The Winter Of Our Discontent

“’Now that’s what I don’t understand, Ethan. Anybody can go broke. What I don’t see is why you stay broke, a man of your family and background and education. It doesn’t have to be permanent unless your blood has lost its guts. What knocked you out, Ethan? What kept you knocked out?”

The question on everyone’s mind is how Ethan could have fallen from his former status and family wealth. His neighbors find Ethan degraded by his lack of ambition to reclaim that past. While Ethan’s current status doesn’t bother him, the constant questioning of his apathy makes him more self-reflective. This quote reveals the societal expectation that a man should care about his financial status and should try to rectify a broken family legacy.

“It is odd how a man believes he can think better in a special place. I have such a place, have always had it, but I know it isn’t thinking I do there, but feeling and experiencing and remembering. It’s a safety place—everyone must have one, although I never heard a man tell of it. Secret, quiet movement often awakens a sleeper when a deliberate normal action does not. […]. I caused myself to need the bathroom, and when it was so, got up and went. And afterward I went quietly downstairs, carrying my clothes, and dressed in the kitchen.”

Throughout Part 1, Steinbeck emphasizes Ethan’s need for solitude. This quote highlights Ethan’s constant navigation of other people; between his job and his family life, he is always chatting and dealing with others. To balance this, Ethan needs time to nurture his introversion. Here, Steinbeck identifies a place of solitude to which Ethan can escape, where he can think deeply about his life away from the input of others.

“Our town of New Baytown is a handsome town, an old town, one of the first clear and defined whole towns in America. Its first settlers and my ancestors, I believe, were sons of those restless, treacherous, quarrelsome, avaricious seafaring men who were a headache to Europe under Elizabeth, took the West Indies for their own under Cromwell, and came finally to roost on the northern coast, holding charters from the returned Charles Stuart. They successfully combined piracy and puritanism, which aren’t so unalike when you come right down to it. Both had a strong dislike for opposition and both had a roving eye for other people’s property.”

New Baytown’s history mirrors the personality of the town leaders, which included Ethan’s ancestors. Steinbeck characterizes the first settlers of the town as “avaricious,” a quality that has not changed since New Baytown’s inception. Mr. Baker still has “a roving eye for other people’s property,” demonstrating that the ethos of New Baytown has not progressed beyond ownership and control. This attitude is precisely what Ethan wants to avoid. Because Ethan is a direct descendent of these early settlers, it is all the stranger to the townspeople that Ethan did not inherit this hunger for ownership.

“So many things I don’t know about my Mary, and among them, how much she knows about me. I don’t think she knows about the Place. How would she? I’ve never told anyone. It has no name in my mind except the Place—no ritual or formula or anything. It’s a spot in which to wonder about things. No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.”

A recurring theme throughout Part 1 is how difficult it is for people to truly know each other. Despite living with Mary for many years, Ethan feels that he does not really know his wife, and she does not really know him. Ethan determines that this is a part of human nature. Because it is impossible to know who other people are, he decides that the only thing people can do is assume that others are like them. This explains why people like Mr. Baker are confused over Ethan’s apathy; because Mr. Baker wants wealth and power, he assumes that Ethan does too. This quote further emphasizes how important it is for Ethan to have his own private space, both literally and in his own mind.

“Item: Marullo was telling me the truth about business, business being the process of getting money. And Joey Morphy was telling it straight, and Mr. Baker and the drummer. They all told it straight. Why did it revolt me and leave a taste like a spoiled egg? Am I so good, or so kind, or so just? I don’t think so. Am I so proud? Well, there’s some of that. Am I lazy, too lazy to be involved? There’s an awful lot of inactive kindness which is nothing but laziness, not wanting any trouble, confusion, or effort.”

Ethan is learning about how other men view business. He is discovering that the male attitude towards business is survival at any cost. Ethan does not have that same drive, does not possess a natural ruthlessness. Here, Steinbeck highlights Ethan’s self-reflection. He wonders if there is a distinction between laziness and the desire to avoid conflict. This inner conflict is Steinbeck’s commentary about the pressures men face to behave in ways that may feel unnatural to them.

“Could I incline to want what I didn’t want? There are the eaters and the eaten. That’s a good rule to start with. Are the eaters more immoral than the eaten? In the end all are eaten— all—gobbled up by the earth, even the fiercest and the most crafty.”

In his ongoing self-reflection, Ethan wonders if he can change his nature. This quote directs the question specifically to Ethan’s apathy, but Steinbeck also uses this question to posit a larger, universal question. Is it possible for any human to change their nature to keep up with social norms and expectations?

“This morning I not only didn’t listen, I wanted to get away from it. Maybe I wanted to talk myself and I didn’t have anything to say—because, to give her fair due, she doesn’t listen to me either, and a good thing sometimes. She listens to tones and intonations and from them gathers her facts about health and how my mood is and am I tired or gay. […]. Now that I think of it, she doesn’t listen to me because I am not talking to her, but to some dark listener within myself. And she doesn’t really talk to me either.”

Ethan identifies a central conflict in his marriage as the inability for him and Mary to communicate with each other authentically. The only place in which Ethan is honest is in the recesses of his own mind. This quote further highlights Steinbeck’s theme that people are essentially unknowable. It also shows a key difference between Ethan and Mary’s characterizations. While Ethan focuses on words, Mary communicates through coded implications. Because Mary and Ethan communicate differently, they are doomed to wonder about one another without truly connecting.

“If the laws of thinking are the laws of things, then morals are relative too, and manner and sin—that’s relative too in a relative universe. Has to be. No getting away from it.”

This quote again demonstrates how Steinbeck uses his protagonist to posit larger universal questions. Here, Ethan (and, by extension, Steinbeck) wonders if morality is relative. Because he is learning about ruthlessness from other men, Ethan is undergoing the process of questioning his own moral codes. In a way, seeing morality as relative is a relief; it gives people the excuse to behave in ways that may be immoral. If all actions and thoughts are defensible, then people can act in their own self-interests.

“I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen. It’s scary to think about. […].When two people meet, each one is changed by the other so you’ve got two new people.”

Ethan’s questioning of things he has taken as given has led him to notice the people around him for the first time. He realizes that people can change one another, or at least bring out new qualities in the other. Ethan’s interactions and observations of the way other people treat him stimulate his character development.

“A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through their mesh of prejudice, some paint it with their own delight. A story must have some points of contact with the reader to make him feel at home in it. Only then can he accept wonders.”

In this quote, Steinbeck meta-fictionally reflects on his own role of storyteller. A storyteller loses their power over the story once the story is told because people are naturally inclined to project their own experiences and expectations onto the story. This leads to different interpretations of themes, tones, and messages. Ethan is undergoing this thought process through his desire to connect with his son through storytelling.

“’Well, I wish you’d hurry up. I’m sick of being poor.’ And she slipped quickly out. A listener at doors too. I do love her, and that’s odd because she is everything I detest in anyone else—and I adore her.”

This quote emphasizes Ethan’s disconnection with his family. Their expectations burden him, as though his one role to them is to make sure they are wealthy. But Ethan, like other people, is multi-layered, but his family does not appreciate his complexity. This quote is humorous because it essentially says that Ethan hates his daughter. It is also subtly profound because Ethan loves his daughter despite disliking her personality traits, a true testament to the power of fatherhood and the ways in which people can love without mutual respect.

“It has been my experience to put aside a decision for future pondering. Then one day, fencing a piece of time to face the problem, I have found it already completed, solved, and the verdict taken. […]. It’s as though, in the dark and desolate caves of the mind, a faceless jury had met and decided. This secret and sleepless area in me I have always thought of as black, deep, waveless water, a spawning place from which only a few forms ever rise to the surface.”

Along with his apathy, it is difficult for Ethan to make decisions about things in his life. Ethan finds that problems tend to solve themselves if given the time and space. This reflects another Steinbeckian trope, in which sometimes the way to confront a problem is to do nothing at all and allow life to take its course. Ethan’s indecisiveness does not diminish his intellect, drive, or hopes. Rather, Ethan’s inability to make decisions is another way in which he gives himself up to the natural flow of the universe.

“I think I believe that a man is changing all the time. But there are certain moments when the change becomes noticeable. If I wanted to dig deep enough, I could probably trace the seeds of my change right back to my birth or before. Recently many little things had begun to form a pattern of larger things. It’s as though events and experiences nudged and jostled me in a direction contrary to my normal one or the one I had come to think was normal […].”

Ethan’s belief that people are in constant flux is important for three reasons. The first is that Ethan himself has only begun to change in the last few days, even though he now believes he has been undergoing change throughout his life. The second reason is because Ethan projects his experience of change onto others without knowing for sure if other people are changing as well. Lastly, this quote is important because it identifies Ethan’s acknowledgment that something within him is changing.

“What was happening could be described as a great ship being turned and bunted and shoved about and pulled around by many small tugs. Once turned by tide and tugs, it must set a new course and start its engines turning. On the bridge which is the planning center, the question must be asked: All right, I know now where I want to go. How do I get there, and where are lurking rocks and what will the weather be?”

The metaphor of the “great ship” implies that Ethan cannot return to his former self. Once the ship has sailed, it must maintain its destination. The ship metaphor also highlights the uncertainty of Ethan’s journey. It foreshadows unforeseen conflict and the potential for great adventure. It recalls the history of Ethan’s family, in which a ship brought the original Hawleys to New Baytown.

“‘Man being alone thinks about things. You know most people live ninety per cent in the past, seven per cent in the present, and that only leaves them three per cent for the future. Old Satchel Paige said the wisest thing about that I ever heard. He said, ‘Don’t look behind. Something may be gaining on you.’”

Joey’s warning about living in the past is an apt analysis of Ethan’s state of mind. Ethan cares more about his family’s past than his family’s present. He tries to call upon memories of his ancestors to help him navigate his present, demonstrating his desire to have a family structure that supports his character development. This reveals that Ethan struggles as the head of the household; he is indecisive and naturally unambitious, so he tries to recall the words of his ancestors to inspire him. But living in the past keeps him from picturing his future. This foreshadows Ethan’s eventually revelation that he needs to live for the family’s future, embodied through his children, more than for the past.

“Margie had known many men, most of them guilty, wounded in their vanity, or despairing, so that she had developed a contempt for her quarry as a professional hunter of vermin does. It was easy to move such men through their fears and their vanities. They ached so to be fooled that she no longer felt triumph—only a kind of disgusted pity. These were her friends and associates. She protected them even from the discovery that they were her friends. She gave them the best of herself because they demanded nothing of her. She kept them secret because at the bottom she did not admire herself.”

Chapter 12 deviates from Ethan’s first-person narration to focus on Margie. Margie is different from Ethan because she lives for the future. She knows she will eventually need firmer financial security, and that she will not be attractive to men for forever. Margie’s perspective highlights the struggle of middle-class women in 1960. Whereas Ethan can work and invest money to build his career and lifestyle, women have fewer options. Margie’s conflict highlights Ethan’s apathy: with all the privilege of a man, he does not take advantage of the opportunities at his disposal. This quote further highlights Margie as a confidante to men who otherwise hide their weaknesses. In Margie’s understanding of men, Steinbeck emphasizes the pressures men are under within society norms, and how they project those pressures onto women.

“Having no work, no love, no children, she wondered whether she could release and direct this crippled man toward some new end. It was a game, a kind of puzzle, a test, a product not of kindness but simply of curiosity and idleness. This was a superior man. To direct him would prove her superiority, and this she needed increasingly.”

Margie believes her worth lies in how she can build up men. Rather than build up herself, she sees her future as dependent on a man’s confidence. It is notable here that she believes Ethan is a “superior man.” Steinbeck includes this passage to question the validity of her belief in Ethan. What qualities in Ethan make people believe he is capable of great things? Certainly, he has not proven this with his actions. Ethan is a white man of privilege from a wealthy family. Ethan is capable of greatness because he is a Hawley. If Ethan can realize his potential, then Margie believes (wrongly) that she can also fulfill her potential.

“To most of the world success is never bad. I remember how, when Hitler moved unchecked and triumphant, many honorable men sought and found virtues in him. And Mussolini made the trains run on time, and Vichy collaborated for the good of France, and whatever else Stalin was, he was strong. Strength and success—they are above morality, above criticism. It seems, then, that it is not what you do, but how you do it and what you call it.”

This quote emphasizes Steinbeck’s exploration of moral relativism. Ethan analyzes the structures of power and realizes that, in the words of the cliché, might makes right. His examples are all men whom history has judged as deeply cruel. Ethan is not as immoral as these men, but he turns to their legacies to justify his own crimes.

“No one made me take the course I had chosen. […]. It would be too easy to agree that I did it for my family because I knew that in their comfort and security I would find my dignity. But my objective was limited and, once achieved, I could take back my habit of conduct.”

Here, Ethan acknowledges that although he care about others’ perception of him, ultimately he determines the course of his life. This enters Ethan into a new phase of character development in which he takes responsibility for his thoughts and actions. He believes that he can violate his own moral codes without permanently changing his core self. This foreshadows his despair and ultimate remorse.

“The July sun fought off a multitude of little feathered clouds and drove them scuttling, but thunderheads looked over the western rim, the strong-arm rain-bearers from the Hudson River Valley, armed with lightning and already mumbling to themselves.”

This quote is an example of Steinbeck’s careful attention to setting. In Steinbeck’s novels, human behavior parallels their environment. The symbolism of nature and weather is important in understanding character development. The stormy but sunny months of summer echo Ethan’s cycle through clarity, despair, then revelation.

“[T]his man had been a huge, dark, hopeless fate, an enemy, an ogre. But with my project tucked away and gone as a part of me, I saw him now as an object apart—no longer linked with me for good or bad.”

Unpredictable events derail Ethan’s plan, echoing Steinbeck’s message that life is uncertain. This quote further emphasizes Steinbeck’s narrative thread of non-teleological thinking,. In non-teleological theory, the systems of the universe are determined to be neither good nor bad, rather, they simply exist. Here, Steinbeck emphasizes the non-teleological nature of human life. It is neither a good nor a bad thing that the man from the Department of Justice foiled Ethan’s plan.

“Presidential nominations would be coming up soon and in the air the discontent was changing to anger and the excitement anger brings. And it wasn’t only the nation; the whole world stirred with restlessness and uneasiness as discontent moved to anger and anger tried to find an outlet in action, any action so long as it was violent—Africa, Cuba, South America, Europe, Asia, the Near East, all restless as horses at the barrier.”

Steinbeck includes the major world-changing events of the 1950s and 1960s to emphasize the smallness of the individual. Though Ethan’s story is important, here Steinbeck frames it in the context of the major cultural and social shifts in the world around him. Steinbeck reminds his reader that every individual lives in their own bubble while important world events change culture and history. This also emphasizes Steinbeck’s social criticism of the degradation of American culture, which encourages individual thought over the communal good.

“Just before the cake I toasted the young hero and wished him luck and I finished, ‘Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York.’”

Ethan quotes Shakespeare and echoes Steinbeck’s title for the novel. The meaning behind this quote is that Richard III’s greatness has the power to inspire the people who follow him to change. Ethan uses this quote in his toast for his son, likening him to Richard III in the hope that Allen will take up the mantle of greatness that Ethan could not. Ellen answers Ethan, saying “That’s Shakespeare,” foreshadowing that the true hope for the future will be Ellen, not Allen.