]
i
characteristic
ful
and
of
the
purposeful
21carpenter,
22Ibid., p.
desire
of
all
Americans
to
lives.
"Transcendentalism," pp.
29.
26-28.
lead
use-
(
CHAPTER ONE
TORTILLA
Tortilla
man who
FLAT —
Flat
seeks
of
become
the
functional
the
paisanos
a
middle-class
necessary
later, on
the
in
an
the
nature.
attempt
Monterey
social
on
Valley
In
the
to
structure with
characteristics
in
the
the establishment of
the basis of
common
middle
the un
these romantic illu
one can see how character traits as well as misguided
adventure
result
First,
a
in destroyed
look
at
the
part of
the American middle
ing
First
World
the Monterey Bay,
his
boyhood.
bay
consists of
differing
As
War.
illusions.
paisanos
ground gives an insight into
the
is
DREAMS
for
impractical
from
One must consider first
realistic dream;
sions,
are
concern
impracticality
of
in
UNREALISTIC
Steinbeck's
that
novel
group
out possessing
class.
shows
dreams
this particular
part
MAN AND HIS
class
in
structures.
"The
during
setting
an area very
two distinct
the
cultural
the constant struggle
The
indicated
and
familiar
the
to become
the period
for
to
preface
this
follow
novel
Steinbeck
to
the
back
is
in
during
novel,
the
parts which establish markedly
lower
parts
of
the
town
are
in
habited by American-Italians, catchers and canners of fish."l
Ijohn Steinbeck,
Books,
1935) ,
p.
Tortilla Flat
1.
14
(New
York:
Penguin
15
The upper
part
forest and
of
the
the town
1).
It
is
here
are embattled as
These
are
the
ing
the
is
"the
the
hill
where
the
streets
free of street
old
inhabitants
also
(p.
the
a paisano?
in
of
Monterey
in Wales.
1).
becomes
of
are
the
lights..."
the ancient Britons are embattled
paisanos
What
that
"on
where
the corners
paisanos"
Steinbeck
is
intermingle,
nocent of asphalt and
(p.
valley
very
explicit
in
characteriz
higher valley.
He
is
a
mixture
of
Spanish,
Indian, Mexican, and assorted Caucasian bloods.
His ancestors have lived in California for a hun
dred or two years.
He speaks English with a pai
sano accent and Spanish with a paisano accent.
When questioned concerning his race, he indig
nantly claims pure Spanish blood and rolls up
his sleeve to show that the soft side of his arm
is nearly white.
His color, like that of a wellbrowned meerschaum pipe, he ascribes to sunburn.
He
What
is
a paisano...(p.
distinguishes
the
2).
paisanos
lower half of Monterey is at first
concerning which Steinbeck's
his view of
the
Ricketts,
marine
with
Steinbeck
sulted
man,
a
in
react
the
from
the
people
of
the
their racial distinction,
influence
from Ed
Ricketts
and
cephalopods of Monterey Bay become evident.
biologist,
that
lasted
shared
shared
for
almost
philosophy
differently
as
a
that
individual
close
two
relationship
decades
animals,
organisms
and
re
including
and
as
members of a group.2
Steinbeck's descriptions become char-
2Richard Astro,
John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts
(Minneapolis:
52.
The
University of
Minnesota
Press,
1973),
p.
16
acteristic of
both
taxonomy,
sification of
organisms,
and
the
scientific
ecology,
the
study
of
scientific
clas
study
of those organisms and their relationship to their environ
ment.
well
Steinbeck
as
also
philosophical
emphasizes
cultural
attitudes
concerning
backgrounds
their
way
as
of
life with regard to habits, customs, and tradition.3
One can
easily
live
in
it
Monterey] as
the
paisanos
do
[the
when
climate
of
it
pleases
them, with a minimum of clothing
and shelter.
They can
sleep,
as
for centuries before
them,
their Indian ancestors did,
in the wood
or on
the beach.
They gain their food, as did their
Indian ancestors, by latter-day version of hunt
ing, fishing, gathering, and barter, with minimum
recourse to so-called gainful employment and the
use of money.
They eat what has been tradition
ally consumed in the area for centuries—beans,
tortillas, some vegetables and fruit, some chick
en and
fish
or
other
meat
protein—and
they
drink the wine of California
or anything
else
they can get hold of.4
The
philosophical
tributed
to
two
code
exhibited
by
the paisanos
can
be
at
factors:
...negatively or conservatively,
by means
of a
Thoreau-like economy to protect the integrity of
[as seen in the
the organism as biological man
actions of the paisano fraternity]; and positive
ly or liberally, by way of promulgating and sanc
tion—a romantic image of a lifestyle for the man
conceived as a conscious, self-regulating indivi-
^Charles Metzger,
Steinbeck: The
sumaro Hayashi
1971), p. 143.
4Ibid, pp.
"Steinbeck's
Man and His
(Corvallis:
142-143.
Mexican-American,"
in
Work, ed. Richard Astro and TetOregon State University Press,
17
dual
[as seen in the actions of Danny as an indi
vidual] .5
First,
the
paisanos,
and
particularly
the
paisano
brotherhood of Danny and his friends, display the tradition
al for the paisano,
as well as Transcendental,
living economically.
mode of
living
Mexican and
sanos live
and
a life of
The code,
of
governed
the
in a Transcendental
simplicity,
emphasizing
that
existence
paisanos;
and possession—and
bourgeoisie live.
For
in the novel,
be
the middle
have
of American
attacked
the
As
no
amounts,
life
is
by
them
paisano
5Metzger,
life,
of
how
the
the
minimal
indicates
and,
(p.
ethics,
although
"Mexican-American," p.
2).
is
they
143.
not
will,
early
free of com
having
mortgaged,
vigorously"
commercial
they
and the minimal use of
Steinbeck
or
seems
class—ownership
concept
business,
exploited,
at Walden.
unlike Thoreau,
authentic
a living.
stolen,
being governed
part of
minimal
they are "clean of commercialism,
plicated systems
has not
them
on
or the possession of, money,
effort to maintain
that can
as one would according to
however,
therefore
both
sense the pai
Thoreau during his time
lack the social awarenesses of
use of,
the paisanos1
can be traced back to their ancestors,
Indian,
the code which
to be
In a traditional sense,
character of
nothing
that
The
an
at
system
system,
integral
a
later
18
point,
in
fact
group lives
apply some
in
of
a manner that
its
is
standards.
Secondly,
contradictory
to that
the
man
dated by the "so-called Protestant work-ethic."6
They do
not
work
in
order
to
avoid
idleness
or
sin.
They do not accept the concept of sin as a
chastening and
regulating
instrument.
Rather,
they look upon the sinful act...as an unfortunate
human fact to be punished or forgiven as each
act warrants.
They do not work to gain or defend
the status, the approval, the luxury, that derive
from traditionally symbolized wealth.7
Steinbeck's paisanos
social structure
Flat.
of
the
function
upper
successfully
part
They are in effect "dropouts"
al society,
yet
of
Monterey,
exhibits
Tortilla
equal within the
unconventionality.8
level,
they are not
in conflict with themselves or others.
It is
signs of
industry
and
of
which
respect
for
they
on
as
this
occasions during
exist
long
(Danny
those
friends)
So
the paisanos
only on
and his
the
from their convention
they remain competitively
structure which
within
attempt
others
that
to
show
the
un
realistic dream becomes1 established and the struggle becomes
evident.
Danny,
the army,
is unwillingly
6Metzger,
upon
returning
thrust
home
from
his
service
into the work-ethic
"Mexican-American,"
p.
in
of the
144.
7lbid.
8Peter Lisca,
"Escape
The Man and His Works,
Hayashi,
p.
78.
(Corvallis:
ed.
and
Commitment,"
Richard
Astro
in
and
Steinbeck;
Tetsumaro
Oregon State University Press,
1971),
19
middle class
by
houses.
ownership
The
becoming
that accompanies
society,
are
than
that
of
of
of
by
being
his
to his
property
ownership,
rejected
undue burden
an heir
lifted
Such
into
Pilon
is with
come
thee,
above thy
Thou wilt
as
who
in
turn
to Danny.
Pilon1s
as
when
rents
initial
the
tablish
any
Danny.
to
Pablo,
that
of
a
of
So
are
of
brandy"
all
the
it
lifted
the
(p.
become
second
second
becomes
home
home
of
9).
thrust
more
terms
into
to
to
a
Pilon,
pay
evident
rent
with
rental:
his own house;
paying
burden
portion
desiring
(p.
rent
for
of
more
and
the
rental,
of
his
home
an
improved
and Pilon
13).
becomes
of paying
of
the
in
elevation
ownership
no means
means
rent
class
grumbling, but he would have agreed
for he saw the elevation that came
feel
To eliminate
Pablo
causes the
social
away.
Thou
his
dream
acceptance
irony
that Pilon has
rents
portions
into a man who lived
Steinbeck's
higher
flies
their
friends,
Danny
Pilon agreed,
to much more,
to
charity
even
his
However,
longed
ownership
modern
"If I had money I
friends.
But let
once-friend.
thee,
well
higher status
by
friends.
Thou art a man of property.
forget
thy
friends who
share
every
thing with
Danny,
my
and
responsibility
sought
a
two
reflects:
When one is poor, one thinks,
would share it with my good
that money
the
standards
Danny.
friends.
and
grandfather's
for
apparent,
no desire
rental
Pilon
the
means
of
in
to es
property.
persuades
sum
owed
to
existence,
20
agrees.
However,
only
Pilon
knows
his
true
intent:
Pilon sighed with relief.
He has not realized
how the debt to Danny
rode
on his
shoulders.
The fact that he was fairly sure Pablo would
never pay any rent did not mitigate his triumph.
If Danny should ever ask for money, Pilon could
say, "I
will
pay
when
Pablo
pays
(p.
19).
The parasitism that
exists
the
the
brotherhood
Pilon
and
Pablo
of
in the
nature
paisanos
persuade
Jesus
of the members
becomes
Maria
more
Cocoran
apparent
to
rent
tion of the house for the precise amount due Danny.
beck
a
of
as
por
Stein
noticeably contrasts the character of Jesus Maria Cor
coran with that of Big Joe Portagee.
presentative
of gross
Jesus Maria
becomes
fraternity.
The
family
ethnic
of
legacy
attitude and
Tortilla Flat.
difficulty
in
the
of
rental
his
insensitivity within
the
paradigm
contrasts
Jesus Maria's
name,
Irish
which
descent,
Therefore
persuading
of
becomes
generous
Danny's
Just as Big Joe
acts
Pilon
him
to
humanity
indicates
of
and
also
re
the brotherhood,
apparent
but
is
within
not
his
in
Pablo
relinquish
in
non-Chicano
his
kindness
only
the
selfless
to
many
have
his
little
money
house.
Pilon walked
beside
Jesus
Maria,
touching him
now and then under the elbow to remind him that
he was not a well man.
They took him to their
house and laid him on a
cot and,
although the
day was warm, they covered him with an old com
forter.
Pablo spoke movingly of those poor ones
who writhed and suffered with tuberculosis.
And
then Pilon pitched his voice to sweetness.
He
spoke with reverence of the joy of living in the
little house...At last Pilon and Pablo moved in
in
for
21
on Jesus Maria as silent hunting Airedales con
verge on
their prey.
They
rented the
use
of
their house to Jesus for fifteen dollars a month
(p.
On one
26).
hand,
figures of
istic
hood
the
the
paisanos
American
nature
of
this
refuses
to
accept
have
middle
dream
established
class;
becomes
the
themselves
however,
evident
the
as
responsibilities
as
unreal
the
brother
a
bourgeois
of
existence.
Steinbeck's characters,
culture,
are
in
middle-class
in conflict
blatantly
structure.
parallels
conflict with
vision;
as
a
and
the
result
of
contrasts
They
its
by virtue of
with
possess
features
the
with
tradition and
standards of
the American
brotherhood
formed
their
of
that
a
the
code
of
code
of
that
of
a
by
Danny
conduct,
middle-class
chivalry,
Thomas
as
is
which
social
Steinbeck
Malory's
Morte
d'Arthur.
For Danny's house was not unlike the Round Table,
and Danny's friends were not unlike the knights
of it.
And this is the story of how that group
came into being,
of how
it flourished and grew
to be an organization beautiful and wise.
This
story deals
with
the
adventuring
of
Danny's
friends, with
the
good
they
did,
with
their
thoughts and
their
endeavors.
In
story tells
how
the talisman was
the group disintegrated (p. 1).
During
clearly
Joseph
Fontenrose's
outlines
structures
those
as well
as
discussion
elements
theme.
which
The
the
end,
lost
of
this
and
Tortilla
demonstrate
sequence
how
of
Flat
he
parallel
events
in
the
22
novel parallel
those
Arthur who had
inherited
father's houses.
of
Malory,
a
He had
with
kingdom,
become
a
Danny,
being
inheriting
lord
of
the
that
his
grand
land
by ex
periencing '"the mystic quality of owning a house.1"9
newly crowned
king
experienced
just as Danny experiences
and
his
subjects
and the Round Table
is
with
his
subjects,
the problem of the collection of
rent from Pilon and Pablo.
(Danny)
trouble
The
As
in Morte d'Arthur,
(Pilon
and Pablo)
established,
are
as Danny
the king
reconciled
invites Pablo
and Pilon to move in with him after the burning of the rent
ed house.10
They
become
devoted
share a sense of loyalty that
well
as
of
to
each
other,
and
they
is a result of camaraderie as
tradition.
The men that Danny collects about him - Big Joe,
the Pirate,
Jesus
Maria,
Pilon,
Pablo
-
respect
one another.
The men take
in the Pirate as a
member and accept his five dogs as a part of the
brotherhood.
They
allow
Pilon
their activities
because
he
ability at logic.
Big Joe's
cepted,
and Jesus Maria's
are honored.H
As Fontenrose
with those
of
parallels
Arthur,
the
one
9Joseph Fontenrose,
and Noble,
Inc.,
1963),
to
humanitarian
adventures
notes
the
of
36.
Hayashi,
A
out
his
ac
instincts
Danny's
unrefined
John Steinbeck
p.
reason
is
fond
of
bluntness is
(New
knights
nature
York:
of
Barnes
lOlbid.
llTetsumaro
(Metuchen,
N.J.:
Study
The Scarecrow Press,
Guide
Inc.,
to
Steinbeck
1976),
p.
226.
23
their activities,
which
with conventional
society.
aid
Pelleas
the
ingenuity of Pilon,
seek
turns
with
out
its
the
saved
the
the
(the
Franciscan
the
Pirate
intention
d'Assisi
as
to
of
purchase
Italian
Pirate
using
the
as
knights
so do Danny,
through
aid
a
the
Pirate with
under
means
treasure
who
conflict
his
candlestick
saint
and
unscrupulous.
the
a
in
circumstances
remains
of
them
Arthur
and his knights
However,
attention
for
Just
puts
in his search for the Grail,
his treasure.12
they
ultimately
The
of
that
for
became
which
support,
the
San
group
Pirate
Francesco
founder
of
the
order):
Then Pilon spoke.
He told the Pirate that worry
was killing his
friends,
but
if he would live
with them,
then
they
could
sleep
again
with
their minds at ease..."poor little lonely man,"
Danny added.
"If
I
had
known,
I
would
have
asked him long ago, even if he had no treasure"
(pp.
Once
46-47).
again,
sanos
under
establish an
the
pretext
unethical
of
genuine
means
of
concern,
the pai-
support.
The demon women in Malory's version also manifest
selves
becomes
of
in
a
the
temptation
loyalty,
love
characters
the
to
of
Tortilla
Danny
brotherhood
in
the
seeks
to
Flat.
novel.
free
Sweets
Ramirez
In
display
Danny
affair which has preoccupied their leader and
l^Fontenrose, Steinbeck, p.
36.
them
a
from
has
the
drawn
24
him away
played,
from the group.
becomes
It becomes
the
rather
means
evident
Dolores Engracia
awkward
Their use of violence,
as
by
the
Ramirez,
love
which
the
paisanos
who
has
deed
often dis
will
declare
entangled
be
war
done.
against
Danny
in
a
affair.
At first his
friends
ignored his absence,
for it is the right of every man to have these
little affairs.
But the weeks went on, and as a
rather violent domestic life began to make Danny
listless and pale, his friends became convinced
that Sweets' gratitude for the sweeping-machine
was not to Danny's best physical interest.
They
were jealous of a situation that was holding his
attention so
long...Wherefore
the
friends,
in
despair, organized a group for and dedicated to
her destruction
Still
with
further,
that
of
(p.
76).
Fontenrose parallels
Teresina
Cortez
and
the
"her
children of doubtful paternity."13
the paisanos1
ever,
are
during
this
unacceptable
does
not
been
reared
of
attempt
the
only
society
the
steal
on
from
chivalry
diet
of
crude
To
the
beans,
the
a modern
her
evident.
aid
Jesus
ill owing
society.
13Fontenrose, Steinbeck, p.
brood
of
36.
family.
How
elements
that
The
family,
Maria
merchants
to have the children become
nutritious
and
become
means.
completely
group,
at
inumerable
Benevolence is shown in
aid Teresina
attempt
to
justify
to
rescue of Guinevere
of
to
and
end
which
the
Tortilla
the
result
has
others
Flat,
healthful,
25
Theirs
[the
paisanos]
was
no
idle
boast.
Fish
they collected.
The
vegetable
patch
of
the
Hotel Del Monte they raided.
It was a glorious
game.
Theft
robbed
of
the
stigma
of
theft,
crime
altruistically
committed—what
is
more
gratifying (p. 109)?
The paisanos
mitted
in
a
this
bean warehouse;
receive their
Ultimately,
correct
proper,
or
the paisanos'
physically as well
as
error
thus,
at
by
the
least
more
thefts
children
com
of Teresina
accustomed,
nutrition.
chivalrous acts become gratifying
emotionally:
...Teresina discovered, by a method she found to
be infallible,
that
she
was
going
to
have
a
baby. As
she poured a guart
of new beans into
the kettle, she wondered idly which one of Danny's
friends was responsible (p. 111).
The best of their ethics is impulsive kindness
as evidenced by...their kindness to Teresina and
her...children...The
kindness
involved
on a considerable scale.14
The means—burglaries—is
ed gualities
the group's
of
the
being
In Arthur's
child,
Galahad,
most elegant.1^
corporal with,
Review
2
characteristic of
brotherhood
outcasts
court
who
In Danny's
however,
a
appears
rises
to
a
to
results
social
old
man
magnitude
appears
with
worthy
a
36.
in
norm.
a
and
Mexican
child whose destiny
R. Gibbs, "John Steinbeck,
(Summer 1942): 177.
l^Fontenrose, Steinbeck, p.
the
an
court there
sickly
the unrestrain
ultimately
according
there
later
and
burglary
is
to
Moralist," Antioch
26
be greater than that of
his
father.
As a
result of
the hu-
manitarianism of Jesus Maria Corcoran,
the paisanos befriend
the young
child.
who had
Mexican
been
corporal
standing
the scene of
on
with
his
Alvarado
Street,
the corporal who had been
Jesus
has
Maria,
encountered
in conflict with the
policeman because of the policeman's inability to understand
the corporal's
the corporal
Spanish and
to sit with his child any
of Alvarado Street.
humanities
the policeman's
(p.
Jesus Maria,
81),"
has
longer in
who
claimed
refusal
is
to
to allow
the gutters
"a pathway
be
a
for the
friend
of
the
young man and has assured the policeman that he will provide
for their
needs.
at the
hands
wife.
His
the
mines
of his
child,
sufficient
save
care,
child,
their
flects
his
rationale
of
former acts of
The
death
suffered disgrace
severely
is
inevitable.
is
for avenging
the
lack
of
they
can
to
What
under
violent
nature
Pilon
first
for such offenses.
My grandfather suffered at the hands of a priest,
and
he tied
that
ral and turned
there are ways
He
then considers
priest naked
a little
(p. 86).
the present
calf
of
the death of the child
corporal's wife.
revenge
young man's
from a
paisanos do all
attempt
the
had
who had taken the
suffered
dying.
but
seduction
on
who has
is
corporal
Captain,
humanitarian
the paisanos'
and the
The young
to a
in
post
with
situation.
in a cor
him.
Oh,
re
27
In a
soft
tone,
almost
a
benediction,
Pilon
said, "Now you yourself must kill the capitan.
We honor you for a noble plan of revenge
[but]
that
is
geance,
The
Mexican,
cultural
the
of
lence
and
however,
background
paisanos,
that
over
you
and we will
and
has
and
his
a
se:
he
has
take
different
plan
a
of
your
view
revenge
idea.
ven
(p.
of
contrast
"The corporal
better
own
if we can"
personality
the brotherhood.
per
must
help you,
87).
revenge.
with
sharply
His
those
of
contrasts
does not adjure vio
He
would
try
to
work
within the system by maximizing its use and effectiveness."16
"Well," said
the
corporal,
"my
wife
was
so
pretty, and she was not any puta, either.
She
was a good woman, and that capitan took her.
He
had little epaulets, and a little sash, and his
sword was only of a silver color.
Consider,"...
if that
capitan,
with
the
little
epaulets
and
the little
sash,
could
take my wife,
imagine
what a general with a big sash and a gold sword
could take" (p. 87).
Fontenrose
Joe
Portagee
further parallels
with
Danny's
the
knights
and
reconciliation of Big
the
reassembling
Arthur's knights after the guest for the Grail.*7
the
vital
to deal
causes
with
those
the middle-class
treme,
as
it
of
is
the
breach
causes
structure.
used
to
of
become
Here
punish
16Hayashi, Study Guide, p.
l^Fontenrose, Steinbeck, p.
loyalty
and
unorthodox
violence
Joe's
227.
36.
However,
the
methods
according
reaches
breaking
his
of
an
oath
to
ex
of
28
loyalty to
sidered an
the
brotherhood.
extreme
Violence,
tactic
to
which
preserve
the
may
be
con
brotherhood,
occurs after the theft by Big Joe of the Pirate's treasure,
which is
considered
a savage
beating
confesses
to
at
sacred
the
by
hands
the
of
paisanos.
the
He
brotherhood
suffers
after he
stealing money.
Danny measured his distance
golfer addressing the ball.
carefully,
His stick
like a
smashed
on Big Joe's
shoulder;
then
the
friends went
about the
business
in
a
cold
and
methodical
manner.
Jesus Maria took the legs, Danny the
shoulders and chest.
Big Joe howled and rolled
on the floor.
They covered his body from the
neck down.
Each
blow
found a new
space and
welted it.
The
shrieks were
deafening.
The
Pirate stood helplessly by, holding his ax (p.
95).
After giving Big Joe a severe beating,
the paisanos further
aggrevate the situation by torturing him.
Then Pilon tore off the blue shirt and exposed
the pulpy
raw
back.
With
the
can-opener
he
cross-hatched the skin so deftly that a little
blood ran from each line.
Pablo brought the
salt to him to rub it in all over the torn back.
At
last
Danny
threw
a
blanket
over
the
uncon
scious man.
"I think
Hayashi
notes
he
will
that
between Danny's
be
honest
"Violence
group
and
was
the
now,"
a
said
Danny
major point
Monterey
of
(p.
96).
contrast
establishment—the
physical violence of the paisanos paralleling the exploita
tive, financially
18Hayashi,
violent
tactics
Study Guide, p.
226.
of
the
respectable."18
29
Despite their
adventures,
which
standards of middle-class America,
does complete one
act which
realize their dream.
the
the quest
the search
Pirate.
for
the
with
conflict with
paisano
seemingly would
in Tortilla Flat
Fontenrose,
Holy
the
Grail
Pirate's
and the brotherhood's desire
at
and
brotherhood
enable them to
the
eventual
to
to preserve
fully
their treat
parallels
success
save
enough
of
gold
for San Francesco d'Assisi
They "for one brief
the realization that a
is
this point,
attempt
pieces to purchase candlesticks
that purpose.19
the
in
The most significant move on the part
of the paisanos described
ment of
are
this treasure
for
shining moment...grasp
human life
involves more than
physical security and free self-gratification."20
In trying
to
for the purpose of
ally act
for
preserve
the
gold
pieces
of
the
Pirate
fulfilling his dream, the paisanos
reasons
wards self-interest.
other
They
than
have
exploitation
no
desire
to
pointed
fin
to
swindle por
tions of it for wine, nor do they attempt to steal with jus
tification (which
amount of gold.
is
so
often
their
mental
process)
any
The one attempt to steal the Pirate's trea
sure proves to be a contrast in character with Steinbeck's
description of
the
l^Fontenrose,
20Hayashi,
brotherhood.
Steinbeck, p.
Study Guide,
p.
Big
37.
225.
Joe has
never
in
the
30
novel
portrayed
through
all
their
costs.
the
sense
fraternity.
Inevitably,
taliate mercilessly
Joe.
feel
Despite
a
sense
Logically,
constant
of
the
a
good
must
to
and
others
protect
of
the
to
the
each
the
they
become
satisfaction
re
by
other,
at
Big
they
gold.
bene
of having
deed.
allows
novel.
motives as
gold
Pirate's
themselves
the
possess
quarters
exploit
to
only
the
evidenced when
attached
for
seek
is
theft
efforts
sacredness
that
his
characters
to
become
antitheses
the character traits of their previous treatment
out the
the
They
the
paisanos
Steinbeck
of
unity
violence
for
volent characters who
done
of
They
they
display
prepare
the
benevolence
Pirate
for
without
the
through
ulterior
dedication
of
candlesticks.
I have a coat and vest.
Pilon has his father's
good hat.
You, Danny, have a shirt, and Big Joe
has those fine blue pants (p. 97).
The
sense
tinued
of
total
dialogue
of
sacrifice
the
becomes
evident
in
the
con
characters:
"But then we can't go," Pilon protested.
"It is
not our candlestick, said Jesus Maria.
"Father
Ramon is not likely to say anything nice about
us" (p. 97).
Throughout
sina Cortez,
Danny,
and
the
and
experience
acceptability
incidents
the
a
in
of
Pirate,
short-lived
society.
the
the
young
corporal,
paisanos,
status
of
Tere-
particularly
total
conformity
31
The
paisanos1
partial cause
illusions.
of
The
in
the
the
his
disbanding
their
brotherhood
long
them.
The bond
sure and
their
is
of
for
of
the
again with
the
then;
Danny
assistance
to
the
burdens
middle-class.
of
is
no
only the house remains with
Danny's shoulders."21
after
the
Pirate's
Fontenrose
with those
scenes of
of
again
Lancelot
quest
more
trea
is cli
is after the suc
begins
a
to
struggle
characteristic
talisman
for Danny
fearful pressing upon
as
Kennedy,
That desire becomes evi
comes
parallels
Morte d'Arthur,
23-Arthur F.
between
His desire for independence overcomes
his obligation to the brotherhood.
dent
for it
its
bond
the
as he presents his
responsibility,
"There
to
This event
that Danny
in
inevitable
the Pirate's
the church.
venture
a
brotherhood
the
central
Pirate
for
committed
their preservation of
Pirate's
the
and
is
a
the
are
idealistic
desire
to
group
for Danny and the fraternity,
cess of
of
Danny's
is
acts
romantic,
devotion
there
oblation to Father Ramon and
mactic
their
the
dream.
as
benevolent
between
sense
destruction of
so
defeat
conflict
dividuality and
results
misconstrued,
well
to
the
as
according
an end.
final
Arthur.
to
that
days
In
of
Danny
the
final
critic,
"The Arthurian Cycle
Arthur
in Tortilla
Flat," in
Steinbeck:
A
Collection
of
Critical
Essays
ed. Murray Davis (Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.:
Prentice-Hall,
Inc., 1972), p. 145.
32
becomes an
enemy
of
other battles.22
The
Danny, as
he
lent acts
directed
Flat,
and
124-126).
his
at the
the
reports
of
grappa,
stove,
the
Pirate's
an
and we were
act
of
has
gone
he
patient.
of
to
a
middle-class
But
ownership
Torelli,
an
businessman,
social
nor
Italian
which
he
They
of
jail
the
house.
seriousness,
great
who
he
that
"Mexican-Americans," p.
145.
played,
sells
privilege
into
is
identified
37.
Pilon
Danny
him
The sale of the house
Pi-
128).
thrust
since he
He
(p.
the
be
as
crime"
(pp.
and
has
enjoys
however,
pro
from
on
to
hear
near Tor
wheelbarrow,
would
Steinbeck, p.
brotherhood
destruction
turns
must
of Tortilla
acts.
far...Pranks
so
of
spree of vio
the
escape
more
becomes
enemy
the woods
attacks
now he
Protestant,
22Fontenrose,
and
too
structure;
paisanos of the Flat.2^
23Metzger,
much
in
his
his
the
arrest
of
Danny's
are
"Now
Anglo-Saxon
of
an
for
at the members of his
others
serious
shoes,
burden
theft
becomes
England
inhabitants
importantly,
and
leaves
goes on a
More
Ion's
of being
and
eventual
food,
the house
with
too
his
takes
The
later
exploits with young girls
tilla Flat,
remarks:
only
Pilon
become concerned
perty,
not
house
and more
own brotherhood.
and
brotherhood
leaves his
but also,
of Danny's
Lancelot
is
the
neither
with
the
in char-
33
acter with
fact does
burden.
has to
traditional
not
The
the
satisfy his
other
house.
privileges of
middle-class
(Danny's)
virtue;
need to be
paisanos
destroy
They do
not wish
renting
the
house,
however,
the
deed
to put
free
that
of the
that Torelli
an
end
characteristic
to the
of middle-
class standards.24
Upon Danny's return to the house,
notice the
loss
of
the
vitality
Pilon and the others
they
once
knew
in
Danny.
That loss of vitality is indicative both of Danny's attitude
toward
the
group
and
of
his
desire
to
escape
the
group.
...it is not [only] the weight of property [the
talismanic bond of the society] [the brotherhood]
and the prime symbol of its civilized status,
that Danny tried to escape;
[but also]
it was
the "beating of time"...he began to feel—time
as a static, cyclic routine that the society had
reverted to...
.2^
The
destruction
inevitable
synonymous with
parallel
is
England and
the
with
death
Danny's
engage
of
of
Danny.
death.
himself
in
a
beck's Danny returns and engages
depicted in
the
party
24Paul McCarthy,
Ungar Publishing
Co.,
filled
p.
25Hayashi, Study Guide, p.
26Fontenrose,
himself
Steinbeck, p.
45.
229.
38.
dreams
Arthur
final
with
group's
Fontenrose's
As
John Steinbeck
1980),
the
in a
"roaring
(New
final
returns
assault,
so
final
is
to
Stein
assault
battles."26
York:
Federick
34
Danny, say the people of Tortilla Flat, had been
rapidly changing his form.
He had grown huge
and terrible.
of an
His eyes flared like the headlights
automobile.
about him.
own house.
right hand,
lenged
There
was
something
fearsome
There he stood, in the room of his
He held the pine table-leg in his
and even it had grown; Danny chal
the world
(p.
143).
Having prevailed over the paisanos at the party,
lenges "The
Enemy"
One
emerges
the edge
of
a
who
can
fight
victorious,
canyon.
as
(p.
143)."
Danny
The majesty
falls
Danny chal
However,
to his
and mystery
"The
death
at
surrounding
his death remained'long after in the minds of the paisanos.
Outside
the
house
they
heard
his
roaring
chal
lenge.
They heard the table-leg whistle like a
meteor through the air.
They heard his footsteps
charging down the yard.
And then,
behind the
house, in
the
gulch,
they
heard
an
answering
challenge so
fearful
and
so
chill
that
their
spines wilted like nasturtium stems under frost.
Even now, when the people speak of Danny's op
ponent, they
lower
their voices
and
look
fur
tively about.
They heard
Danny
charge
to the
fray.
They heard his last shrill cry of defiance,
and then a thump.
And then silence (p.
144).
As Danny's
funeral
class values
are
brotherhood,
since
rites,
those
unlike
inherent
once
many
approaches,
again
they
are
other
qualities
thrust
to
paisanos
in
which
the American middle
class.
burdens
upon the
unable
make
society prevent their functioning
of
the
members
attend
the
them
of
middleof
the
the
funeral
Flat.
Again,
"dropouts"
from
in rituals characteristic
35
Once again they are sympathetic rogues, amusing
social parasites who plan to show in their own
way respect for their departed leader.
Middleclass conventions constrain them, however.
"Im
agine going to a funeral without first polish
ing the automobile.
Imagine standing at a grave
side not dressed in your best dark suit." Danny's
friends
hand.
at
have no cars
There
such
a
is
time
as they are.27
The paisanos
from the
area
ate
has
to
streets
ceremony
after
the
that
suit
of
go
funeral
from
their
symbolic
leader.
One
their
leader.
to
who
a
rites
grassy
hold a rather elabor
symbolic
and
the
burial
they
and
They must
viewing
the
or second
suits,
lend?
However,
their
belonged
to
observing
becomes
new
steal
for
brotherhood
the death of
home
to
settle
and
which
and no suits,
time
a
near the cemetery.
Danny within
the
have
no
of
life
their
last party
is
with
lives
held
in
Ceremoniously they
filled
the
fruit
jars
and
drank...Each man, as he sipped his wine,
roved
through the past...The friends lighted the cigars
and
spat...Pablo
tried
a
few
"Tuli Pan"...[Pilon] lighted
ped the match (p. 150).
The
final
the
end
of
ritual
the
signifies
the
notes
his
end
of
cigar
of
the
the
and
song
flip
brotherhood
dream.
The little burning stick landed on the old
newspaper against the wall.
Each man started up
to
stamp
it
out;
and
each man
was
struck
with
a
celestial thought, and settled back.
They found
one another's eyes and smiled the wise smiles of
the deathless and hopeless
ones...In a
reverie
they watch the flame flicker and nearly die, and
27MeCarthy, Steinbeck, p. 45.
and
36
spout to life again.
They saw it bloom on the
paper.
Thus do the gods speak with tiny causes.
And
the
the
dry wooden wall
men
smiled
on
as
the
paper
burned
and
caught.
Thus must it be, 0 wise friends of Danny.
The cord that bound you together
is
cut.
The
magnet that drew you has lost its virtue.
Some
stranger will own the house, some joyless rela
tive of
Danny's.
Better
that
this
symbol
of
holy friendship, this good house of parties, and
fights, of love and comfort, should die as Danny
died, in one last glorious, hopeless assault on
the
gods.
They
like
a
sat
and
snake
to
smiled.
the
And
ceiling
the
and
flame
climbed
broke
through
the roof and roared.
Only then did the friends
get up from their chairs and walk like dreaming
men
out
of
the
door...
Among
the
crowding
people
of Tortilla
Flat,
Danny's friends stood entranced and watched un
til at
last
the house
was
a mound
of
black,
steaming cinders,
Then
the
fire
trucks
turned
and coasted away down the hill.
The people of the Flat melted into the dark
ness.
Danny's
friends
still
stood
looking
at
the smoking
ruin.
They
looked
at
one
another
strangely, and
then
back
to
the
burned
house.
And after a while they turned and walked slowly
away, and no two walked together (pp. 150-151).
The act
social
itself
want
the
again
structure.
However,
tic
is
their
nature
as
The
rationale
depicted
strangers
to
For Danny
and
qualities
of
in
conflict
paisanos
is
in
his
have
keeping
throughout
inhabit what
band
they
of
middle-class
with
the
the
destroyed
with
paisanos,
property.
their
novel.
consider
society
established
idealis
They
do
not
sacred.
being
devoid
themselves,
of
shatter
37
their illusions of existing
which include
work, a
high
benevolence,
where
a
carefree
consumption
in that society.
lifestyle,
of
alcohol,
a
Their ethics,
disinclination
theft
and
to
misguided
prove detrimental to their continued existence
"potential
for moral
and
social
growth" must
served in a social unit.28
28Hayashi,
Study Guide,
pp.
228-229
be pre
CHAPTER TWO
OF MICE AND MEN —
"The best -
Warren French
that Robert
Men, which
Burns'
DESTRUCTION
laid
schemes o'mice an1 men
Gang aft a-glay."
his
essay,
verse
concerns
mankind but,
Burns'
in
THE
OF
"End
describes
REALISTIC
of
the
a
Dream,"
intent
of
itself with dreams which are
inevitably,
are
destroyed.
DREAMS
That
states
Mice and
valid
verse
for
from
"To a Mouse" which provided Steinbeck with the title
of this
short
novel
and
play
set forth by the author.
consideration of
with a
a
farmer's
ominous situation
novel,
An analogy
field
plow
mouse
and
and
the
French,
its
human
"Man
is
reveals
the
theme
is made between Burns'
Steinbeck's
evoking
according to
explicitly
fateful
laborers
encounter
in
a
condition.
more
In
at the mercy
of
the
forces
he cannot control which ruthlessly but indifferently destroy
the illusions
he
has
manufactured."1
these forces destroy the
the establishment
can see
nists
how
cause
the
the
of
the
forces
illusion,
realistic
beyond
destruction
of
To
understand
one must
dream,
the
control
the
dream.
consider
after
of
iwarren French,
"End of a Dream,"
in
Collection of Critical Essays,
ed.
Robert
(Englewood Cliff, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
38
how
first
which
the
one
protago
Steinbeck;
A
Murray Davis
1972), p. 65.
39
In Steinbeck's
unlike Danny
romantic,
unit.
all men
the
desire
land
paisanos
inherently
the
are temporary,
purchasing a
own
seek
Milton
of
and
Lennie
Tortilla Flat,
Small,
have
un-
a
is
small
based
goals,
piece
on
the
though
of
land
and
supposition
they
may
be
to
that
modest
Such is the case of these "bindlestiffs,"
received
Soledad in
to
themselves
and unassuming.2
who have
George
unidealistic desires for existence with the social
Their
farm the
and
novel
work
orders
Salinas
Valley.
since
small
they
farm
to
report
For
share
the
to
a
two
ranch
the
dream
of
enough
money
can
when
the
near
positions
eventually
be
saved.
What makes this dream realistic is its essentials, according
to Paul McCarthy in "Conflicts and Searches in the 1930"s".
The essentials
that has
ness and
and,
of
the
dream
been established,
through
secondly,
basic
the
include
both
needs
chance
to
first
the
through years
of
each
overcome
of
of together
the
the
friendship
characters,
many
obstacles
that might inhibit the realization of the dream.3
Steinbeck's
of association
characters,
have
become
in
reality,
dependent
through many years
upon
each
2Tetsumaro Hayashi, A Study Guide to Steinbeck
(Metuchen, N.J.:
The
Scarecrow
Press,
1974),
p.
3Paul McCarthy,
Ungar Publishing Co.,
John Steinbeck
1980),
p.
59.
(New
York:
other.
137.
Frederick
40
Lennie Small,
as
and he has
effect
tection
and
in
indicated
in
the
novel,
become dependent
guidance.
Steinbeck
has
upon
a
handicap,
George
for pro
notes:
"Lennie," he
said
sharply.
"Lennie,
for
God's sakes don't drink so much."
Lennie con
tinued to snort
into the pool.
The small man
leaned over
and
shook
him
by
the
shoulder.
"Lennie.
You gonna be sick like you was last..."4
Severe mental retardation in Lennie,
beck,
becomes
tent,
as noted by Lisca,
earth
longings
of
insanity
representative
at
of
of mankind.
[but to
despite
characterized by
an
author's
in
be
the
representative
inarticulate
and
Man often seeks understand
inability
chaotic
not to
represent]
powerful yearnings of all men."5
ing even
The
is that Lennie be symbolic of "the
a Lennie who is
all
as indicated by Stein
to
forces
be
that
understood
prevent
in
such
a
world
interac
tion.
The dependence
however, what
Lennie.
for a
is
George,
of Lennie
to be
noted
through his
on
is
George
is
rather obvious;
the dependence of George on
friend,
fulfills a
normal
need
feeling of superiority as well as for a justification
for failures
in his
own life.6
his predicament of having
4John Steinbeck,
Books),
p.
often
complains of
to watch over Lennie:
Of Mice and Men
(New
York:
Bantam
3.
5Peter Lisca,
Brunswick,
George
N.J.:
The Wide
Rutgers
World of John Steinbeck
University
6McCarthy, Steinbeck, p.
59.
Press,
1958),
p.
(New
134.
41
God a'mighty,
if
I
as
alone
I
could live
so
easy. I could get a job an1 work, an1 no trouble.
No mess at all, and when the end of the month
come I could take my fifty bucks and go
into
town and get whatever I want.
Why, I could stay
at a cat house all night.
I could eat any place
I want, hotel or any place,
and order any damn
thing I could think of.
An1 I could do all that
every damn month.
Get a gallon of whiskey, or
set
in
a
pool
room
and
play
or
shoot
pool"
(p.
12).
His complaining
George,
not
only
alleviates
but also creates in
sion that
is
Lennie."7
his character a sense of
nevertheless
again points out
He
accompanied
that "George
states
the
the tedium of life
by
for
aggres
guilt.
Lisca
not only protects but directs
following
of
George
and
Lennie:
Lennie doesn't speak unless George permits him
to; and, in the fight in which Curley's hand is
broken, Lennie
refuses
even
to defend himself
until
George
tells
him
directs Lennie partly
mitting acts he could
to.
George,
of
course
to protect him from com
not mentally be responsi
ble for, but George is not a
shepherd.
Another aspect
of
wholly altruistic
the
relationship
becomes apparent
when
George
tells
Slim
that
Lennie "Can't think of nothing to do himself,
but he sure can take orders;" Lennie gives him a
sense of power.8
In Lisca"s
beck Hero,"
"Escape
the
and
critic
Commitment:
further
7French, Critical Essays, p.
8Ibid.
Two Poles
adds
66.
to
the
of the
Stein
rationale
of
42
George's dependence
concentrating on
on
Lennie.
George
and
On
one hand he
reading
Lennie
states,
as
a
"by
symbol
of
proletarian man, great in strength but helpless without lead
ership,
the
sacrifices
"Lennie
theme
and
is
ain't
so
my fifty
commitment
devotion
necessary
failures."9
manifests
of
and
George
in
neither,
found.
Lennie;"
outlook
failures
bright
have my own
to
George's
the
to
physical appearence
indicates this
and quick,
on
Man and His
Hayashi
p.
82.
excuse
regard
to
George
be
for
his
level,
his
own
bit
own
life
comments:
buckn1
was even a little
"I
barley
for
smart,
I'd
43).
the dream which makes
well
suggests
in
as
his
the
farming
it real
the obstacles
experience.
capabilities.
novel:
Every
part
of
strong hands, slender arms,
Lennie,
an
George's
alternate
"The
the
other
"Escape
Works,
(Corvallis:
ed.
Oregon
hand,
and
him
was
first
Commitment,"
Richard
State
man
Astro
well
defined:
University
the
in
and
was
and sharp,
a thin and bony nose"
possesses
His
Steinbeck
dark of face, with restless eyes
9Peter Lisca,
The
as
early
strong features.
2).
an
in
As indicated in the novel, George has genuine
intellectual ability,
small,
on
or I would't
If I
seen
remote possibility of overcoming
of the dream.
small
in
little place..."(p.
is the
as
be
that life.
The second essential of
istic
could
(p.
strength
Steinbeck:
Tetsumaro
Press,
1971),
43
needed
to
Again,
Steinbeck
Lennie,
man,
do
the
"Behind
shapeless
type
of
work
suggests
him
of
strength
[George]
face,
with
sloping shoulders..."(p.
strength needed
to
realizing their
dream
needed
a
maintain
the
his
large
pale
a
actual
a
farm.
appearance
opposite,
eyes,
Besides
farm,
is the
in
walked
12).
manage
to
a
with
of
huge
wide,
intelligence
and
third
potential
existence
of the
for
farm.
According to McCarthy in "Conflicts and Searches," George's
vivid recollections of the farm,
tion in
a
ritualistic
"Well,
It's
ten
manner,
as he recites
makes
acres...Got
a
the
its descrip
dream
little
a
reality.
win'mill.
Got a little shack on it, an' a chicken run. Got
a kitchen,
orchard,
cherries,
apples, peaches,
•cots, nuts, got a few
for alfalfa and plenty
berries,
of
water
They's a pig pen."
"An' rabbits, George."
"No place for rabbits now,
build a
to the
few
hutches
rabbits"
(p.
The ritual continues,
the
and
you
They's
to
but
could
I
a place
flood it.
could
feed
easy
alfalfa
15).
as they tell each other the story of
dream:
George's voice
became
deeper.
He
repeated
his
words rhythmically, as though he had said them
many times before.
"Guys like us, that work on
ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world.
They don't
belong
no
place.
They
come
to
a
ranch and work and then go into town and blow
their stakes,
and
you
know
they're
poundin1
their tail on some other ranch.
They ain't got
nothing to look ahead to...With us it ain't like
that.
We got a future...We got somebody to talk
to that gives a damn about us."
[Lennie contin
ues] ... "because I got you to look after me, and
you got me to look after you and that's why"
(p. 15).
44
Their
dream
have yet
to
sets
French
from
provides
indicates
his own
picture
doing his
apart
from
realize desirable
being different
Lennie, it
them
part
that
of
and
goals.
other
a
type
all
other
of
is
simple
"becomes
pastoral
of them living,
for
to
with
with
as Lennie
of
George.10
entranced
life,
who
idea
meaningless
consolation
then
laborers
Although the
laborers
George
the
all
each
says
'off
obstacles
that
the fatta the Ian1 . «"H
The
last
possibility
of
overcoming
any
may prevent the realization of the dream is the addition of
one other
character
two characters
to the
owners
the two,
the
his
resources
acceptance
to bind the deal.
of
The
to
the
goal
Candy's
old
$300
swamper
of
to
result
Steinbeck
send
befriends
of the accident which left him with one
describes
these
characters
as
their
seemingly becomes reality:
"Tha's three hundred, and I got fifty more comin1
the end
of
the month.
Tell you
what—"
He
leaned forward eagerly.
"S'pose
I went
you guys.
Tha's three hundred an'
I'd put in.
I ain't much good, but
in with
fifty bucks
I could cook
and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some..."
They
the
and later offers his savings—money that was given
to him as a
hand.
with
and
fell
other,
into a silence.
amazed.
This
thing
l°McCarthy, Steinbeck, p.
They
looked at one an
they had
60.
^French, Critical Essays, p.
66.
never really
dream
45
believed in was coining true.
George said rever
ently, "Jesus
Christ.
I
bet
we
could
swing
her."
His eyes were full of wonder.
"I bet we
could swing her," he repeated softly (pp. 65-66).
Despite such
goals,
the
inevitable
non-teleological
according
how of
potentialities
the
the
destruction must
treatment
to Marks,
for
becomes
"not with
individual's
realization
occur.
apparent
of
Steinbeck's
in his
concern,
the why but with the what and
illusions,"
as
indicated
in
his
original title for this novel, "Something That Happened."12
The
title
tunes
indicates
turned
George.
into
Marks
a
rather dispassionate'view of
misfortunes
in
the
lives
of
the
for
Lennie
and
further explains:
George and Lennie...like the
"To a Mouse"] are frustrated
mouse
[in
Burns'
in their plans by
"something
that hap
the nature of things,
by
pened."
Since we can never track down the cause
of life's ironies, both Steinbeck and Burns are
saying, we
had
best
accept
them
for
are—conditions of human existence.13
Those
"things
that
happened,"
over
what
which
gonists have no control, cannot be explained but,
occur
and
dilection
The
John
result
for
inevitable
Steinbeck
in
ill-fated
accidental
violence
destruction
J. Marks,
(Mouton:
l3lbid., p. 60.
dreams.
of
First
they
the
prota
ironically,
is
the
pre
in
the
character
Lennie.
Lennie
and
the dream
is
Thematic Design of the Novels
The Hague, 1969), p. 59.
for-
of
46
shadowed early
in the
novel
in the
incident
in the town
of
Weed, where Lennie, as a result of his tendency towards vio
lent acts,
frightens
a
young
Misunderstanding Lennie1s
that girl's
mouse..."
dress—jus1
girl
by
intentions
wanted
to
holding
("Jus1
pet
(p. 12)), the girl screams,
it
wanted
like
unpremeditated
the destruction
As Lennie
George.
of
a mouse
indicates,
Jus'
"I
strokin'
violence
is
that he had
wasn't doin1
it"
(p.
dress.
to
it
feel
was
a
thus sending the towns
people searching for both Lennie and George.
dency towards
her
9).
Lennie's ten
further
noted
in
just wanted to pet.
nothing bad with
George
it,
admonishes him,
saying, "That mouse ain't fresh, Lennie; and besides, you've
broke it
pettin1
it.
and I'll
let
keep
you
You
Steinbeck foreshadows
it
get
another
mouse
a little while"
impending
and
(p.
that's
fresh
10).
Again
inevitable destruction
by creating a motif of unintentionally violent acts in both
the Weed incident involving the girl and the later incident
involving the
mouse.
As
the
novel
progresses
the
acts
become more severe, thus culminating in the death of Curley's
wife.
Steinbeck,
is prone to
along with his depiction of a character who
who
is
also symbolic of the "handicapped of the migrant world,"
to
exist
in
a
violence,
constant
allows
the
conflict with
character Lennie,
others who are in effect
47
impaired and
also
according
McCarthy,
to
because of
a
rejected
are
by
society.
destined
non-teleological
Such
for
characters,
failure
view which
pits
not
only
them against
a world which lies beyond any distinctions of that which
moral or
immoral,
but
also
against
a
society
which
is
cannot
tolerate their inabilities to function within its unit.14
Steinbeck's introduction
the major
conflict,
normal existence
entrap both
Lennie
to be violent.
ed by
his
in
society.
Curley
and
wife,
who
catalyst
rejected by
as
George
in
him an
part
has
for the
society,
the
potential
that
looked
his
possessive
rebels
against
has
a
need
the
to
exert
swamper
to
compound
and
at
the
door
him,
hates
his
14McCarthy,
to
lot of little guys.
He
alia time picking scraps
Steinbeck, p.
60.
power
describe
and he's handy..."
"Curley's like a
big guys.
He's
does
Curley,
make sure
no one was
listening.
"That's
the
boss's son," he said quietly.
"Curley's pretty
handy.
He done quite a bit in the ring.
He's a
lightweight,
his
attitude
dangerous:
cautiously
to
may prove
size
conflict with Curley.
allows
potentially
man
concerning
extremely
of
threat to Lennie's
situations
gradually
Steinbeck
being
The old
a
a
The character's explosive nature,
over others.
Curley
establishes
becomes
self-consciousness
towards his
who is
Curley
as Curley
jealousy, which gives
become the
of
48
with big guys.
Kind of like he's mad at 'em be
cause he ain't a big guy.
You seen little guys
like that, ain't you?
Always scrappy?" (p. 27).
The violent
contact
between
of Curley's
need
exert
ardly
Lennie.
to
fulla vaseline
(p.
power
his
the
personal
he's
the
establishes
results
in
wife
society,
to George,
the
is
a
result
larger,
to others
habits
he
keepin'
his
the
become
"that
hand
cow
in an
have
wears
that
(atypically
as
she
in her manner
initial
second
destruction
throughout only as Curley's wife)
of
over
swamper,
describes
he
Curley's
capped"
Lennie
glove
soft
for
30).
Curley's wife,
flict which
to
[because]
As Steinbeck
dream.
but
according
his wife"
his
and
Not only does Curley respond
objectionable manner,
repulsive;
Curley
is
and
encounter
part
of
of
the
Lennie
Steinbeck
with
refers
con
and
the
to
her
is another of the "handi
objectionable,
appearance.
particularly
She has
become
a
misfit in society owing to her limitations as Curley's wife
and her unfulfilled
desire to be
through her
portrays
have become
shattered
dom fade before her,
an escape
from
her mother.
that she
has
an
She
no
another
by
she
character who
fate.
After her
resolves
oppressive
for
dreams
visions
imposed
in Lennie,
her
has
Steinbeck
of
that
star
to marry Curley merely as
lifestyle
later confides
feelings
in the movies.
husband.
on
her
by
as she tells him
In
an
earlier
49
scene George complains,
trap
if
I
ever seen one"
acterizes Curley's
and George.
symbolic
Burns'
as
(pp.
as
author's
"rat-trap"
poem,
scribes
The
wife
"Jesus,
she
what a
tramp...she1s a rat-
35-36).
one
who
Here
can
description
effect
Steinbeck
also
of
appeals
only
entrap
her
established
char
adds
to
earlier
to Lennie.
Lennie
the
through
Steinbeck de
her:
A girl was standing there looking in.
full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes,
made up.
Her
fingernails
were
red.
hung in little rolled clusters,
like
She wore a cotton house dress and red
She had
heavily
Her
hair
sausages.
mules, on
the insteps of which were little bouguets of red
ostrich feathers...Her voice had a nasal, brittle
quality
(p.
34).
Her manner too proves to be a major factor,
a fashion
author,
that
is
designed
lure
"...she bridled a little.
nails...She smiled
35).
to
Steinbeck
allows
positive manner,
body..."
(p.
as
34),
"She's purty..."
potential
for
archly
only
he
34).
controversy,
lished foreshadowing
of
to
eyes
states
Thus
to
in
the
She looked at her finger
Lennie
as
According
twitched
"Lennie's
and
(p.
and
men.
as she moves
in
her
respond
moved
an
notes
her actions
(pp.
to her
down
over
assertive
Steinbeck
one
body"
has
34in a
her
manner,
produced the
through his
through previous
estab
inci
dents.
Steinbeck
ingly
uses
likeliness
of
other
incidents
violence
through
to
add
other
to the
increas
so-called
"han-
50
dicapped"
members of society.
Steinbeck not
only
Through
heightens
the
the actions of Candy,
idea
of
entrapment,
but
also establishes initial lines of parallelism which foresha
dow
Lennie's
inevitable
the novel as the
being
totally
has
the
left
incident
is
characterized
in
one whose duties are menial
He performs
which
Steinbeck uses
Candy
"old swamper,"
and less desirable.
an accident
death.
him
these
tasks
with
only
involving
the
as
his
a
result of
left
hand.
swamper's dog
as
objectionable:
That dog of Candy's is so God-damn old he can't
hardly walk.
Stinks like hell, too.
Ever' time
he comes into the bunk house I
[Carlson]
can
smell him two, three days (p. 39).
Carlson strongly
siders a menace
the
bunk
appeals
to
Candy
to the dog himself
house.
He
to
destroy
and to the
what
he
con
other men
in
states:
"Got no teeth," he said.
"He's all stiff with
rheumatism.
He
ain't no good
to you,
Candy.
An' he ain't no good to himself.
Why'n't you
shoot him, Candy?" (p. 49).
The animal
is
tantly agrees
to
of Slim,
one
the
ranch hand,
destroyed,
have him shot
character
including
description of
tellection:
eventually
Slim
the
after the
who
boss'
suggests
a
has
son
man
the
as
strong
reluc
suggestion
respect
Curley.
of
Candy
of
every
Steinbeck's
authority
and
in
51
A tall man stood in the doorway.
He held
a crushed
Stetson hat
under his arm while he
combed his long, black, damp hair straight back.
Like the others he wore blue jeans and a short
denim jacket.
hair he moved
majesty only
When he
into the
had finished combing his
room and he moved with a
achieved
by
royalty
and
master
craftsmen.
He was a jerkline skinner, the prince
of the ranch, capable of driving ten, sixteen,
even twenty mules with a single line to the lead
ers.
He was capable of killing a fly on the
wheeler's butt with a bull whip without touch
ing the mule.
There was a gravity in his manner
and a quiet so profound that all talk
stopped
when he spoke.
His authority was so great that
his word was taken on any subject, be it poli
tics or love.
This was Slim, the jerkline skin
ner.
His hatchet face was ageless.
He might
have been thirty-five or fifty.
His ear heard
more than was said to him, and his slow speech
had overtones not of thought, but of understand
ing beyond thought (p. 37).
Steinbeck's man
of
any other
for
law"
(p.
by his
hand,
50).
The
nature
the uncaring
authority
as
Candy
be
notes,
denied
"Slim's
author also portrays
cognizant
nature
cannot
of
of
human
Carlson
by
opinions
Slim as
frailties,
(Carlson
Candy
as
also
or
were
one who is
opposed
destroys
to
the
dog), who represents the insensitivity of society.15
That
incident allows
will result
become
have
to
in
totally
be
Steinbeck
Lennie's
to
death.
objectionable
destroyed
Essays,
foreshadow
to
Like
the
reluctantly
p.
68.
by
the
the
events
that
dog,
Lennie
will
society,
and
he
will
George,
who
will
in
52
turn be
comforted
by
the
discerning
words
of
the
skinner
Slim.
Steinbeck
between
continues
portrayal
those who are encumbrances
sive encounter
as an
his
of
argument
Curley
between
of Curley's wife.
and
Slim
in
of contempt for Curley and
that
The
Curley
Steinbeck implies
controversies
society
Lennie.
and
of
in
the
incident
about
the
explo
begins
location
that Slim has a feeling
this feeling has been aggra
vated by Curley's continual
insinuations about his wife and
Slim.
threats
What
begins
other hands
who
is
ends
as
in
idle
an
executed
made
by
Curley
threat directed
to
the
at Lennie,
totally innocent of any response to Curley's actions.
As a result of
Lennie's
strength,
Curley's
fist
is
crushed.
Steinbeck
again shows Lennie's unintentionally violent tend
encies as
a
result
Lennie does
not
George
so.
to
do
Steinbeck
of
his
defend
further
fear
of
himself
focuses
Curley's
until
he
all
those
on
attack
is
on
him.
directed
characters
by
who
represent rejections of society in his portrayal of the dis
cussion
in Crooks'
ber of
the
boy on
the
room.
Crooks,
ranch-community,
ranch.
Crooks
is
a
also a
Negro
not only has
"handicapped"
who
a physical
a painfully crooked back, but also suffers
cap of
being
black.
As
a
result,
he
is
the
stable
handicap,
the social
remains
mem
handi
distant
from
53
the other
ranch
hands
proached by any of
and
becomes
them.
suspicious when
he
is
ap
On one occasion Lennie ambles
in
to the harness room where Crooks resides and begins a conver
sation, which
later
includes
the dream shared by George,
tensifies this
Here again,
scene
she
by
becomes
which George earlier
Crooks objects
to
88)
Here
Steinbeck
discrimination,
the 1930's.
plight of
never
the
Lennie,
a
discuss
Steinbeck
of
Curley's
representative
of
the
she
in
wife.
"rat-trap"
in his reference to her.
explodes,
When
"Listen,
can do if you open your trap?"
alludes
to
particularly
Such
they
intrusion
presence,
Nigger...You know what I
wherein
Lennie and Candy.
implies
her
Candy,
during
reference
entrapped
the
to
in
a
confining
the
the
latter
"trap"
society
nature
of
portion
of
enhances
in
(p.
which
he
the
can
function.
The motif
scribes the
of
controversy
unintentional
Lennie has
been
mother and
her
given
has
looked
strength
admired.
Lennie sat
dead puppy
at
privilege
litter.
Lennie's uncontrollable
that he
strangling
the
newborn
continues,
Steinbeck
as
of
the
of
as
it
for
a
indicates
long
time,
and
stroked
to another.
a
destroys
and
it,
And
then
to
the
the
of
animal
following:
little
Lennie
he
de
puppy.
result
the
in the hay and looked at the
that lay
in
front
of him.
out his huge hand
clear from one end
tiny
attending
However,
he
Steinbeck
put
stroked
it
Lennie said
54
softly
to
killed?
the
You
bounce you
The
with
unpremeditated
hope of
of
that
the
99).
"jerked her
her hair
and
"Feel
Lennie
the
on"
attempts
get
didn't
has
of
(p.
99).
George,
Lennie
woman.
Steinbeck describes
the
in Weed,
Lennie's
For
the
scene
of
screams
as
as
how
she
closed
reprisal
of
the
follows:
came out.
Then Lennie grew angry...and he shook
her; and her body flopped like a fish.
And then
she was
still,
for Lennie had
broken her
neck
99-100).
,
Essays,
p.
65.
in
soft
She struggled
violently
under
his hands.
Her
feet battered on the hay and she writhed to be
free; and from under Lennie's hand came a muf
fled screaming.
Lennie began to cry with fright
...He moved his hand a little and her hoarse cry
(pp.
"out
it
Curley's wife
fingers
fear
of
forces."16
hair,
see
notes,
Stephen
example
there an'
any
treatment
in
chaotic
wife's
to muffle
French
As
an
of
the girl
and
As
destroys
Steinbeck's
become
occurs
unintentional,
Lennie
manner.
Curley's
like
of
murders
an
dream.
victims
sideways,
hung
to
I
fateful
hands
right aroun'
However,
head
the
naturalistic
stroke
got
mice.
Again,
a
Lennie begins
(p.
wife.
manifestation
for
is"
of
long-awaited
raged compassion
structs him to
series
at
you
as
92-93).
a
Boat,"
to
do
little
(pp.
killing
in
"Open
"Why
so
Curley's
becomes
characters
Crane's
of
attaining
the event
of
hard"
climax
the death
puppy,
ain't
on
from
young
55
The
final
George
condemnation
realizes,
Curley nor
Steinbeck
the
the
dream
becomes
apparent
through Candy's supplications,
other
indicates
American dream
of
has
ranch hands will
that
all
hope
allow
for
when
that neither
Lennie
to
realization
live.
of
the
ended:
Now Candy spoke his greatest fear.
"You an1 me
can get
that
little
place,
can't
we,
George?
You an1 me can go there an1 live nice, can't we,
George?
Can't we?"
Before George answered,
Candy dropped his
head
and
looked
down
at
the
hay.
He
knew.
George said softly,
"I think I knowed from the
very first.
I think I knowed we'd never do her.
He usta like to hear about it so much I got to
thinking maybe we would" (p. 103).
As George
makes
saves Lennie
the
decision
from the
to
angry mob that
also kills a part of himself.
the little piece of
taining his
Steinbeck
dream.
creates
mantic setting,
noted
in
forced
however,
of good
tic
of
Hegel
to
act
the
land;
In
the
situations
Hegelian
rather
than
searches
he
not
only
for him,
but
He kills any hope of farming
placing
and Tragedy,
in
Lennie,
he kills a part of the hope of at
in George a
unlike
kill
George
tragic hero
Hegelian
is
are
the
hero
of
twentieth-century
the modern
hero
of
his
epoch does
not
in a
in
rather unrowho,
situations
his
for
which
is
on
as
and
control;
alternatives
characteris
literature.
act
situation,
hero,
beyond
provide
and evil,
this
tragic
placed
that
situations
of good
in
For Hegel
the essence
of
56
the situation, which is the factor that arouses his emotions;
instead he acts on the need to satisfy the essential charac
ter of
his
nature.
For Hegel
acter are qualities
virtue,
but
of
or complete
not
elements
virtue.17
of
the
essentials
right and wrong
that
The
lead
him
of
nor
closer
situations
of
his
char
of vice and
to
the
a
supreme
man
of
the
Hegelian epoch would provide the modern tragic hero with al
ternatives
not
with choices
of
right and wrong,
between
degrees
of
or
vice
right.
and his doctrines of Christianity, man,
qualities,
the existence
According
of
vice;
acceptable
would be
allowed
age,
period
through his inherent
however,
he
the
sees
man's
according
hero
In
following
his
the
rather unromantic hero
characterized by gross
sion
City,
to kill
Lennie
17Anne and
N.Y.:
age.
Depression,
an
Henry
in
an
on the
Paolucci,
&
there
industrialized
inevitable.
Inc.,
1901),
p.
234.
The
harsher
not the
George becomes
society
His deci
He
1962),
18John McTaggart and Ellis McTaggart, M.A.,
MA:
is
Hegel on Tradegy
Company,
(Cambridge,
of
to Hegel
even
insensitivity toward men.
is based
Doubleday
Hegelian Cosmology
choice
alternatives which
of
through
George does not have the
choice between two goods indicated by Hegel.
then a
but
to Hegel
that these choices are brought about
evil as a step towards virtue.18
the
virtue,
particularly his will, makes deliberate choices.
Hegel believes
choice of
and
chooses
(Garden
p.
Studies
University
84.
in
Press,
57
to kill
Lennie
so.
is
It
the choice
rather
not
than
a choice of
of the type
to
allow
the
life or death
of
execution
other
hands
for Lennie,
to
do
rather
for this misfit within
society.
Thus Steinbeck's
acteristic
of
faults
tragedy,
that
in
a
accompany
depicts characters who also possess
society
which
industrial
faults,
is
char
advancement,
not as a
result
of personality,
but as a result of external conflicts beyond
their control.
Characters
such
as Lennie
Small
Milton become
victims
rather
than perpetrators
that society,
as
strive
to become
it.
they
Those characters,
therefore,
and
of
George
crime
in
functional parts
of
become a part of what
the
critic Burton Rascoe in "John Steinbeck," classifies as con
tinuous
recurrence
tragically
of
shattered
of security,
"the
dreams
tranquility,
never
of
quite-realized,
men
ease
toward
and
an
too
ideal
contentment...
often
future
."19
19Burton Rascoe,
"John
Steinbeck,"
in
Steinbeck and
His Critics, comp.
E.
W. Tedlock,
Jr. and C.
V.
Wicker
(Alburquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, 1957), p.
61.
CHAPTER
THE
GRAPES
OF
WRATH
—
THREE
DESTRUCTION
ESSENTIAL
The
Grapes
of
Wrath
OF
VALID
AND
DREAMS
is Steinbeck's depiction of
farmers
who have experienced some realization of the American
however,
as
a
result of
the dream and seek
ture,
society
annihilate
conventional
both an
as the
social
from
there
to
the
a
decline
of
that with
the
the
dream,
function
The Joad
and
lose
a
the
family
in
of
the
family
family.
destruction
narrative...
University
172.
58
of
."2
Press,
as
movement"
the
[which]
notes
family
grows
examining
(New
pp.
of
that re
of
1958),
well
Peter
also
in
the
experiences
He
unit
also
within
unit.1
"downward
communal
but
morale,
The Wide World of Steinbeck
Rutgers
2Ibid., p.
the
continual
"sense
the
of
sight
external forces of na-
destroy
ability
degradation
Ipeter Lisca,
N.J.:
only
they
there is actually an optimistic view
steadily through
wick,
forces,
The
structure.
however,
the
is
it.
declination
that accompanying
unit
not
decline
physical
the characters
sults
man
characters'
economic
Lisca notes,
to regain
and
the
external
dream;
the
Bruns
171-172,
59
theme
the
of
declination,
realization of
the
Steinbeck
family.
The
and
the
Lennie
job to
"have
dreamers
reader
for
the
of
hope
for
economic
this
novel
As discussed
in
a
are
"Who Were
Small),
to
he
been forced
job;
most
seems
is
unable
them
are
the
see
how
life,
of
the
the
the
Joad
who
have
'Okies'?",
by George
destined
to work,
into migratory
of
be
new
migrants
(exemplified
who
can
void.
fall
"habitual migrant"
job until
land or
need
creates
become displaced.
unlike
the
the American dream becomes
To establish
dream,
nevertheless,
to
Milton
move
from
removal migrants
life by dispossession from
family units,
and
nearly
all
of them would settle permanently if they could."3
This
Again,
the
is descriptive
parallels
of
are
the Joads
made
of Steinbeck's
between
novel and the migrants of America during
tory encompassing the Depression.
tress are
embedded
deep
American agriculture,
the soil...[also]
and droughts,
Wrath
land
power
3Warren French,
(New
dating
reduction
farm population,
York:
in
ed.,
The
the
from
tragic
the
earliest
recurrent
the
soil
erosion,
Press,
of
misuse
of
to
surplus
all
leading
to The
1953),
history
depression
outlets
A Companion
Viking
of
the period of his
whole
industrial
farming,
Joads
"The causes of their dis
speculation,
of
the
novel.
Grapes of
pp.
33-34.
60
to the climax of the disastrous droughts and dust storms of
the 1930's.1'4
have been
worker,
The Joad family and many others in the novel
thrust
unwillingly
searching
California.
farm as
a
the
result
collection of
others
Joads
and
They,
like many
others,
Route
66,
takes
to what
they
hope
them to
purchase
in
have
of drought,
debts
which
life
for what promises to
Like many
western states,
into the
bank
their
effects
will
through
be
land
other
land
work
and
the
in
south
and
the
their
forced
Depression.
on the great highway,
several
stable
again
of
itinerant
better life
foreclosures,
spend months
them
a
an
Oklahoma and
lost
other
be
of
to
states
which
en
will
settle
route
enable
permanently.
With the decline of economic resources comes a continu
ous decline
decline
in
in
the
the morale
morality
of
of
the
the
Joad
family,
the society described in the novel.
steady decline
in morale
as
family
as
"Who Were
the
they have
"Okies'?"
as
established
a
by
The Joads experience a
to
fight
types established by the California growers.
entitled,
as well
the
the
stereo
In the article
relationship
between
the growers, and the workers, particularly those who had im
migrated from the midwest,
cause
of
the
attitudes
of
4French, Companion,
is
the
pp.
seen as severely strained be
growers.
33-34.
61
They [the immigrants]
were failures where they
lived, and they
came because
our California's
growers' relief payments are about the biggest
in the country.
Most of them aren't the kind of
people who make good citizens.
They're naturally
dirty, ignorant, immoral, and superstitious.
If
you do anything for them, they don't appreciate
it, and
if
you
let them on your
ground
they
dirty it up and destroy property—they're used
to living like trash.
They've been inbreeding
for
so
long
that
they've been
to handle
maybe
they're
here
our
a
low-grade
year
crops,
or
they
two
make
the best we've ever had,
stock.
After
and learned how
good
workers,
but you can't de
pend on them. They're too damned independent... .^
The Joads
initially
battle against
a diminishing
first evidence
the
case of
pa
has
the
factor
of
family
the Joads.
become
the
in
change
in Grampa:
"Well,
in
this
As
was
workers;
imposed
on
character
decline
of
appears
however,
them prove
the
in
to
family.
the
the
be
The
grandfather
indicated earlier, one method of re
land was eviction.
Once a strong,
cotton
they
the
from its
reduced
earned
independent
stereotypes
of the Joad family.
moving
are
to
a
picker
fields.
gonna
Such was
independent worker, Gramdependent
Muley
stick
on meager wages
Graves
her
bank come
to
tractorin'
off
the
grampa stood out here with a rifle,
out
indicates
when
the
place.
Your
an' he blowed
the headlights off the cat; but she come on just
the same.
Your grampa didn't wanta kill the guy
drivin1 that cat; an' that was Willy Feely, an1
Willy knowed it, so he jus1 come on, an1 bumped
the hell outa the house, and give her a shake
^French, Companion, pp.
the
33-34.
the
62
like a dog
outa Tom.
shakes a rat.
Well,
Kinda got
into 'im.
the same ever since."^
Further
is
evidence
indicated when he
prepare to
start
main
as
decline
refuses
their
drugged his coffee,
onto the truck
of
to
in
the
to
Tom and others
the
as
Grampa
the Joads
California.
lift
the
Having
sleeping Grampa
journey to Highway 66,
the
route westward.
A sharp
morale,
physical
becomes
decline,
apparent
in
as
well
Grampa.
his physical decline is crying which,
ed,
character of
leave him home
journey
they begin
it took sompin
He ain't been
is
not
A
as
first
decline
in
evidence
of
as Uncle John
indicat
typical of Grampa's behavior.
Uncle John said, "He must be good an1
ain't never done that before.
Never
blubberin1 in my life" (p. 48).
Casy
a
further notices
the
sick.
seen
seriousness of Grampa's
He
him
condition:
Casy took the skinny old wrist in his fingers.
"Feeling kinda
tired,
Grampa?"
he
asked.
The
staring eyes moved toward his voice but did not
find him.
The lips practiced a speech but did
not speak it.
Casy felt the pulse and he dropped
the wrist and put his hand on Grampa's forehead.
A struggle began in the old man's body, his legs
moved
restlessly and
his
hands
stirred.
He
said
a whole string of blurred sounds that were not
words, and
his
face
was
red
under
the
spiky
white whiskers (p. 148).
A
simultaneous
sults
in
the
marks
the beginning
decline
death of Grampa.
of
6John Steinbeck,
guin
Books,
1939),
p.
the
in
character
The
eventual
declination of
The Grapes of Wrath
48.
and
health
death of
character
(New
re
Grampa
for
York:
the
Pen
63
family,
the
nation of
tal
to
emergence
the Joad
the
of
family unit,
survival
decline comes
a
pragmatic
of
sense
their
of
initial
with the
death
ceases to
be
of custom.
is detrimen
However,
with
awareness which
the
sustains
coinciding with the continuous
one
"titular
as
its
the
members,
head."
Steinbeck
family
His
states,
the
standing
community
family
women
occurring
marked
at
as
Grampa
the
family
"honorary and
right
waited
becomes
is
unit,
position
silly his old mind might
the
the
of
of
But he did have
matter how
sense of
breakdown
of
discussion was,
into
dream.
a decli
the American dream.
The
men and
and
factor which
communal
itself throughout the novel,
hope of
a
attitudes,
of
first
be.
for
apparent
comment,
And the
him"
as
(p.
Casy
a matter
no
squatting
110).
is
The
accepted
unit.
Casy got to his feet.
He knew the government of
families, and he knew he had .been taken into the
family.
Indeed his position was
eminent,
for
Uncle John moved sideways, leaving a space be
tween Pa
and
squatted down
throned on
Not only
does
himself
for
the
preacher.
Casy
like the others, facing Grampa en
the
Casy
running board
become
the Wilsons
too
become
Joad
and
as
Joads
family
use
Grampa;
the
Sarah,
part
members,
they
Wilson's
or
a
Sairy,
(p.
become
112).
of
as
the
they
aids
blanket
as
Wilson
aids
are
to
a
Ma
family
the
burial
by
unit,
aided
by
family.
shroud
preparing
but
the
The
for
sup-
64
per while
both
Ma
prepares
in the digging
vice about
fixes
the
Grampa
of
way
the
the
the Wilson's car.
Tom Wilson,
for
grave
burial.
and
by
grandfather
is
Tom
Wilson
offering
aids
sound ad
buried;
young
Al
The acceptance becomes official as
like Casy earlier,
is summoned
to the family or
ganization.
Pa called, "Mr. Wilson."
The man scuffed near
and squatted down, and Sairy came and stood be
side him.
(p.
Pa said,
152).
Such acceptance marks
lasts
"We're thankful to you folks"
the beginning of a relationship which
through numerous hardships on the
journey to Califor
nia.
The third
occurs with
the
incident of the breakdown of the
death
increasingly
of
Granma.
and
the
her
succumb
the
family crosses over into California at
to
oppressive
The death
death.
That
conditions
yielding
family unit
of her husband
combine
becomes
a
to make
apparent
temporary camp
site.
Granma kicked the curtain off her legs, which
lay like gray, knotted sticks.
And Granma whined
with the whining in the distance.
Ma pulled the
curtain back in place.
And then Granma sighed
deeply
and
her
breathing
grew
steady
and
easy,
and her closed eyelids
ceased their
flicking.
She slept deeply, and snored through her halfopened mouth.
The whining from the distance was
softer and softer until
all anymore (p. 233).
it
could
not
as
be heard
at
65
Ma Joad
conceals
family reaches
knowledge
of
the
to
the
unit
family
deaths of
a
crossing
family.
grandmother
describes
of
into
only
but
lack
consequences
The
continuous
with
the
of
Noah
by
is
the
an
character,
by
of
just
society.
of
before
reminiscent
that
the
deser
inevitable
aberration
middle-class
of
realization
deserts
family's
breakdown
because
clear
Noah
this
breakdown
is dissolved
any
His
foreshadows
tolerated
also
of
the
society.
dissolved
character
California.
Lennie,
be
not
the
Steinbeck's
Like
not
is
until
the
coincides
members,
result
Lennie Small's,
will
of
the
knowing
here
unit
various
the dream.
ture.
rest
of
in terms of American middle-class
The
tion as
death
Tehachapi,
family
morality
the
of
depar
cannot
and
Steinbeck
him as:
...tall and
dering look
strange, walking always with a won
on his face, calm and puzzled.
He
stupid.
was
had never been angry in his life.
He looked in
wonder at angry people, wonder and uneasiness,
as normal people look at the insane.
Noah moved
slowly, spoke seldom,
and then so slowly
that
people who did not know him often thought him
With
He
(p.
84).
the
realization
dream, Noah
quiet,
deserts
secure
life
not
that
to
by
stupid,
he
but
would
lead what he
the
river.
He
he
never
was
be
strange
a
believes to
part
be
of
a
states:
"No.
It
ain't
no
use.
I was
in that there
water an1
I
ain't
a-gonna leave her.
I'm agonna go now, Tom—down the river.
I'll catch
fish an1 stuff, but I can't leave her.
I can't"
(p.
229).
the
calm,
66
The Wilsons,
who
timate association,
fuses
also
to depart with
by California
fact
has
police
to disclose
does,
she
cancer,
the
however,
to
of
Casy,
her
a
terminal
in
Tom Wilson
re
they
have
camp
established
travel,
illness
who
by
been ordered
in the desert.
longer
her
members
Joads.
after
line
no
family
the
disband
state
truth
is aware of
desert
can
tell
become
the Joads
inside the California
in
have
says
a
to
and
her
just
Sairy, who
she
refuses
husband.
prayer
for
She
her,
that
condition:
She shook her head
slowly from side to
side.
"I'm jus1 pain covered with skin.
I know what
it is, but I won't tell him.
He'd be too sad.
He wouldn1
know what to do anyways.
Maybe in
the night, when he's a-sleepin', when he waked
up, it won't be so bad" (p. 240).
She
is dying,
and,
like
many
of
the
migrants,
she does
have access to the medical care that
is needed.
forms the Joads
at the
that he will
possible arrest.
Wilsons
a
small
amount of
after
hardships of the journey,
earlier
desertion
in the novel
homa rather
than
allows Connie
to
food
he
the
become
leaving the
can
no
longer
cope
deserts Rose of Sharon.
of
Rose
long
more
risking a
and money.
of
Sharon
that Connie desired
face
Wilson in
camp,
Reluctantly the Joads depart,
Connie Rivers,
foreshadows his
remain
not
and
to remain
journey.
more
when
with
Steinbeck
he
notes
in Okla
Steinbeck
isolated
the
from
also
the
67
family,
and
his desire
sert his
Rose of
and he
She
the young man has very
to get a
wife
had
come
comments
radio job signals
and
Sharon,
their
Connie
to
after
little to say.
expected
had
dreams
realize the
his
Finally,
that he will
child.
As
that had
soon de
indicated
been destroyed,
impossibility
of his dream.
departure:
"Said it would a been a good thing if he
home an1 studied up tractors" (p. 301).
stayed
That activity would have provided a secure source of
after the banks
and
possession of the
of Sharon
financial
land.
suffers
a
institutions
decline
in
great despondency upon Connie's departure,
exhausted,
in
a
as a
the
journey,
child.
Along with
the
theme
its
not
factor
in
Steinbeck also utilizes
the novel.
her
Rose
morale.
Her
coupled with the
being
of
overworked
the dissolution of the
being
able
the theme
to
of
realize
communal
The Joads have already expressed
idea
in
closer study
awareness,
caused dis
and
and lack of prenatal care, will eventually result
still-born
dental
had
income
As a result of his desertion,
continuous
extreme hardships of
by
of
their
the
Steinbeck
illusionment as
a
aid
to
the
philosophy
further
result
of
Wilsons.
which
the
Joads1
the
the
dream,
awareness
in
this Transcen
However,
embodies
emphasizes
family
this
theme
attempt
to
in
a
social
of
dis
achieve
68
middle-class
his
values.
Frederick
comprehensive discussion
Transcendental message,
phical Joads,"
ideals
of
how
social
Carpenter,
of The Grapes
shows
the
Ives
in his
family
of Wrath
article,
achieves
throughout
"The
and
and
its
Philoso
displays
the
awareness:
...It begins with
the Transcendental
Oversoul,
Emerson's faith in the common man, and his Pro
testant self-reliance. To this he joins Whitman1s
religion of the
love of all men and his mass
democracy.
And
it
combines these mystical and
poetic ideas
with
the
realistic
philosophy
of
pragmatism and its emphasis on effective action.
From this it develops a new kind of Christianity
—not otherworldly and passive, but earthly and
active.^
First
display
faith
in
the
the
Joads
the
tion of
this
and
his
Oversoul
is
family.
becomes evident
others.
other
Transcendental
himself
cept of
and
The
in
ideal
reflected
Emerson's
manifest
"Under
the
Joads were a proud people,
from anyone
world as
and
long
as
who
^Frederick Ives
College
English,
were
they
2
with
fellowman.
had
old
of
novel
emphasizes
man's
Emersonian
Steinbeck's
for
one's
for
the
qualities
order
in
con
depic
own
soul
souls
as
J.
of
Paul
Oklahoma,
the
individualists who asked nothing
content
a
home
Carpenter,
(January
in
concern
such
the
The
concern
Steinbeck's
Joads
Hunter describes:
characters
with
their
surrounded
by
family-size
land
which
"The Philosophical Joads,
1941):
324-325.
69
they could caress into fertility."8
in their philosophy,
on
instinctive
believe
qualities
becoming dispossessed,
admired by
Steinbeck
mechanic who
makeshift
truck
also admires
the
is
novel
as
from
Oklahoma
novel
the Protestant
drive
to
into
in
this
individual
is
evident
in
dispossessed.
They
world consists
of
for
ing
individual
of
in
a
are
the
sibility
the
Joad
proud,
family,
interaction
world
outside
8Paul Hunter,
the
on
quality
an
expert
broken-down,
others
and
what
seem
solutions.9
the
to
member
of
of
be
Critics
transformation
a
of
social
That Protestant indivi
family
before
independent
They are
their
"Steinbeck's
a
character
the
limits
After
Steinbeck
determinedly
its own property.
rely
California.
"traces
into
living.
Joad,
transform
group—the old 'I' becomes 'we'."10
dualism
in
family's
workable
fact
ability and
Tom
the
to
of
ability
own
resolute,
praises
to
their
the
remain
he
efficiency
one's
direction
they
impossible situations
note that
for
able
the
in
in
The Joads, like Emerson
own
they
farmers
sharing
nonetheless
land,
of
their
Wine
of
become
with
region.
whose
respon
exist
no
Stein-
Affirmation,"
Twentieth-Century
Interpretations
of The Grapes
ed. Robert
Con
David
(Englewood
Cliffs,
N.J.:
Hall, Inc., 1982) , p. 38.
idea
in
of Wrath,
Prentice-
9Ibid.
10Lincoln R. Gibbs, "John Steinbeck: Moralist," Antioch
Review
2
(Summer
1942):
181.
70
beck continues
of Walt
to develop the
Whitman,
Joads and
other
he notes,
"One's
Yet utter
the
with
the
migrants.
self,
world
I
change
In
that individual
in
through
novel, moves
means
of
As
his
indicated
a
the
on
concepts
circumstances
"Song
simple
the
of
of Myself,"
separate person,/
world
En
Masse."11
actions
of
the
group.
migrants
social
Stein
in
integration
desired dream.
in "The Philosophical Joads:"
This is the
beginning
[Steinbeck writes]
from
"I" to "we".
This is the beginning, that is, of
construction.
When
the
old
society
has
been
split and the Protestant individuals wander aim
lessly about, some new nucleus must be found, or
chaos and nihilism will follow.
"In the night
one family camps in a ditch and another family
pulls
in
and
squat on
listen.
cleus.
the
their
tents
hams
and
come
the
Here is the note."
And from the
first
out.
women
Here
"we"
The
and
two
men
children
is the new nu
there grows a
still more dangerous thing:
"I have a little
food," plus "I have none."
If from this problem
the sum is "We have a little food," the thing is
on its
social
way, the movement has direction.
A
group is forming, based on the word
masse. "^
11Carpenter,
12ibid., p.
"Philosophical Joads," p.
319.
the
but he emphatically includes
individualism to
achieving
based
relationship to the
numerous
from
in
Democratic,
individualism,
now
Whitman's
sing,
Whitman praises
beck,
novel,
318.
new
"en
the
as
a
71
Steinbeck,
how
therefore,
through
his
characters,
the family emerges from people with individualistic con
cerns
to those who display through
of communal
throughout
awareness.
the
The
journey
their actions
children,
show
signs
Ruthie
of
the concept
and
Winfield,
selfishness.
particularly demonstrates the individualistic "I"
.
tempt
to play croquet
rules of
sharing
Eventually
she
she
with
shares
sensing
the
Ruthie
said.
with
refusing
other
In
flower
felt how the
"Here's some
(p.
fails
others.
to accommodate
cern
is
a childish,
when
the
and
at
point
one
to
to
commit
Tom,
who
family's needs,
providing
told
a
"good
time"
withholds
money
from
to realize the advantage of working
the migrants'
if
work
shows
beer
this
search
one
a
for
himself
when
for
fella
to
Al's
unable
of
Weedpatch.
reluctant way
to
he
work.
went
fella'd
get
and
questions
He
alone?
it"
do
so,
Then
Tom.
the
283).
of
hesitation
for
himself.
the
family's
He
together
if
idea
immediate con
questions,
(p.
the
without
funds
He
buy
himself
meager
piece
the
fun was gone.
"Here," she
more.
Stick
some on your
Unlike
himself
better
at
to
499).
acts
fit all.
in her at-
to adhere
children
petals
Ruthie
family's dilemma:
for
He even
after
the
Winfield
Initially Al
concern
alone
shows concern.
forehead"
be
shows
is
also
to bene
rational
of
"Wouldn't
it
they
was
However,
one
he
72
fails
to
realize
grants who
the
search
for
gravity
of
the
jobs.
He
is
situation
given
the
of
the
mi
explanation:
"You ain't learned. . .Takes gas to get roun1 the
country.
Gas
costs
fifteen
cents
a
gallon.
Them four fellas can't take four cars.
So each
of 'em puts in a dime an' they get gas.
You got
to learn" (p. 283).
Al,
however,
and
a
eventually
show
promise of maturation.
concerned with
Joad
does
his
his
to
leave
need
the
oping
sense of responsibility.
tions
to
of
her
Aggie
parents,
ironically,
about
are
the
responsibility
seems
he
again
to be
announces
even
to
after Tom's
Ma
re
Steinbeck shows Al's devel
Al also announces his inten
Wainwright,
who
as
family
luctant but necessary departure,
marry
of
Although he
individual
intention
signs
much
concerned
possibility
to
the
about
of
satisfaction
her
honor
supporting
an
and,
unwed
mother and a child.13
Rose of
bers,
Sharon
initially
ness,
they
display
and
are
are,
in
Connie,
limited
fact,
self-centered
in
a
concerns
her pregnancy
ney
characters'
future.
both
Steinbeck
never
the
their
burden
grossment with
and
like
view
to
such as
and
the
of
the
Rose
Connie
of
to
family
group
family,
mem
aware
as
they
of Sharon's en
hardships
daydreams
allows
other
of
plans
change,
the
for
as
13Hunter, "Steinbeck's Affirmation," pp. 44-46.
jour
their
he
ul-
73
timately deserts his
sents
the
thematic
demonstrate
gives
a
wife;
however,
climax
of
significant
a dying man
life
in
the
change
through
an
act
novel,
the
in
Rose
the milk
of
in
which
author
Sharon,
and
establishes
a
code
other migrants
hope
for
a
better
of
existence
throughout
the
become
ment.
greater
Some members
novel
Casy
in
Steinbeck
remain mere
probably
states,
"I'm
"I
climb
However,
ment with
the
as
still
fences
novel.
portrays
person,
as
they
fornia and,
California,
a
when
because
This
In
pursue
the
the
opening
a
result
of
his
my dogs
got
their
fences
and
and
agonizedly,
other
his
involve
others
chapters
rather
stay
down
to
one
be
encounter
the
in
prison.
Tom
at
a
and
en
time,"
(pp.
concept
pp.
190-191).
his involve
route
with
Affirmation,"
of
individualistic
climb"
migrants
Tom epitomizes Whitman's
"Steinbeck's
con
is the case of Tom Joad
as
I
of
participants
Tom
laying
family
,
the Joads
of Whitman's
through his relationship with Jim Casy,
the
she
Thus Stein
directs
reflective
individuals
come "representative men."15
and Jim
novel,
as
life.
The group's participants,
cept,
that
does
her breast which
was meant by nature for her still-born child.14
beck
repre
the
to
owners
through
44-46.
l5Carpenter, "The Philosophical Joads," p.
Cali
319.
in
Stein-
74
beck's development of the theme of one's awareness of people
"en masse."
Tom's gradual move toward this social altruism is evi
denced in
an
argument
which Tom hits
to be
involving
a deputy
arrested
instead
a
labor
sheriff.
of
Tom
Jim
to
contractor during
Casy
allows
prevent
Tom's
himself
possible
return to McAlester State Prison for breaking parole.
Casy
has in fact given Tom his first lesson in people "en masse,"
that is,
of
social
awareness
novel Tom
becomes
a
thwart an
attempt
by
Weedpatch.
The
more
beck's development
active
sheriffs
camp
among
of
"I"
to
Later
participant,
to
situation
people.
raid
the
further
"we"
as
he
Federal
since
the
helps
Camp
emphasizes
concept,
in
at
Stein
the
camp
is a self-governing social organism responsible for its own
maintenance.
as he
Tom's
avenges
the
labor organizer.
and, as
final
he
time,
final
death
conversion
of
Casy,
to
who
the
concept
finally
occurs
becomes
a
While hiding he contemplates Casy's ideas,
relates
those
he expresses
ideas
in
speaking
the ultimate
ideal
to
Ma
Joad
of group aware
ness:
"But now I been thinkin1 what he said,
remember—all of
it.
Says
one
an'
I can
time he went
out
in the wilderness to find his own soul, an' he
foun' he didn'
have no soul that was his'n.
Says he foun1 he jus' got a little piece of a
great big
soul.
Says
a wilderness
ain't
no
good, 'cause his little piece of a soul wasn't
a
75
no good
'less
it was with the
rest,
an1
was
whole.
Funny now I remember.
Didn1 think I was
even listenin1.
But I know now a fella ain't no
good alone...He spouted out some Scriptures
once, an' it didn't soun' like no hellfire Scrip
tures. . .Goes, 'Two are better than one, because
they have a good reward for their labor.
For if
they fall, the one will lif up his fellow, but
woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he
hath not another to help him up...Again, if two
lie together,
then they have heat;
but how can
one be warm alone?
An'
if one prevail against
him, two shall withstand him, and a three-fold
cord is not quickly broken"1 (p. 462).
According
to Lisca,
Tom has proclaimed
with all men, and it
rial and
personal
is evident
resentment
that
to
"his spiritual unity
he has moved from mate
ethical
indignation,
from
particulars to principles."16
Steinbeck also establishes a sense of "people en masse"
through the actions of the character Jim Casy.
opens,
As the novel
Casy has already begun to progress toward the Whitman
concept of communal awareness.
He reveals to Tom that he is
no longer a preachers because he "Ain't got the call no more.
Got a lot of sinful idears—but they seem kinda sensible"
20).
will
flect
(p.
He begins to question his evangelistic purpose, which
later encompass a larger scope as his ideas begin to re
the
After an
concept
intense
of
the
Oversoul
conversation
with
of
Tom
Transcendentalism.
about
his
"sinful
16peter Lisca,
"The Grapes of Wrath," in Steinbeck;
A Collection of
Critical Essays, ed.
Robert Murray Davis
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall,
Inc.,
1972), p.
98.
76
idears,"
Casy rationalizes
the acts of man:
sin and there ain't no virtue.
It's
is
part of the same thing.
nice,
got a
and
some
right
"I
ain't
to
figgered
say"
There's just stuff people do.
And some of the things folks do
nice,
(p.
about
"There ain't no
but
that's
24).
the
Holy
He
Sperit
as
far as
finally
and
any man
concludes:
the
Jesus
road.
I figgered, 'Why do we got to hang it on
God or Jesus?
Maybe,1 I figgered,
'Maybe it's
all men an1 all women we love; maybe that's the
Holy Sperit—the human sperit—the whole shebang.
Maybe all men got
one big
soul ever'body's a
part
of"
Casy
is
will develop
(p.
24).
developing
through
other migrants.
his
a
sense
of
"social
relationship
prophecy"
with
the
that
Joads
and
His theories are further confirmed as a re
sult of his brief encounter with Muley Graves,
a farmer who
has decided to fight the system and not to leave the land of
Oklahoma.
Muley states, "If a fella's got somepin to eat an'
another fella's
hungry—why
the
first
fella
ain't
got
no
i
choice"
(pp. 51-52).
Casy recognizes the underlying meaning
of Muley's statement at this point; however,
he does acknow
ledge that "Muley's got a-holt of somepin', an1
for him, an'
however,
it's too big for me"
(p.
52).
it's too big
Graves realizes,
that his family and the many other migrants who have
moved westward will never return to their homes.
to Tom and
Casy:
He explains
77
"Well sir,
happened
to
it's a funny thing.
me
when
they
Sompin'
tol'
me
I
went an'
had
to
get
off the place.
Furst I was gonna go in an' kill
a whole flock a people.
Then all may folks all
went away out west.
An1 I got, wanderin' aroun'.
Just walkin' aroun'.
Never went far.
Slep1 where
I was.
I was gonna sleep here tonight.
That's
I'd tell myself, "I'm lookin' after
why I come.
things so when all the folks come back it'll be
all right.
'But
I
knowed
that
wan't
true.
There ain't nothin1
to look after.
The folks
ain't never
comin'
back.
I'm
jus'
wanderin'
aroun1 like a damn ol' graveyard ghos'" (p. 54).
On one level Graves'
is to happen
situation serves as a phophecy of what
to many migrants
who move
westward,
while
on
another his situation serves as a variant type of the revela
tion that Casy will ultimately experience.
Steinbeck
further
emphasizes
Casy's
need
to
clarify
his feelings as the character reacts to the deserted home of
the Joad family.
Casy acknowledges an inability to act based
on past religious philosophy.
He confesses, "If I was still
a preacher I'd say the arm of the Lord had struck.
don't know what's happened" (p.
42).
But now I
Although there is much
indecision in his mind regarding his new-found philosophy, he
still
is able to express ideas pertinent to its basis.
As he
aids the Joad family in their preparation to leave Oklahoma,
he replies
that
to Ma Joad,
it is a woman's
who has
commented
job to cut pork,
by
on
the
tradition
saying,
"It's all
work...They1s too much of it to split up to men's or women's
work"
(p.
117).
Not until Casy has spent time
in the Cali-
78
fornia jail as
pletely aware
this
to Tom,
strike
a result of his protection of Tom is
of
who
his
own
later
intent
in
the
and
purpose.
novel
He
he com
explains
meets
him
again
see.
What made
as
a
leader:
"Well,
they was
nice
fellas,
ya
'em bad was they needed stuff.
An1 I begin to
see then.
It's need that makes all the trouble.
I ain't got it worked out.
Well, one day they
give us
some beans that was
sour.
One
fella
started yellin1 an1 nothin' happened.
He yelled
his head off.
Trusty comes along an1 looked in
an' went on.
Then another fella yelled.
Well,
sir, then we all got yellin'.
And we all got on
the same tone...Then sompin happened.
They come
a-runnin', and they give us some other stuff to
eat—give
it to us.
Ya see?"
(p.
422).
Through this anecdote Casy illustrates the importance of par
ticipation
as a social unit, and he has finally come to terms
with his own speculation concerning love and brotherhood in
regard to his fellow man.17
from stasis to action.
material resentment
Thus both men move analogously
Lisca notes that "as Tom moves from
to ethical
indignation,
from action
to
thought to action again, so Casy moves from the purely specu
lative to the pragmatic."18
The
Joads1
of
final
point
noted
in
move to social awareness
Carpenter's
is
the
analysis
of
the
author's development
the philosopohy of pragmatism developed by William James
17Warren French,
lishers,
Inc.,
1961),
John Steinbeck
p.
102.
18Lisca, Critical Essays, p.
98.
(New York:
Twayne Pub
79
and John Dewey.
ed an
attitude
plation and
As indicated previously, Jim Casy establish
of
final
practical
action
application
of
through
ideas
in
survival of the migrants who are seeking,
dream of a better existence.
Protest
in the
As
"a
down-home
blend
Christian American ethics."19
based on consequences and
of the
situation,
Therefore the
means of
reference
to
the
like the Joads,
the
in
"Affirmation and
Joads
"pragmatic
action
than
and
they
on
the
sense
and
non-
as a result
contemplative
novel
when
the
strive
theory.
develop practical
attitudes,
lawbreakers"
as
common
They take courses of action
throughout
prominent
of
the practical outcome
rather
effective
comes more
their
contem
in the West," Jim Casy and the Joad family demonstrate
novel
become
stated
lengthy
as
they
survival
hopelessly
to
in
fact
urge
be
achieve
dream.
Steinbeck's manifestation of practical action based on
immediate consequences becomes apparent as he allows Tom Joad
to break his parole in order to accompany his family to Cali
fornia.
Tom,
for killing
who has
a man
spent time
in self-defense,
Oklahoma valley with the family.
cedent which
provides the
defies
reader
with
1980),
p.
his
resolves
society
pragmatic
John Steinbeck
75.
to leave their
Here Tom establishes a pre
conventional
19Paul McCarthy,
lishing Co.,
in McAlester State Prison
(New
and
its
code
York:
laws,
of
yet
ethics.
Ungar Pub
80
A second
ethical
example
of
action
that
is
considered
non-
in the American society is the burial of Grampa while
en route
to
California.
quickly and
results
quietly;
Grampa
suffers
however,
the
a
stroke
problem
of
his
in effective action based on practicality.
blem is expressed by Pa
after Grampa1s
"We got
You got
either
in the gathering of the
dies
burial
The pro
family unit
death:
to figure out what to do.
They's laws.
to report a death, an1 when you do, they
take
forty
dollars
for
they take him for a pauper"
Because of
and
their
extreme
the
(p.
undertaker
necessity
and
their
pride, the family wishes to take neither action.
cannot afford
to pay
what
or
152).
constitutes
almost
inviolable
The family
one-third
of
the total amount of their funds for the trip to California,
nor do they wish to become
pauper's burial,
family.
As
what you
to
do"
and
(p.
Knowledgeable
also knows
have been
that
that
of
serve
the
the
Grampa
and
the
Tom
as
tell
is
of
a
the
considered
themselves.
leaves
Jim
right to do
note
in
the
an explanation of their
processes
therefore
note
dignity
"You got the
the government may assume
murdered
He suggests
bury
153).
submitting to a
to do what
stating,
grave which he hopes will
actions.
lessen
choose
unlawful
situation by
got
charity case,
would
a result they
non-ethical and
sums up the
which
a
begin
Grampa1 s
of
the
law,
Tom
that Grampa could
an
investigation.
identity,
give
an
81
account of
his
death,
buried along
Highway
will
the
satify
disturbs
acts
the
66.
grave.
tical reasons.
That
Thus
to
but which become a
family
explain
questions
contradictory
The
and
the
the
the
family
continues
to
The
of
for
why
family
government
continues
established
necessity
death
reason
message,
of
the
the
laws
he
is
hopes,
if
anyone
to
perform
of
society,
survival.
act
outside
Granma
the
law
creates
for prac
still
another
problem of ethics, as the continuing hardships of the journey
erode the morale of the family.
Rather than risk the possi
bility of not getting across the Nevada line into California,
Ma Joad, who is gradually becoming the leader of the family,
does not inform the family or the agricultural inspector of
the death
of the grandmother.
Ma
Joad
is
able to persuade
the inspector to allow the family to continue their journey
without the delay for inspection, explaining that the grand
mother is
extremely
other members
stances,
mother,
are
only
of
ill
the
find
needs
family,
astonished
to
and
that
at
assure the
successful
crossing
corpse
the
of
in
back
unaware
the
this
the
medical
of
attention.
the
demanding
true
attitude
attitude became
truck.
Ma
circum
of
necessary
into California
despite
Joad
the
young
ones—an'
Roseasharn's
baby*
the
to
the
explains:
"I was afraid we wouldn't get acrost...I told
Granma we couldn't he'p her.
The family had to
get acrost.
I tol' her, tol' her when she was adyin'.
We couldn'
stop in the desert.
There
was
The
I
82
tol1
her."
She
put
up
her
hand
and
covered
her
face for a moment.
"She can get buried in a nice
green place...Trees
aroun1
an1
a
nice
place.
She got to lay her head down in California" (p.
252).
Steinbeck
of
allows
strength
in
the Steinbeck
live,
the character Ma Joad
the
family unit.
character
who
to emerge as a pillar
Her actions are
"has
an
typical
irrepressible
will
of
to
even under heart-breakingly adverse conditions, and is
resourceful
and
indomitable
before
the hostility of
a world
apparently bent on his or her extermination."20
Ma Joad at
this point
family
therefore
becomes
the
strongest member
the head of the family.
in "Affirmation and Protest
of
the
and
She displays, as indicated
in the West,"
an "understanding
of men and of the nitty-gritty aspects of life.. .strong
love
for children...a recognition that in times of crisis and loss
of a
family member,
others
come
first...and
wisdom
in
the
ways of people and women, expressing belief in female aware
ness of external forces and in the
endurance."21
and act
in
a
importance of courage and
Such qualities permit her to break moral laws
practical
Finally,
at
a
manner
point
of
almost
degradation forced upon them,
20John S.
Kennedy,
for
the
sake
total
of
the
family.
surrender
to
the
the family commits yet another
"John
Steinbeck:
Life
Affirmed
and Dissolved," in Steinbeck and His Critics (Alburquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, 1957), p. 121.
21McCarthy, Steinbeck, p.
75.
83
pragmatic offense in the view of society.
Symbolic of
their
inhumane condition as a result of dispossession and depriva
tion,
Uncle
Sharon
in
John
a
box
in
populated area
codified laws
recourse
a
of
of
the
(p.
a
town.
society;
things
493).
As
still-born
nearby
stream
Again,
which
the
final
the
of
flows
act
Rose
law
violates
no
Wainwright
that
statement
of
we
of
toward
Joads have
for as Mrs.
'gainst
a
child
this
however,
than to break them,
"They's lots
doin'"
places
the
other
states,
can't
protest
a
he'p
against
the fruit growers and those responsible for the humiliation
suffered by the Joads and other migrants,
to bury
angrily,
rot an'
on down
then"
the
child
and
"Go down an1
tell
now,
(pp.
places
tell
'em that way.
an1
lay
in
it
'em.
in
Uncle John refuses
a
stream,
Go down
commenting
in the street an'
That's the way you can talk...Go
the
street.
Maybe
they'll
know
493-494).
Relentlessly,
rebellious actions,
Steinbeck
in
The Grapes of Wrath
as devoted Americans,
conscious
allows
of
the
dream of individualistic survival experience, first an econo
mic decline,
both as a
result
of
natural
causes and
of the
technology of twentieth-century America, then a regression in
morale and the physical declination of the family unit.
ever,
concurrent with his theme of man
How
in conflict with the
84
cruelest of circumstances, yet maintaining a measure of dig
nity and self-respect, Steinbeck allows the Joads to experi
ence a measure of optimism throughout their ordeal.
CONCLUSION
The foregoing
analysis
of
the
thematic
structure
these three very significant novels of John Steinbeck,
gests that
the
author
establishes
a
definite
motif
of
sug
for
them, which is the conflict between illusion and reality as
it relates
to
the
the development
pursuit of the American dream.
of
the
varied personalities,
these characters
in
the
romantic
those who
seek
author
similar
Steinbeck's characters
who seek
protagonists
in
reveals
does
novels
illusions that will
unromantic
visions
substantially
continuously
situations
these
Although
and
catastrophes.
range
from
never be
that
place
those
realized to
cannot
be
realized
because of forces beyond anyone's control to those who have
to some extent realized a portion of their dream world only
to have
those
valid
images
of
meaningful
life
destroyed.
All characters, because of external forces, both natural and
societal,
suffer the loss of what is considered a meaningful
existence within
the American social
structure.
All
char
acters experience conflicts with continuously mounting cir
cumstances
that
ultimately
destroy
the
dream
either
as
a
result of those external forces or of internal forces which
make the
society
inhumane
or
85
the
victims
of
the
society
86
subhuman.
In
conjunction
illusion and reality,
phies
that
the
relate to
the
study
of
the
motif
of
I have also examined several philoso
author
utilizes
Steinbeck's
In Tortilla Flat
"Escape and
with
in
survival
Steinbeck
Commitment"
as
it
his
of
development
the
adheres
relates
as
American
to
the
they
dream.
concept
to man and his
of
rela
tionship to man.
He establishes a bond between men to last
so long
is
focus
seek
as
there
a
substantial
need.
In
the
novel
the
is on Danny and the paisanos of the Monterey Valley who
illusions
tions, and
based
because
conflict with
the
on
the
self-centered,
characters
traditional
of
unrealistic
the
American
paisanos
values
fixa
are
they
in
cannot
function successfully according to the mores of the society
of which
they
wish
to
be
a
part.
Their
self-centered
obsessions are based on a conflict between opposed
individualism and dependence
the brotherhood.
The
between the
that
bond
paisanos and
Knights of
emanates
success
the
the
from
in
the
finding
as there
is
is to
presented
be
a
novel
bond
Round
need
upon
Malory
Table.
search
it,
shows
Steinbeck
that
Danny
Like
establishes
establishes
the
paisanos1
knights
Grail
bond
to protect the Pirate's
to
San
each
significant
of the Holy
the
and
and
ideas of
other
parallels
between
between
whose
the
the
bond
yearned-for
exists
so
treasure,
Francesco d'Assisi,
in
and the
long
which
need
87
to prepare the Pirate for the ceremonial presentation of his
gift.
After
the
Pirate's
treasure
has
been
given
to
the
church and there is no longer a need to protect the treasure,
the sense
of
purpose
responsibility
was,
in fact,
the group
for
begins
the
to
fade within the
protection
of
allows Danny
to
brotherhood's
However,
suppress
longer pertinent,
his
when
need
the
for
treasure
"talisman"
individuality
the protagonist and central
which
is
figure of
no
the
fraternal nature struggles with both his need
to be an individual and his commitment
fatal
attempt at
a mysterious assault on the
a traumatic
Pirate's
The
the talisman or the object of power which held
together.
fore makes a
the
group.
death that
to others.
an expression of
He
there
freedom,
In
forces of nature, Danny suffers
remains
a
mystery
in Tortilla
Flat.
His death also signifies the end of the brotherhood and
the
end of
any
its
middle-class
illusion
of
a
possible
existence
within
structure.
In Of Mice and Men Steinbeck establishes his non-teleo-
logical view of man and his existence.
works
He notes that in such
as this the philosophy which supports the rationale for
all natural
processes
novel there
is no explanation for the events
the
involving
natural processes of life.
ascertain causation
for those
man
There
"things
becomes
void;
in
the
that determine
is simply no attempt to
that happen"
in life.
88
Those
"things that happen"
never become
thor never
components of philosophical analysis.
seeks
to
create
those series of events
the two men.
are
Their
considered
society's
by
and ultimate
conflict
"handicapped"
in
the
unlike
valid
those
and
handicap,
between
others
acts
and
all
here
in the
au
the dream of
of the paisanos,
the
who
However,
existence
are
propensity
become
Steinbeck
tragic hero
the
The
concerning
reasonable.
Lennie's
society,
normal existence.
thought
inexorably destroy
desires,
of
tentionally violent
defensible
that
society
rejection
concept of
to Lennie Small and George Milton
in
of
effect
towards
unin
factors which prevent
also draws
figure
from Hegel
of George
a
the
Milton,
who fails to become a truly tragic hero because of the lack
of choices
that
offered
a
society
of the Hegelian epoch.
as Steinbeck
destroying
allows
his
Finally,
Waldo Emerson
early
by
the
That
that
is
much
harsher
than
harshness becomes apparent
hero George
to destroy the dream by
companion.
the author utilizes
and
others
of
the Transcendental
nineteenth-century America.
cularly and
most
through the
actions
explicitly,
The Grapes of Wrath.
American who has
of
Jim
As
to some
the
the philosophies of Ralph
the
Casy,
movement
He re-establishes,
concept
Ma
of
Joad,
character
degree realized
Casy
the
and
of
parti
Oversoul
Tom Joad
indicates,
in
the
the goal of success
89
must
act
on
a
of American
hibit
Casy
the
th
level
life.
idea
further
of
his
all
current
western,
independent
praises
in the
so
actions
communally
Steinbeck
to
the
their
the
migrant
dream
possibility
of Steinbeck's
life
world.
in
soul.
that
the
with
exist
of
by Walt Whitman
in
them
that
the
quality
in
typical mid-
Nevertheless,
pertinent
other
in
The
that
characters,
inherent
to
that
just
the
en
pertinence
migrants
who
California.
seek
Finally,
individuals
re-establishment
non-viable
practical
but
society.
that
However,
optimistic
the
those
illegal
acts
the mi
as with many
view
of American
in
for
forces of society make
characteristic
that quality which enables
survival as
of
virtually
the external
unacceptable
seemingly
as
one
ex
concept
establish
and
of
accordance
admires
farmer.
individual
Joads
in
migrants
relationships
He
Steinbeck
regain
necessitated by
grants
act
as expressed
American
mainstream of American
the
composed
initially makes
the
the
aspects
utilizes the James and Dewey concept of pragmatism
which makes
of
men
tangible
re-establishes
society.
does
of
tragedy,
the
further
American
society,
in
all
being
all
particularly
family which
tire
that
Oversoul
the Joad
as Whitman
their
mankind's
Steinbeck
Individualism,
transcends
Through
indicates
established
among men.
which
which
life
is
is
a
also
the Joad family to continue on to
in American society.
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