Reader Response to In Dubious Battle

Reading In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck, I could discover a man who was trying to share his idea of fighting together in order to accomplish a common goal. One of the main characters, Jim Nolan, decided to leave the room where he was living to join a Communist Party. In addition Mac accepted Nolan to agitate the pickers and incite them to the strike after pickers’ wages were cut to fifteen cents. Most of the scenes in the book take place in California in a small fictional town called Torgas Valley. Steinbeck shows the struggle that migrant workers suffered to survive with health and dignity after the oppression of the high class. This part of the book made me remember my grandfather who came to the United States many years ago, and he was part of the pickers in Bakersfield, California. He used to talk with my family about the long hours that he spent picking strawberries, and how he strongly believed in the union. As my grandfather said, “If people are not united, there will not be any good result. Also, if you want to accomplish something, you have to establish the group’s identity and show it to all people.”
According to my grandfather, in the past, there was not medical coverage or compensation for work lost due to illness. Also, Steinbeck wrote about this in great detail using the description of the characters and the dialogues between them. For example Steinbeck wrote, “You might think I am a crazy old coot; them other things was planned; nothing come of’em; but I got feelings in my skin”(52). I think that for some Americans it could be very difficult to understand Steinbeck because he clearly is against the Communism, but I believe that this was Steinbeck’s way to show how the farmers were exploited during the Great Depression. Even though prejudice and exploitation existed many years ago, today many farmers are still fighting for their rights.