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A System with Parts and Players: The American Lynch Mob in John Steinbeck's Labor Trilogy

Shevlin, Casey G

Abstract Details

2013, Master of Arts, University of Akron, English-Literature.
Of the numerous articles and books published on John Steinbeck’s work, not many of them give much thought to the presence of lynching, just as the many articles and books published on lynching seldom consider the ways in which 1930s California factors into the American lynching narrative. I propose that an examination of race and lynching in Steinbeck’s migrant worker trilogy—In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Mice and Men (1937), The Grapes of Wrath (1939)—can help illuminate the racial significance of his work and inform our reading of both his migrant series and cultural definitions of race and lynching. Steinbeck’s decision to invoke the racially-charge term—“lynch”—in each of these three landmark novels suggests that the brutal cultural phenomenon is more closely tied to his work and to 1930s California than the grand lynching narrative would let on. This thesis will suggest that lynching actually pervades Steinbeck’s late 1930s work. It is my contention that a latent, easily over-looked consideration of lynching and race underlies John Steinbeck’s labor trilogy.
Patrick Chura, Dr. (Advisor)
Julie Drew, Dr. (Committee Member)
Hillary Nunn, Dr. (Committee Member)
80 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Shevlin, C. G. (2013). A System with Parts and Players: The American Lynch Mob in John Steinbeck's Labor Trilogy [Master's thesis, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1366811963

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Shevlin, Casey. A System with Parts and Players: The American Lynch Mob in John Steinbeck's Labor Trilogy. 2013. University of Akron, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1366811963.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Shevlin, Casey. "A System with Parts and Players: The American Lynch Mob in John Steinbeck's Labor Trilogy." Master's thesis, University of Akron, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1366811963

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)