In Dubious Battle Themes

When Bolter tries to negotiate with London, he tells the men that the Growers simply want peace in the Valley. Right, dude.Okay, so it's entirely possible that he means it: a violent uprising would...

Mac's mantra in In Dubious Battle—and his best advice to Jim—is "use everything." This philosophy leads him to take outrageous risks, like pretending to know how to deliver a freakin' baby, and...

Pretty much everybody is miserable in In Dubious Battle. Misery hits you right away on page one, and it just keeps on building.This sense of despair torments not just Jim: it spreads through the ca...

Let's be real: In Dubious Battle's Mac and Jim have a pretty messed-up take on the misery suffered by Joy, old Dan, and the Andersons: it's a shame and all, but someone has to do it. Tough, tough,...

As Steinbeck sees it, everyone is motivated by self-interest, including those whose agendas seem benign and even helpful. This inherent selfishness breeds the greed and inhumanity that Steinbeck is...

If you've ever lived in an "organized" neighborhood (neighborhood association, anyone?), you know that the idea of community can be a slippery thing. On one hand, "community" can give you the warm...

In Dubious Battle is all about the classic power struggle between impoverished workers and well-organized, huge-bank-account-wielding business owners. It seems like a hopeless cause—the workers h...

There's more than one group in In Dubious Battle that just can't get no satisfaction: the workers, Doc Burton, Jim, Mac, Al, Anderson—heck, pretty much everybody is pretty unhappy. While we're me...

In one way, the characters in In Dubious Battle are defeated: they're soul-crushed, their desires are dashed, and they're filled with hopelessness. We see this especially in Jim's character, when h...

In In Dubious Battle, Steinbeck's all about showing us the difficulties that arise when an individual becomes part of something "larger than himself." Just take a look at what happens to Jim. He co...