“Conclusion – Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent”;
Conclusion
This paper has essentially sought after demonstrating the extent of literature available in relation to the values of people, who for one reason or another; fail to measure up to society’s expectations. In the previous chapters, I have shown that Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent aims at representing the social context in its different aspects, taking into account the main value suggested in the novel which is the morality of business in opposition to the greed of man. Steinbeck places his American characters in a recent past, with limited moral applicability to the social problems of the present day as a means of linking personal struggles to social ones. This novel illustrates characters living in a hostile universe and their lives seem to be lacking meaning and purpose. Steinbeck provokes the audience to consider the prevailing sense of social alienation in the rising middle class and the growing class tensions; their fear of being victimized and rejected, their identity crisis, etc. The writer felt that he had to explain the new historical reality and the position of the individual in the new post war order by representing an accurate portrait of human beings in a shifting society. Through this inquiry I intended to depict the individual as a character living in a fragmented world, which results in the disjunction of the self consciousness and the problems resulting due to the disruption of human communication.
Through Steinbeck’s characters we can fully understand how horrid the situations that people had to endure were. His characters are also used to show his different opinions concerning the social classes. In The Winter of Our Discontent we find through the main character that to gain some success in the world and achieve social mobility he first has to ignore all his principles and eventually become corrupt and evil like the others. His characters are representations of the different social groups, which mean that all of his readers can find someone to identify with. His stories are so detailed that they helped put a spark into the hearts of the nation and would also serve as a ground work for future artists to carry on his messages.
As he loves mankind and believes in the need for all men of love to appreciate the fullness of life, Steinbeck's values are based on love. Qualities in men which indicate their love for one another or their ability to adapt to life successfully are the ones he admires; the only material things he values are those which promote a life which is happy without being competitive or insecure. Specifically, he values unselfishness, honesty, gallantry and kindness to the downtrodden and the misfits. He distrusts money and business because he feels that the acquisition and preservation of money interfere with man's instincts for love. For Steinbeck, the one goal for man greater than the happiness achieved in communion with other human beings is to make a contribution toward the total happiness, the general well-being of all society; a man able and willing to sacrifice himself for this end is the new Steinbeck hero. Similarly he opposes man-made laws, religions, and social conventions when adherence to them violates his own code based on what he believes are man's naturally moral behaviors. Thus, our novelist proves that the greatest goodness and happiness is that which comes out of the performance of acts of humanity and brotherly love.
I suggest that it is a division not between hope and materialistic despair but between the smallness and futility of man to bring about social reform and the potential to take strides in that direction through the power of example and the bonds of community. In the face of overwhelming odds, not all of us can accept the harder, romantic path. In this logic, this novel accurately reflects that. But it also suggests that in the greater scope of society, there are those who can rise to mythic status and inspire many to join with them in effecting reform. In his final words from America and Americans, Steinbeck proclaims, “We have failed sometimes, taken wrong paths, paused for renewal, filled our bellies and licked our wounds; but we have never slipped back—never” (404) . This being said, Steinbeck announces his unwavering conviction in the resilience of America and while he admits her faults, illustrates the perseverance of a nation unwilling to retreat.
The way a writer finishes his/her work has to do with his/her standpoint towards certain problems. This makes people think that writing is ideological. Then, literary works are political since ideologies of the writers are intertwined with creative writing skills. Struggling for changes through creative writing is a manifestation of rhetoric of transformation. Adopting this rhetoric, writers need to address people’s belief about an issue or problem and then to convince them with the urgency of the changes. Steinbeck felt strongly that the world needed more visible models of rectitude and energy.
The extent of this thesis, being limited, understandably, I cannot go on with my analysis through all of Steinbeck’s works. However, the novel that I have chosen to illustrate covers almost all the different aspects of social issues and the significant areas studied by Steinbeck. However, even though I tackled the issue of ethics along with the social and the political aspects in my research study, yet it is by no means an exhaustive analysis. A few caveats, therefore, still need to be mentioned, for instance the issue of religiosity as well as the mythical referentiality of Steinbeck’s narrative, The Winter of Our Discontent. I hope that this thesis will serve as a basis of study for further research regarding the idea of multi-perspectivism in Steinbeck’s works or at least contributes to linear thinking.