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TH~ FUN.CTI ON OF THE GROTESQUE · IN THE WORKS OF JOHN STEINBECK • By STEVE SEROTA II Bachelor of Arts Lycoming College Williamsport, Pennsylvania 1969 Master of Arts University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Arkansas . 1971 Submitted to the Faculty of th.e Graduate College of the Oklahoma Stijte University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the pegree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December, 1973 ~~~~5 ·.· 1~130 .S 4~6J. Cop.'-. OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY LtBRARY MAR 14 1975 THE FUNCTION OF THE GROTESQUE IN THE WORKS OF JOHN STEINBECK Thesis Approved: Dean of the Graduate College 902232 ii PREFACE During my years in high school, as well as my first two years as an undergraduate in college, I had little interest in literature. Whenever one of my teachers assigned a novel, I would skim through it as fast as I could, or have a half-hour review session with someone who did the assignment properly. But more often than not, I would ignore the assignment completely. When the assignment was to read a novel written by John Steinbeck, I would start to go through my usual process of try­ ing to get the major ideas by reading one word from each sentence and work my way up to one sentence from each paragraph, However, the more sentences I read, the more I wanted to read, and ultimately I found myself reading the entire novel, word by word. My case is by no means rare. I have been teaching literature in some capacity for two and a half years. Often I have had students as hostile to the idea of reading an entire novel as I once was. But in­ variably when I assign a book report (which means the student must read the entire book), at least one-third of the class will report on a novel by John Steinbeck, The question immediately arises: 11 Why does Steinbeck have such great appeal? 11 He is not only popular among the usually apathetic students, but also among the common readers in America, as well as France, Germany, Egypt and Russia, The obvious answer is that he is a good story-teller and writes in a clear, often almost conversational style. ; ; i Perhaps five years ago this answer would have satisfied me. But now, as I am close to receiving my Doctor of Philosophy degree in English literature, this answer seems to be too simple, It is not enough to say that Steinbeck tells a good story and dismiss it at thaL Instead, there must be an element in Steinbeck 1 s writing that has made practically every one of his novels successful. It is my contention that this ele­ ment is specifically Steinbeck 1 s portrayal of character. This does not imply that all of his characters are capable of engaging the average reader 1 s attention. On the contrary, it is one type of character that makes the reader want to read the entire novel rather than the first sentence of each paragraph. This character is the grotesque. The purpose of this study is to examine the many different grotesque characters that appear in the novels and short stories of John Steinbeck. I propose to take a sampling of Steinbeck 1 s work and show the reader what makes the main characters grotesque. Secondly, I wi 11 show how Steinbeck creates different kinds of grotesques and finally I wi 11 try to determine the reason why this author created so many characters of this type. I wish to express my appreciation to Dr. Samuel·Woods and Dr. Clinton Keeler for their assistance. But most of all I want to sincere­ ly thank Dr. Peter Rollins (and his companion 11 Ben 11 ) for being the major guiding force from the beginning to the end of my effort. I also want to extend a note of thanks for Dr. Harry Campbell for being an inspira­ tion throughout my career as a student pursuing the Doctoral degree, iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION: THE TRANSCENDENTAL GROTESQUE l Defining the Grotesque ..... 2 Steinbeck and the Grotesque .. 4 The Formative Elements ... , .. 6 II. STEINBECK'S CONFESSION: EAST OF EDEN . 19 III. THE COMMUNITY ..... 44 The Pastures of Heaven ..... , . 45 Tortilla Flat-. ... 62 Cannery· Row and Sweet Thursday . 71 IV. THE CONFRONTATION .... 89 In Dubious Battle .. 89 The Grapes of Wrath 104 V. THE GROTESQUE AND NATURE 127 The Long Valley .. 127 To A God Unknown .. 136 Of Mice and Men .. 143 VI. FROM THE GROTESQUE TO THE ALIENATED HERO 155 The Wayward Bus ....... 157 The Short Reign of Pippin .D!_ •• 161 The Wint~r of Our Discontent .. 166 VII. WHY THE GROTESQUE? 175 A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY .. 190 \I CHAPTER I INTRODU~TION: THE TRANSCENDENTAL· GROTESQUE In The Log From the Sea of Cortez, John Steinqeck gives an account of an expedition he and his good friend, marine-biologist Ed Ricketts, took in 1940. The primary purpose of the trip was to collect marine invertebrates from the shores and beaches of the Gulf of California. One of the beach-towns in which they searched for specimens was Loreto. Steinbec;k records his observation of how the simple villagers looked and· felt about him and his traveling companions: How strange we were in Loreto! Our trousers were dark, not white; the silly c:aps we wore were so outlandish that no store in Loreto would think of stocking them. We were neither soldiers nor sailors--the little girls just couldn 1 t take it. We could hear their strangled giggling from around the corner. Now and then.they peeked back around the corner to verify for themselves our ridiculousness, and then giggled again while their elders hissed in disapproval. And. one woman standing in a lovely garden shaded with purple bouguin-villaea explained, 11 Everyone knows what silly things girls are. You must forgive their i 11 manners; they will be ashamed 1ater on. 11 But we fe,lt that the silly girls had something worthwhile in their atti­ tude. They were definitely amused. It is often so, particu- 1arly in our country, that the first reaction to strangeness is fear and hatred; we much preferred the laughter (p. 176). Steinbeck realized. that within this little community he was an anomaly. His language, his ideas, his background, and his appearance isolated him from the ~oreto natives. But as St;einbeck points out; in this case at least, the disparity between the village norm and his gro\,lp was a cause for good humor. Although he an~ his companions were isolated, l 2 it was an isolation that had no lasting harm because he was not a perma­ nent member of the community. But Steinbeck is an American and as an American his primary concern is with the nature of his fellow countrymen rather than village natives. Thus, he considers how the citizens of his own country would act in a comparable situation. Although he does not like admitting it, he knows that Americans respond to the strange with 11 fear and hatred. 11 Steinbeck realizes that the Loreto villagers found him grotesque. Yet, although there was some initial, light derision, this did not prevent the villagers from eventually accepting Steinbeck and his companions. In America, Steinbeck believes the relationship between the outsider and the estab­ lished norm is quite different. Those who are physically or mentally different from the majority are condemned for their grotesqueness. Defining the Grotesque In Sea of Cortez as well as in most of his other work, Steinbeck writes about the mental and physical grotesque individual. Yet nowhere does he actually give a definition of the grotesque. Nor does he ever explicitly explain the function of the grotesque in his work .. The pur­ pose of this study is to examine the specific function of the grotesque men and women in Steinbeck's work, but before we begin this task it is important to develop a working definition of the term 11 grotesque.. 11 In order to do this let us examine the relationship between the grotesque individual and his peers within a specific literary work. The grotesque individual in literature, especially mod.ern literature, is grotesque insofar as he does not conform to the physical or mental standards of the majority or the 11 norm 11 of society. This individual who is unusual in 3 physical appearance, mental capacity, or moral outlook is deemed grotesque by his society because he is different from this society. Most often the individual does not desire isolation, but the lack of ~nderstanding be­ tween the man and his surroundings makes isolation inevitable. The modern artist thus creates a grotesque figure to show the dimension of suffering experienced by the individual who does not, cannot; or will not conform. Because the. actual nature of the grotesque differs with every author that portrays it, there is only one .general assumption that can be made: 11 grotesque 11 is a relative terrn .. The grote~que figure takes on its gro­ tesqueness as a result of its relationship to either the environment in which it appears, or its relationship to the author 1 s view of reality. Oftentimes one of these relationships excludes the other. For example, in The Scarlet Letter neither Dimmesdale nor Chillingworth is considered grotesque by the Puritan community. Yet, Hawthorne presents both these characters as being so obsess.ed with guilt (in the case of Dimmesdale) and the need for revenge (Chillingworth) that Hawthorne convinces us that., in his mind, these two characters are grotesque. On the other hand, in 11 My Kinsman, Major Molineux 11 while Robin is an absurd figure in the eyes of the townspeople, he is Hawthorne 1 s representative of the 11 norm_.

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