[FYI]≡ Download Free The Winter of Our Discontent Penguin Classics John Steinbeck Susan Shillinglaw 9780143039488 Books

The Winter of Our Discontent Penguin Classics John Steinbeck Susan Shillinglaw 9780143039488 Books

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The Winter of Our Discontent Penguin Classics John Steinbeck Susan Shillinglaw 9780143039488 Books

The Winter of Our Discontent is a brutally pessimistic commentary on the American Dream and the lengths to which one must go to attain success.

Ethan Hawley, a small-town grocery store clerk, is known for being a decent man of virtue. Under pressure from his family and those around him to gain wealth and status, he convinces himself to take a brief hiatus from his morals. As he rationalizes:

"In business and in politics a man must maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there he can be great and kind—but he must get there first."

Through Ethan, Steinbeck makes a deeply cynical case for moral consequentialism, suggesting that man must inevitably "tromp on each other" to get ahead and that ultimately it's worthwhile since western society values strength and success over virtue and decency.

Of course, the catch is that departing from one's morals is rarely a temporary break. Once one gives in to corruption, it's hard to go back—and there are always unintended consequences beyond one's control.

And as if this isn't pessimistic enough, there's also Steinbeck's dismal take on virtue itself:

"Suppose my humble and interminable clerkship was not for you at all but a moral laziness? For any success, boldness is required. Perhaps I was simply timid, fearful of consequences—in a word, lazy."

Much of the dialogue in this book is tiresome and borderline obnoxious, but the ethical analysis that Ethan takes himself through to justify his actions is brilliant and, frankly, pretty damning of American ideals. I recommend this for anyone who likes to see philosophical concepts integrated in fiction.


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The Winter of Our Discontent Penguin Classics John Steinbeck Susan Shillinglaw 9780143039488 Books Reviews

I've read this book now three times. First as a teen when I found it on my mother's shelf. Then as a young man when I came across it again and remembered the sweet prose that were so delicious to savor. Now as a middle aged man Steinbeck's descriptions and personification of nature and subtle way he allows us to peek inside his characters are even more mesmerizing. However it was the deep insights into the nature of a man in this particular time and place in his life that kept me turning the pages this time. So many truths and understandings I did not grasp about the book before that could only be unlocked by the life experiences that I have celebrated and endured were allowed to me in this reading. Since first discovering this book I have read many of his others - all spoke to my heart and provided splendid perfect moments of awe of his ability to paint a literary picture and infuse it with emotion, but this book will remain my most cherished. I look forward to the need for it bubbling up in me once again and the joy and satisfaction of seeing it anew and seeing myself anew.
I downloaded John Steinbeck's "Winter of Our Discontent" mainly because I've always loved the title. I found out from the forward that this was Steinbeck's last novel and while I don't think it holds up to "Grapes Of Wrath" it's still a well told story of the disintegration of an ethical man.

Ethan Hawley is the protagonist. Ethan, a hard working and honest shop clerk which earns him nothing but contempt from his family and friends. Everyone around him wants him to be "successful" and "rich" because, as we find out, The Hawley's always had money until Ethan's dad somehow lost the family fortune. So poor Ethan get chided by his wife Mary ("Everybody’s laughing at you. A grand gentleman without money is a bum.”) his boss Marullo (“Business is money. Money is not friendly. Kid, maybe you're too friendly.") and his daughter Ellen ("when will you be rich?").

So Ethan begins to plan and plot his way to success. Along the way he has some interesting thoughts about money ("Money is a crass and ungracious subject only when you have it. The poor find it fascinating") and what it takes to obtain it ("There are the eaters and the eaten. That’s a good rule to start with" and "In business and in politics a man must carve and maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there, he can be great and kind— but he must get there first.") Ethan's plans are unethical and he clearly sacrifices his morals to get where he feels he needs to go. But like his actions during World War II ("I don't feel guilty for the German lives I took") he justifies these to himself and to others. When the local banker (who is suspicious of one of Ethan's plots) says to him, "Then you do feel you have committed a crime.” Ethan's answer is telling “No. A crime is something someone else commits."

Steinbeck's prose is always impressive. He drops some interesting observations of life and relationships into "Winter" mainly through Ethan's thoughts

"No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself."

"My dreams are the problems of the day stepped up to absurdity"

"No one wants advice— only corroboration."

And at the end of the novel, when Ethan has attained success yet now realizes how his example has effected his kids he is wracked with guilt. I don't want to ruin the ending which has a pleasant little twist to it but one of Ethan's last thoughts struck me as terribly sad. As he looks at the lights in the harbor of his town he thinks of his family and friends and observes, "It isn’t true that there’s a community of light, a bonfire of the world. Everyone carries his own, his lonely own."
The Winter of Our Discontent is a brutally pessimistic commentary on the American Dream and the lengths to which one must go to attain success.

Ethan Hawley, a small-town grocery store clerk, is known for being a decent man of virtue. Under pressure from his family and those around him to gain wealth and status, he convinces himself to take a brief hiatus from his morals. As he rationalizes

"In business and in politics a man must maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there he can be great and kind—but he must get there first."

Through Ethan, Steinbeck makes a deeply cynical case for moral consequentialism, suggesting that man must inevitably "tromp on each other" to get ahead and that ultimately it's worthwhile since western society values strength and success over virtue and decency.

Of course, the catch is that departing from one's morals is rarely a temporary break. Once one gives in to corruption, it's hard to go back—and there are always unintended consequences beyond one's control.

And as if this isn't pessimistic enough, there's also Steinbeck's dismal take on virtue itself

"Suppose my humble and interminable clerkship was not for you at all but a moral laziness? For any success, boldness is required. Perhaps I was simply timid, fearful of consequences—in a word, lazy."

Much of the dialogue in this book is tiresome and borderline obnoxious, but the ethical analysis that Ethan takes himself through to justify his actions is brilliant and, frankly, pretty damning of American ideals. I recommend this for anyone who likes to see philosophical concepts integrated in fiction.