Реферат: In Dubious Battle Essay Research Paper In

keeps the strike going by slightly changing the focus. When it seems that the workers are

about to turn on Mac and Jim, they are distracted by a fight involving London. When the

men were being stood off by the cops at the train station, a vigilante shoots Joy. Since

the pickers new Joy only as a face, it became the face of the common worker. They then

fought for not only themselves but for that face.

Jim surfaces as a significant leader but is then killed. This doesn?t slow anything.

In fact it puts the ball rolling again. Mac uses the death of Jim as a way to put another

concrete face on the abstract ideas he is trying to push. But this time the workers knew

Jim and what he stood for. Mac tries to emphasize this by preaching, ?This guy didn?t

want nothing for himself.? It, like the previous examples, shows how something can just

keep changing its path ever so slightly in order to keep going. This can apply to current

farming, factory workers, a strategy for war, or even to modern ethical beliefs.

Jim?s death scene is the last scene in the book and leaves the reader without a

finite ending. We never really know what happened to Dr. Burton. We never know if Al

Anderson or London officially join the party. We never find out if the strike went

through or if it just disbanded. The lack of adjournment on these events is very

significant and creates a great impact on the reader, pointing to yet another theme. This

one says that many things and battles, not unlike the book, don?t have a defined ending

and go on infinitely. Steinbeck, by not putting closure on things, displays this universal

idea magnificently.

Steinbeck expresses several themes in In Dubious Battle that still apply today,

communism is not one of them. Communism acts merely as a canvas to paint these other

abstractions. He shows it is basic human nature to need to belong and to have identity

and goals. He displays the fact that not every ?war? can be won in one day or one battle.

Just because some of these battles will be losses, doesn?t mean the war still can?t be a

victory. By not letting the story die and always giving a new way to turn, Steinbeck

exemplifies almost a Darwinian theory of adaptation and evolution. With the seemingly

inconclusive ending, he shows that the point of writing this was more than just a story. It

says that things aren?t always open and shut with concrete closure or a finite ending.