In Dubious Battle Suffering Quotes

We know from the beginning that Jim is a deeply troubled young man. But in case you missed it, here is a memo from his subconscious. Jim falls into a deep but troubled sleep after he bullies London into taking action. London observes that even in sleep, Jim is working through some very deep-seated aggressions. We know that Jim's desire for violent action comes from a dark place inside of him, a place where he stores the painful memories of his hopeless and frightening early life.

We hear very little about the plight of individual workers in this work—we're focused so strongly on "the cause"—but here, we get a strong dose of misery from one of the women dealing with the conditions in the camp. While Mac and Jim put a pretty good face on their own discomfort, there's no denying the level of misery that the workers must be suffering in these primitive conditions. The heartbreaking thing? Their regularly scheduled lives were not much better. The conditions at the camps in the orchards were hardly wonderful, and the normal routine included a never-ending system of exploitation, from low wages in the fields to exorbitant prices at the company store.

Al tells Mac earlier—and only somewhat jokingly—that his father loved his dogs more than he loved him. We now learn that the beautiful pups have been killed in the fire that also claimed Anderson's crop of apples. Though Anderson had resigned himself to poverty, it's clear that the death of his four-legged friends has struck him to the core. Jim doesn't get it. He feels that Anderson should be willing to give up his life—as Jim himself is willing to do—to work for real change in U.S. labor conditions, and he scorns him for caring about property. But as we can see here, Anderson's grief is less for his property and more for the good companions who have so senselessly lost their lives.