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Socioeconomic Hardship and the Redemptive Hope of Nature in John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent

Ciritovic, Linda
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1430661081

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts in English, Cleveland State University, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.
Ethan Allen Hawley receives the gift of redemption throughout John Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent (1961). Many forms of redemption occur throughout the novel, but Steinbeck does not blatantly present all of them. Raymond L. Griffith’s 1972 dissertation uses the term “duality” to discuss, as stated, the “validity of perfection and the impossibility of perfection” contained in Steinbeck’s works. My thesis specifically uses the term duality to explicate the various “hardship versus redemption” dualities that exist in Winter. Ethan lives a life of duality throughout the majority of the novel. Ethan’s dual lives involve his behavior and rationale while in nature settings and his behavior and rationale while in socioeconomic settings. Ethan experiences this duality but never acknowledges this duality of place. Other “hardship versus redemption” dualities exist in the novel, such as Ethan receiving his grandfather’s and aunt’s teachings and then Ethan teaching his own children; Ethan’s brotherly encounters; Steinbeck’s inclusion of Christian ideas; and Steinbeck’s correlation to and also divergence from William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. Ethan’s duality of place finally unites at the novel’s conclusion. Ethan’s secret Place in nature induces a confrontation with reality and a humanistic response to socioeconomic hardship. Steinbeck concludes the novel with the subtle assertion of the redemptive hope of nature to induce strength.
Adam Sonstegard, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Julie Burrell, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
James Marino, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
85 p.
American Literature; Ecology; Economics; Ethics; Pedagogy; Personal Relationships; Religion
Steinbeck, John; Winter of Our Discontent; Shakespeare, William; Tragedy of King Richard III; nature; socioeconomics; redemption; hardship; pedagogy; Danny Taylor; Richard Walder; Christianity; parenting; virtue; greed; ecocriticism; humanity

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ciritovic, L. (2015). Socioeconomic Hardship and the Redemptive Hope of Nature in John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent [Master's thesis, Cleveland State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1430661081

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ciritovic, Linda. Socioeconomic Hardship and the Redemptive Hope of Nature in John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent. 2015. Cleveland State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1430661081.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ciritovic, Linda. "Socioeconomic Hardship and the Redemptive Hope of Nature in John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent." Master's thesis, Cleveland State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1430661081

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

csu1430661081
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This open access ETD is published by Cleveland State University and OhioLINK.