American Society During the Great Depression

The stock market crash in 1929 eventually led to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Life for everyone in the 1930s became extremely harsh. Many had lost their jobs and had few skills. With few skills, most men on farms turned to picking fruit. John Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle successfully portrayed society in the 1930s. The following paragraphs will discuss the social groups of the apple pickers, the women, the landowners (growers) and the "reds.

"The "American way of life" - a phrase that became widely resonant in the 1930s for the first time - remained strong throughout the years of economic despair (760, The Unfinished Nation). The apple pickers simply wanted to do their jobs and get paid so they would have food to eat. When Jim and Mac came along, the pickers' views changed. The pickers worked independently, not caring about their co-workers. Mac had all the men assist him in delivering Lisa's baby because Mac wanted the men to work together (62, In Dubious Battle). Mac had to bring the men together and show them they have strength in numbers. Jim and Mac had showed the pickers they could easily get better wages by striking. Their strike brought the men together and formed a much tighter bond. Socializing and bonding served as a great part to survival in the 1930s.

Once men began losing their jobs, women began to realize their necessity in the work place to maintain their suitable living conditions. The women in the book had the typical female role of caring for the men. They socialized very little with the pickers because the pickers always had work to get done to ensure their financial situations. In the beginning of the book, a waitress served Jim, which is an example of women out working instead of staying inside as housewives.

The landowners do not care about the pickers; they merely want their crops picked so they can make their money. The landowners felt enraged when the pickers did not perform their jobs adequately, if at all. Landowners also felt eager to end the strike and get the fruit pickers back to work. Economically, the landowners trampled over the fruit pickers, who fell into poverty quite easily during the 1930s.

The most important in Steinbeck's novel, Jim and Mac, served as "reds" or radicals because of their extreme views and ways of getting what they want. Jim in the beginning of the novel tried to 'discover' himself - he really did not feel he knew himself. Mac, on the other hand knew what he wanted - to incite riots and in the long run improve or at least change the pickers welfare. In Mac's eyes, "Anybody that wants a living wage is a radical" (86, In Dubious Battle). Jim soon caught on to Mac's way, but unfortunately Jim got power-hungry and his hunger got the better of him because he got shot in the shoulder once and shot again (348, In Dubious Battle) when the marshals had shown up to retake Anderson's five acres of land. Jim and Mac did not care about the outcome of the strike because they only wanted to feel the rush of the strike and once the strike came to an end, they planned to go on searching for another one.

The book accurately portrayed the struggle most people faced during the Great Depression of the 1930s: "Women work all day, men work all day; and the owner charges three cents extra for a can of beans because the men are too damned tired to go into town for groceries" (77, In Dubious Battle). Most men lost their jobs and struggled to survive. As inflation rose, the ability to purchase items like bread became a great challenge. Everyone seemed to want something for themselves, but when a man got hurt or when the pickers got hungry, someone provided them with aid. They all had differing motives to the strike; Jim wanted to get involved and give his life meaning, Mac just wanted bloodshed with the possibility the pickers would get a raise, and the pickers themselves simply wanted higher wages and better treatment from the landowners. The landowners of course, wanted their crops to get picked so they could make their money and survive through the Great Depression like everyone else.

Source: In Dubious Battle. John Steinbeck. Penguin Classics. Book.