The Theme of Social Protest in John Steinbeck's Select Novels
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THE THEME OF SOCIAL PROTEST IN JOHN STEINBECK’S SELECT NOVELS A thesis submitted to BHARATHIDASAN UNIVERSITY, THIRUCHIRAPALLI for the award of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH By N. KALAIVANI, M.A., M.Phil., B.Ed., (Ref. No.: 23652/Ph.D2/English/Part-Time/July 2010) Under the guidance of Dr. R. GOWTHAMI, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Former Associate Professor and Head DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH RAJAH’S COLLEGE OF SANSKRIT AND TAMIL STUDIES TIRUVAIYARU – 613 204 THANJAVUR, TAMIL NADU, S. INDIA MAY - 2014 Dr. R. GOWTHAMI, DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., RAJAH’S COLLEGE OF Former Associate Professor and Head. SANSKRIT AND TAMIL STUDIES TIRUVAIYARU – 613 204. Date: CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the thesis entitled THE THEME OF SOCIAL PROTEST IN JOHN STEINBECK’S SELECT NOVELS submitted to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli in partial fullfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH, embodies the results of the bonafide research work carried out by Mrs. N. KALAIVANI, under my guidance and supervision during the study period (2010-2014) at the Department of English, Rajah’s College of Sanskrit and Tamil Studies, Tiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu, India., I further certify that no part of this thesis has been submitted anywhere else for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or other similar titles to any candidate. Research Adviser DECLARATION I hereby declare that the thesis entitled THE THEME OF SOCIAL PROTEST IN JOHN STEINBECK’S SELECT NOVELS has been originally carried out by me under the supervision of Dr. R. GOWTHAMI, Former Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, Rajah’s College of Sanskrit and Tamil Studies, Tiruvaiyaru, affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli and this work has not been submitted elsewhere for any other degree. Place : Tiruvaiyaru, Date : .05.2014. (N. KALAIVANI) Research Scholar. CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v ABSTRACT vii TEXTUAL NOTE xi I INTRODUCTION 1 II SEMANTICS OF SOCIAL PROTEST 53 III ECO-SOCIAL CONTEXTS AND CONSTRUCTS 102 IV FICTIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF 148 SOCIAL PROTEST V CONCLUSION 243 WORKS CITED xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully render my sincere prayers to God Almighty, for His shower of abundant grace showered on me which gave me sustenance throughout the preparation of my research work. I submit my heartfelt devotion and gratitude to the Head of Kasi Mutt, His Holiness Kailai Maamunivar Sri-La-Sri Ejaman Swamigal Avl, who remains as the source of spiritual inspiration and the leading light to me that paved the way for the successful completion of this research work. I am greatly bound to thank the authorities of the Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, for having permitted me to carry out this research work. I record my profound gratitude and indebtedness to my research adviser Dr. R. Gowthami, Former Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, Rajah’s College of Sanskrit and Tamil Studies, Tiruvaiyaru, for her constant guidance and encouragement to carry out this research work. The discussion with her inspired and encouraged me and gave a clear focus of the topic. Her scholarly suggestions enabled me to modify and give shape to my original draft and I deem it a great privilege to have worked with the guidelines of my adviser. I have to thank the respected Principals of Rajah’s College of Sanskrit and Tamil Studies, Thiruvaiyaru and S.K.S.S Arts College, Thiruppanandal, respectively for having granted permission to do the research work. I extend my sincere thanks to Dr. R. Shanthi, Associate Professor of English, A.V.V.M. Sri Pushpam College (Autonomous), Poondi and Dr. S. Ramya, Assistant Professor of English, Kunthavai Naacchiyar Govt. Arts College for Women (Autonomous), Thanjavur, who as the members of Doctoral Committee helped me with their valuable suggestions that enabled me to sharpen my focus on the thesis. vi I am obliged to thank immensely the personnel of the American Center Library, Chennai, American Center Library, New Delhi, Bharathidasan University Library, Thiruchirappalli and the Library of S.K.S.S. Arts College, Thiruppanandal, for having provided me the needed documents for references and other purposes. I profoundly thank all the faculty members of S.K.S.S. Arts. College, Thiruppanandal, for their genuine interest in my work. I wish to remain grateful to my father, M.R. Nagarajan, for the power of his love, for making me stronger through his life and his death, and his dreams for me. I dedicated this thesis to my beloved father. I thank my mother Maragatham Nagarajan and my father-in-law S.Ganapathy, and mother-in-law Late Jayalakshmi for putting up a brave fight for their affection. With great pleasure I acknowledge my appreciation of the encouragement given my husband Prof. G. Suresh. He has been my constant support and source of inspiration even during the moments of doubt and despair. Without his assistance this study could never have been completed and I wish to place on record my deep gratitude to him. I am also indebted to my most dear children Keerthi and Siva who share my love learning and arts and suffered much because of my repeated absence from home. They are my unending source of strength and inspiration. I extend my thanks and gratitude to my brother-in-law Prof. Dr. G. Ramesh, for his steady support and assistance and I am also greatly indebted to my sisters-in law Mrs. Vijaya Vivek and Mrs. Shanthi Gandhi, for their ceaseless motivation, support and showers of blessings. I would also like to thank other members of my family for their kind words and deeds. Finally, I express my sincere thanks to Nagu Computers for their excellent work. N. Kalaivani ABSTRACT John Steinbeck is one among the venerable and standard fiction writers that America had ever seen. Considered to be the classic novelist of the 20th Century American Literature, he has handled the weapon of literature particularly fiction, with all its might in an uncompromising manner, for the awareness and well-being of the society and for the benefit of humanity at large though his writings mostly confined themselves to Salinas Valley, California. With an enormous sympathy for the people, Steinbeck in his novels had projected their life as they lived. He has in fact held a faithful mirror up to his land and times in his creative works which still have their lingering effect and efficacy in the minds of the multitudes throughout the world. An understanding and insight into his fictions will therefore be of considerable use to the present day society pitted against petty quarrels, mounting tensions and chauvinistic tendencies. Even the very human existence itself is being turned into a kind of ‘Andro humanoidic’ insipid exercise wherein sympathy, kindness, understanding, mutual help-all these preferable qualities and values are all being lost irrecoverably. It has therefore been endeavoured in the present study to discuss the theme of Social Protest in the novels of John Steinbeck and interpret them in the light of various factors at the background, in order to arrive at certain viii useful findings which it is hoped would augment the horizons of human understanding and the consequent good will with palpable gains. His novels instruct us how to arrive at proper solutions for social problems. The present study is aimed at bringing forth to the limelight the traits of social protest, both in their overt and covert forms of manifestations lurking in the fictions of John Steinbeck. Being a socially responsible writer with a vision and creative mission of his own, Steinbeck unlocked the capabilities of literature more than ever and extended its bourns of social commitment through his tireless and timeless verbal endeavours spanning about four decades. It is therefore immensely useful to delve deep into his labyrinthine ideas concerned with the social protest as they are found represented in his writings. The present study has the following objectives: To highlight the creative mind of Steinbeck through his fictions. To identify the factors at the background which were responsible for shaping the sensibility of this writer and consequently the ideologies implanted at his works. To study the theme and form of protest as an instrument at the hands of the workers in connection with the Californian Dust Bowl and other related phenomena. To understand how far these protesting mechanisms get manifested in Steinbeck’s fictions and to bring out the aspects of Steinbeck’s collective consciousness for fostering humanistic values mutual help, dignity of women and so on, which are of ix utmost importance at the present international context of dissipating humanitarian considerations. The present dissertation consists of five chapters: In the First Chapter, a strenuous attention has been paid to bring out the biographical matters of John Steinbeck, his bitter and better experiences in life and writing, aesthetic mould of mind, the names and details of his novels, the factors leading towards making the man, his outlook, individuality- all these are perused. An overall survey of his novels has been made for a comprehensive understanding of his writing output. Further, the thematic perspectives of his fiction are discussed in addition to furnishing of the critical remarks made on the author and his works, his strong convictions and the resulting expressions in his fiction, and the recognition and rewards which he was in receipt of. The semantic connotations of social protest and its varied manifestations in society are highlighted in Chapter II. The definitions of social protest, types of its manifestations, the aim and end of it are discussed with an objective of exposing the thematic fabrication pertaining to protest underlying the select novels of Steinbeck.