The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck

'The Winter of Our Discontent Background'. Like his father and grandfather before him, Ethan is fair and honest in a world that has increasingly become materialistic and corrupt. At the start of the novel, Ethan is a moralistic, but ordinary, man. Next Section The Winter of Our Discontent Summary How To Cite in MLA Format Shaw, Elizabeth, Divya Paliwal. The Winter of Our Discontent's main character, Ethan Allen Hawley, makes a similar shift to achieve material desires. Will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback. You can help us out by revising, improving and updatingĪfter you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. This novel was well-received and was made into a film in 1983. This is something that is continued in this novel, where he talks about the desperation and desire for wealth and status, and what it can cause people to do. As a writer, Steinbeck is known for writing about American society and societal issues. The novel gets its title from Richard III, a play written by William Shakespeare:Īnd all the clouds that low'r'd upon our houseĬritics have commented on the similarities between Richard III and The Winter of Our Discontent, as they both deal with the ides of hardship, desperation, and greed. The Winter of Our Discontent was published in 1961 by John Steinbeck and was the last novel he wrote. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction and notes by leading Steinbeck scholar Susan Shillinglaw.įor more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous standards. Set in Steinbeck’s contemporary 1960 America, the novel explores the tenuous line between private and public honesty, and today ranks alongside his most acclaimed works of penetrating insight into the American condition. With Ethan no longer a member of Long Island’s aristocratic class, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “resumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American.” Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned. The final novel of one of America’s most beloved writers-a tale of degeneration, corruption, and spiritual crisis

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck