John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

Michael J. Meyer (DePaul University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1961

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Recommended Reading

The story of John Steinbeck’s

The Winter of Our Discontent

revolves around Ethan Allen Hawley, a resident of the New Baytown community near Long Island; he is a former owner of a local grocery store, but his fortunes have recently taken a downturn as his business has been taken over by an Italian immigrant named Marullo who has reduced Ethan’s status to that of a clerk. As the novel develops, Ethan’s reduced situation leads him to desperate measures in order to regain his former social status as a respected citizen instead of an inferior laborer. Initally Ethan considers a bank robbery as a solution, but he soon discovers there are more crafty, less dangerous ways to attain wealth. He eventually decides to use his friendhsip with Danny Taylor—his childhood friend—in order…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

3688 words

Citation: Meyer, Michael J.. "The Winter of Our Discontent". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 February 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8179, accessed 25 April 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article

Save this article