Thesis
The man-property relationship in John Steinbeck's novels Tortilla flat, the grapes of wrath and the winter of our discontent
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2010
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/102595
Abstract
This paper postulates an interdependence between man and property and how either owning or losing property can cause a fundamental change in an individual in three major novels of John Steinbeck: Tortilla Flat, The Grapes of Wrath and The Winter of Our Discontent. This paper argues that the relationship with property described in the aforementioned novels may cause detrimental and destructive changes in one‟s identity, which may lead to death. The analysis of all three novels shows a certain shift in the author‟s viewpoint of the relationship between human beings and property, from the socialistically based bonds between a small group of people depicted in Tortilla Flat, to the dispossession and loss that lead the migrants of The Grapes of Wrath to a sense of a migrants‟ community and collective action, to the elevation of ideals of private ownership in The Winter of Our Discontent. In Tortilla Flat the emotional and behavioral changes in characters are due to the burden of property as seen in the devastating transformation of the three major elements of the novel, namely Danny, his house, and his friends. The main characters of The Grapes of Wrath also experience changes in behavior and their emotional conditions due to the loss of property, which leads to the loss of the family as a unit and its transformation into the broader conception of migrants‟ community. The Winter of Our Discontent is a portrayal of the failed ethics of an individual caused by a desire to regain property. Overall, this thesis argues that for John Steinbeck, the man-property relationship in the first half of the twentieth century reflects a negative effect on a personality.
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Details
- Title
- The man-property relationship in John Steinbeck's novels Tortilla flat, the grapes of wrath and the winter of our discontent
- Creators
- Natalia Rud
- Contributors
- Donna M. Campbell (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- English, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525138201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis