John Steinbeck, “The Harness”

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Originally titled “The Fool”, Steinbeck’s “The Harness” appeared in

The Atlantic Monthly

in June 1938 before being included in the collection entitled

The Long Valley

in September of the same year. The protagonist of the story, Peter Randall, is depicted by Steinbeck as one of the most admirable men in the Salinas valley, an individual who seems wise in business and personal judgment and whose strong character is reflected in his upright and unbending physical posture. His neighbors often follow Randall’s personal decision making, mirroring his actions because they consider it as a good, safe conservative thing to do.

Peter and his wife Emma are childless, but the pristine condition of their homestead and their rigid marital “bliss” are flawed by Emma’s constant ill

1413 words

Citation: Meyer, Michael J.. "“The Harness”". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 December 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=25830, accessed 19 March 2024.]

25830 “The Harness” 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.