Dubious Battle, by John Steinbeck. Specifically, it will focus upon how characters represent the various ideas held by capital and labor by the 1930's. "In Dubious Battle" is the story of poor field workers fighting a lost cause against prosperous owners. Rather than a story of reform and revolt, "In Dubious Battle" is really a struggle between good and evil, and the self-destructive behavior that lives in all mankind.

IN DUBIOUS BATTLE

Steinbeck wrote the novel "In Dubious Battle" in 1935, after visiting migrant settlements in the Central Valley of California. Jim Nolan, the tale's main character, is a young man searching for himself when he meets a Communist Party organizer trying to organize the fruit pickers into a cohesive union. One critic noted the fruit farms are an important theme throughout the novel, as are Jim's reactions to what is happening around him. "However, although the beckoning potential of...
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