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The Winter of Our Discontent

by John Steinbeck, Susan Shillinglaw (Annotations)

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 17,085 ratings · 824 reviews

From a swashbuckling pirate fantasy to a meditation on American morality—two classic Steinbeck novels make their black spine debuts

In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had "resumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genu...more

Paperback, 304 pages

Published August 26th 2008 by Penguin Classics (first published 1961)

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Aug 03, 2008 Meghan Pinson rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think I have a crush on John Steinbeck. But even if I met him somewhere -- a cocktail party, a barbeque, even my own bookstore -- I don't think I'd talk to him. Maybe make eye contact in a brave and silent way. Sometimes I get the feeling that he is friendly and easy-going, compassionate and kind, and really interested in people in general and persons in particular ... but I know that he is deeply brilliant, and I would say something ridiculous that I would turn over and over in my head (menta...more

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Oct 02, 2007 Del rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: booksyoucanborrow

John Steinbeck's The Winter of our Discontent is a study of morality in the individual and in the community. Set in a New England town where everyone knows everyone else's business and history, Ethan Hawley narrates his experience with the various moral temptations one season offers him.

Under pressure from associates and his own family, Ethan becomes increasingly dissatisfied with his diminished station in life and begins to consider a brief transformation, a temporary suspension of his identit...more

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Oct 01, 2007 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: you

there was a time in my life when i read this each fall, as the the michigan winter was about to make my psyche turn to salt. i first read it by accident, finding it in my co-op on the floor in a room that had been abandonded and now was only used for smoking this and that. the walls of the room had been painted different superheroes from the previous tenant's childhood. i liked the rendition of green hornet, although the renderer claimed he was an after-thought, someone to fill the space between...more there was a time in my life when i read this each fall, as the the michigan winter was about to make my psyche turn to salt. i first read it by accident, finding it in my co-op on the floor in a room that had been abandonded and now was only used for smoking this and that. the walls of the room had been painted different superheroes from the previous tenant's childhood. i liked the rendition of green hornet, although the renderer claimed he was an after-thought, someone to fill the space between the wolverine and an early version of batman. i remember reading it instead of going to class for a few days and wondering why i had turned down steinbeck for so long, only having ventured into of mice and men sometime in high school.

before the winter of our discontent i was a vonnegut head, and i suppose i always will be in one way or another, but this is the book that brought on the onslaught of working class struggles and burgeoning life where there was little to find. i know this one got panned by the critics and doesn't really come into play much when people talk about the man, but it is something to miss if you pass it by. the story is a basic one of moral decay in america, especially interesting considering the present day. this was his last work, and with that i suppose you could say it was the book that ended his career, although that is a loaded statement. after reading this i tore into his canon, not really coming up for air until after reading the last word of east of eden, which no adorns my shoulder. so, if nothing else, i have this book to thank for cal and adam trask, and that is a lot.

i give this book a strong 4, and i do mean strong. a critical analysis of this book will bring flaws to light, but that is not why he wrote it, nor why i read it. the book does not pretend to not be heavy-handed. the moral message is strong, but not absurd. if you're looking for mystery look elsewhere, he does not hide his characters through his plot as in other of his stories. simply put, the book is filled with beautiful images of people in need of life who don't know where to look.

two quotes that always got me because of their simplicity:

"Most people live ninety percent in the past, seven percent in the present, and that only leaves three percent for the future."

"Money does not change the sickness, only the symptoms." (less)

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Jul 23, 2012 Adam Floridia rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

East of Eden was 600 some-odd pages and I didn't want it to end. This didn't reach 300 and it could not end soon enough. There was just nothing good about this; I can’t believe this is a Steinbeck work. Moreover, not the work of a budding author still perfecting his craft, but an author who was in the winter of his profession, having already penned Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden and countless other works.

The story is about Ethan Hawley, a man of noble ancestry reduced to a groce...more

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Jan 09, 2008 Marsha rated it 3 of 5 stars

I learned a lesson about why I should finish books, even if the story does not grip me and I find the protagonist boring. (Thanks, book club) Initially, I thought... oh man... middle aged man making bitter jokes out of his miserable life. I felt sorry for his wife.

However, as I realized what was happening as I got farther and farther into the book, I found myself wishing there was a sequel because I want to know what happened to Ethan a year or two down the road. Was he able to live with himsel...more

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Feb 08, 2011 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

The “Winter of our discontent” held my interest. It is the story of a man and his family, the story of the conflict between ambition and honesty. The subject matter is interesting and complex: the hard examination of life, love, marriage and friendship.
The main hero called Ethan Hawley is a person between an honest, ideal-bound clerk and shrewd profit-seeking businessman. His simple philosophy is if he is rich, he would be definitely content with his life. He knows if he can achieve this he’ll...more The “Winter of our discontent” held my interest. It is the story of a man and his family, the story of the conflict between ambition and honesty. The subject matter is interesting and complex: the hard examination of life, love, marriage and friendship.
The main hero called Ethan Hawley is a person between an honest, ideal-bound clerk and shrewd profit-seeking businessman. His simple philosophy is if he is rich, he would be definitely content with his life. He knows if he can achieve this he’ll be able to consider himself a successful and a noble man like his ancestors were. His wife feels her happiness will be based on whether she can fulfill all her and her children’s needs and wants. She wants to have a lot of money to give her kids education. Wealth for his children means they can afford everything they want. The author also describes surrounding people who were extremely materialistic. He portrays the wealthy as happy people who add value to the society. Everybody around Ethan tells that he should forget his good personal traits on his way to success. In the end Ethan agrees with them: he betrays his boss Marullo, who not expecting it, inherits his shop to the employee, to Ethan. Then Ethan betrays his childhood friend, he even plans the robbery of the bank.
But finally he sees that gaining success and wealth by hook and crook is morally wrong. Ethan morally depleted himself in the process. The result of the situation is that his children became ambitious like him.
Ethan even plans the suicide because there is no thoroughfare for him.
Through his own experience Ethan understands that money cannot make a person happy.
If I were him I would never plan a suicide because life is the greatest bonus of God that we have. I wish somebody had recommended him to analyze his negative deeds and then visit a priest (I mean to have a confession). And after that he could start a new period in life, a period of correction of his mistakes.
In my opinion he for certain shouldn’t pay attention to what surrounding people say. As my favorite singer Sting sings: “Be yourself no matter what they say”. To conclude I want to say that the road to success is not to be taken by seven-leagued boots. Step by step – that is the way to wealth. I think if you’re equally honest and industrious, you’ll be equally successful. Besides it takes a lot of efforts not to fall into moral traps. It’s difficult but it proves its value.
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Mar 14, 2009 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Despite it's rather odd opening, The Winter Of Our Discontent held my interest. It is the story of a man, Ethan Hawley, and his family, his good wife, Mary, his son, Allan, his daughter, Ellen. It's a story of the conflict between ambition and honesty. Ethan has always found himself to be a good man, a just man, an honest man. A man who plays by the rules.

Ethan comes from a legacy, a family with a long history in the area. He's as "established" as he can be. But he's not wealthy. Not anymore. Hi...more Despite it's rather odd opening, The Winter Of Our Discontent held my interest. It is the story of a man, Ethan Hawley, and his family, his good wife, Mary, his son, Allan, his daughter, Ellen. It's a story of the conflict between ambition and honesty. Ethan has always found himself to be a good man, a just man, an honest man. A man who plays by the rules.

Ethan comes from a legacy, a family with a long history in the area. He's as "established" as he can be. But he's not wealthy. Not anymore. His father lost the family fortune. And now Ethan finds himself--a grown man with two kids--a clerk in a grocery store. He's embarrassed that it's come to this. A Hawley, a man who just twenty years--give or take a few--would have been the big man, the boss man, sunk to working for another man--and not just another man, but an Italian immigrant. Marullo.

But Ethan is noticing the world around him. Noticing that businessmen--including his banking friends--are more concerned with money, with making a profit, than by doing right by their customers. Dollar signs have got them mesmerized. They don't see their family, their friends, their neighbors, their acquaintances. They've lived in town their whole life--know practically everyone--yet when it comes down to it--money comes first and foremost over being kind and compassionate and concerned. Everyone is looking out for their selves. Everyone is greedy. Everyone is selfish. If it's good for you--financially beneficial--then it's right for you no matter who else gets hurt. So Ethan begins to contemplate joining them. If everyone does business this way, lives this way, then maybe it's time he joins them, enters the so-called real world; maybe if he does then his wife will have something to be proud of. She wishes--the children wish as well--for more money. And her friend, Margie, says its in the cards. Her tarot card readings have shown that Ethan is about to strike it rich. With this "prophecy" Ethan decides to go for it...step by step. But will this descent into the "real world" be his undoing? Will his ambition lead to a happily ever after ending? Will his actions--some quite cutthroat when you think about it--be something he can be proud of at the end of the day?

The writing is quite good. Better than good when you think about it. I marked passage after passage. The subject matter is interesting--complex. The hard examination of life, love, marriage, and friendship in a community. I can't say that I "loved" this one; but I did appreciate it. The writing. The language. The complexity and substance.

A day, a livelong day, is not one thing but many. It changes not only in growing light toward zenith and decline again, but in texture and mood, in tone and meaning, warped by a thousand factors of season, of heat or cold, of still or multi winds, torqued by odors, tastes, and the fabrics of ice or grass, of bud or leaf or black-drawn naked limbs. And as a day changes so do its subjects...(514)

"Way I look at it, it doesn't matter about believing. I don't believe in extrasensory perception, or lightning or the hydrogen bomb, or even violets or schools of fish--but I know they exist. I don't believe in ghosts but I've seen them." (560)

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. (569)

What a frightening thing is the human, a mass of gauges and dials and registers, and we can read only a few and those perhaps not accurately. (576)

Sometimes I wish I knew the nature of night thoughts. They're close kin to dreams. Sometimes I can direct them, and other times they take their head and come rushing over me like strong, unmanaged horses. (587)

It's hard to know how simple or complicated a man is. When you become too sure, you're usually wrong. (634)

I wonder about people who say they haven't time to think. For myself, I can double think. I find that weighing vegetables, passing the time of day with customers, fighting or loving Mary, coping with the children--none of these prevents a second and continuing layer of thinking, wondering, conjecturing. Surely this must be true of everyone. Maybe not having time to think is not having the wish to think. (676)(less)

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Oct 07, 2011 Thomas rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lit-outside-of-school, own-physical

I feel like it's cliche to say that The Winter of Our Discontent is well-written. If you've taken ninth grade high-school English, I'm confident you've encountered John Steinbeck at least once. There's no doubt he's a fantastic writer. Of Mice of Men or East of Eden, anyone?

However, The Winter of Our Discontent was not as fluid as Of Mice and Men nor did it possess the sheer strength in characterization or plot as East of Eden. It may be my underdeveloped adolescent mind at work here, but I foun...more

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May 19, 2013 Ahmed Al Hawary rated it 3 of 5 stars

كثيراً ما أعجبتنى شخصية جون مورفي
" اخطف اى شئ يمر قربك. فقد لا يمر بعد ذلك "

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Jan 22, 2013 Kirk Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: top-noire

I really enjoyed this, it was such a good time, and then the ending failed to match the quality of the rest of the book. **I still recommend it as one of Steinbeck's better ones**. Our author always loves a good pirate theme counterpoised against Puritan guilt. Once I realized where this book was going I was elated to find old Steinbeck was nearly trotting out a hard-boiled crime thriller. Internal dialogue (all dialogue) by the principal character was witty and brilliant. What enjoyment!! I wa...more

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Nov 26, 2011 Psheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed "The Winter of Our Discontent" although for me it doesn't come close to my favorite Steinbeck novel, "East of Eden." Still, it's similar in that it's a morality tale, albeit a much more cynical one. Steinbeck has written Ethan Allen Hawley as a man at a crossroads during a time in America when nothing seems to make sense anymore. To Steinbeck, America and maybe the entire world has lost its moral compass by 1960 and maybe he was correct. The cynic in me thinks the world has only gotten...more

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Nov 17, 2011 Aine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 26, 2008 Drew rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Having read Of Mice and Men in high school and The Grapes of Wrath recently, I turned with delight to one of Steinbeck’s later novels, The Winter of our Discontent. It was a slow book to start, the pace was a bit uneven and stumbled a bit, but I did finish it last night before bed. The last one hundred pages flew by.

The story is told in first person, from the perspective of a man in New Baytown in the New England region. He is a proud man, an honest man, and one who’s current situation belies hi...more

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Nov 24, 2008 Powells.com rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Published the year before Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in 1962, The Winter of Our Discontent has often been undeservedly scorned by critics as his most lackluster effort. Set in the summer in a fictional New England town, this timeless story tells the tale of Ethan Allen Hawley, descendant of a well-to-do family, who now finds himself working as a shop clerk in the very store he once owned. Father, husband, and man of impeccable integrity, Hawley struggles to maintain his pride while providing...more

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Jul 08, 2008 Tori rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: St John's students from New England

Steinbeck wrote a very perceptive book on a very boring topic. There were parts of this book that I enjoyed, but for the most part I really had to force myself to keep reading. The slow pace, the cynical attitude towards American life, and the confusing dialogue among many other things made this a difficult novel to finish.

Steinbeck is definitely not my style and the most valuable lesson learned from this experience is that I can use his works as a very effective and all-natural sleep-aid.

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Apr 24, 2013 Khrystyna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-author, 2013-reads, excellent-reads

An interesting and effervescent novel. The central topic in this book regards an idea which appeals to me- whether it is more possible to succeed in life wholeheartedly following ethical morals or on the pretext of following some given morals, rather than completely coasting along a highway of profligacy and lunacy. Apart from the protagonist, who appears to shift gears between the three aforementioned modes all throughout the plotline, there is a complete set of male and female characters surro...more

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Jan 01, 2013 William S. rated it 5 of 5 stars

There is a certain emotion in Steinbeck I have not found in other authors. Faulkner comes close, Hemingway a bit further off, perhaps Woolf is on a parallel path. Steinbeck shows us something into ourselves, he states in the book that we all have our own light, we are not a bonfire. We only understand others to the point that we assume they are akin to ourselves. Steinbeck, like Woolf in the Waves, shows us that we are all connected, and that we can find a path in this world through this novel....more

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Dec 28, 2012 Kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars

It might be difficult today to find the small-town America setting described in The Winter of Our Discontent, but the themes Steinbeck tackled here have not gone out of date - they are perhaps more relevant than ever.

The narrator observes the world with a sharp eye and a keen sense of right and wrong, while at the same time plotting to bend the rules and manipulate those closest to him. He argues that by playing fair his family lost its fortune, he lost his store and everyone takes him for a ki...more It might be difficult today to find the small-town America setting described in The Winter of Our Discontent, but the themes Steinbeck tackled here have not gone out of date - they are perhaps more relevant than ever.

The narrator observes the world with a sharp eye and a keen sense of right and wrong, while at the same time plotting to bend the rules and manipulate those closest to him. He argues that by playing fair his family lost its fortune, he lost his store and everyone takes him for a kind and not-so-bright looser, including his wife and kids. Very gradually and at first without really even believing it, he sets up a Machiavellian plan to use the lying and cheating of others against them to get what he wants. Of course, he can't do that without getting his own hands dirty.

The book also explores human relationships. In some ways the narrator is like an island alone. Steinbeck writes "“No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.” A father and a husband, the narrator enters and leaves the house almost like an anthropologist on a mission. And yet there are very deep emotions there. He really loves his wife even though they don't talk much about anything important. **SPOILER in next sentence** It's the love and hope he has for his daughter that pulls him back from the brink of suicide at the end of the book.

The women in The Winter can unfortunately be read as two-dimensional stereotypes. The wife is the perfect housewife and mother, entirely dependent on her husband for her own sense of accomplishment. The "other woman" is literally described as a witch. So, we've seen this dichotomy before. It's certainly a product of the times that Steinbeck was writing about. Both women are fleshed out just enough for some depth to come across, but not enough in my opinion.

With that said, the themes around witches, fortunes, talismans, etc. added another fascinating and almost mystical layer to what is otherwise a tight, rational, New England world. Of course, money was wrapped up in all of that magic. “Like most modern people, I don't believe in prophecy or magic and then spend half my time practicing it.”

The book is filled with great quotes. Read it for that alone!(less)

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Dec 09, 2012 Megan Li rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was drawn to this book due to the remarkable timeliness of its subject matter. Its time has now come and Steinbeck, like all truly great writers, could be seen as a kind of prophet for writing it in the early '60s. Unlike his other great novels, notably East of Eden, this book does not play out on an epic scale with a large cast of characters. It focuses solely on the internal world of Ethan Allen Hawley, a grocery clerk in a small town on the new england coast. Ethan is the descendant of an o...more I was drawn to this book due to the remarkable timeliness of its subject matter. Its time has now come and Steinbeck, like all truly great writers, could be seen as a kind of prophet for writing it in the early '60s. Unlike his other great novels, notably East of Eden, this book does not play out on an epic scale with a large cast of characters. It focuses solely on the internal world of Ethan Allen Hawley, a grocery clerk in a small town on the new england coast. Ethan is the descendant of an old prominent family with long roots in the area but his father has lost the family fortune in bad business deals. Pretty early on in the book, Ethan makes the (conscious, unconscious?) decision to return his family to their financial prominence no matter the cost. The rest plays out as you would imagine, with certain characters suffering the raw consequences of Ethan's ambition. The remarkable thing though, is that despite all this Ethan remains a sympathetic character who is enduring an epic internal/external battle. Everyone around him seems to collude in his fall from morality, including his wife with her wish to be socially respected, and his kids with their desire for money. Ethan simply 'snaps' and caves in to all the pressure of friends and family despite not having a strong personal wish for money and power. However, he remains painfully aware of what he is doing the entire time, not excusing himself from the actions he takes even though they do seem almost preordained and inevitable.

The questions the book raises include things like whether it is possible to amass great wealth without making questionable moral decisions and whether this is okay as a means to an end. For example, Ethan sees the hipocracy of Mr. Baker, the town's banker and one of its most powerful and respected citizens, and he harbors the desire to become a stumbling block in the way of Mr. Baker's secret plans. So, Ethan thinks that by going over to the 'dark side' himself he can tamper the influence that Mr. Baker and others like him can have. It's very much like the movie, 'The Devil's Advocate', in that as soon as you think you're going to do something 'good' or make it better with your influence that's when you're entering the dangerous ground of pride. As far as the book's relation to today, that's becoming more and more relevant all the time as we hear stories of greed and corruption unimaginable during the time of this book's publication. The Bernie Madoff and Enron scandals among countless others combined with the mortgage crisis propagated by Wall Street and the banking system (I'm looking at you Federal Reserve!) have proven this fact. Perhaps that's why, at the time of the publication, the reviews were mixed and this book continues to be mostly overlooked. It's time for a reassessment. All you Ron Paul supporters out there, please pick up a copy. You won't be disappointed.

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Aug 26, 2012 Dulce rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nunca li as "Vinhas da Ira" (mas já vi o filme...) e comecei por este, que não aborda o tema da terra e os problemas laborais mas antes o mar e as questões sociais de uma pequena cidade costeira, New Bayton. O personagem principal é Ethan, um descendente dos homens que fundaram aquela cidade numa época em que a actividade baleeira era próspera e ainda permitida. Porém, Ethan pouco herdou desses tempos e vive uma vida remediada, longe daquilo que ele próprio e a sua pequena família esperariam. O...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was of older gradeschool age, and after exhausting all the Nancy Drew's my mother's younger sister passed down to me, I went to my parents meager book shelf. I read Exodus, by Leon Uris. The boldface on the book jacket demanding to be read like a hollywood movie demanding to be seen. I had no idea that it already was a movie. From that book forward I was hungry for literature. I tried other books on this parental shelf: this Steinbeck (Winter of our Discontent)--I liked but could not say why;...more I was of older gradeschool age, and after exhausting all the Nancy Drew's my mother's younger sister passed down to me, I went to my parents meager book shelf. I read Exodus, by Leon Uris. The boldface on the book jacket demanding to be read like a hollywood movie demanding to be seen. I had no idea that it already was a movie. From that book forward I was hungry for literature. I tried other books on this parental shelf: this Steinbeck (Winter of our Discontent)--I liked but could not say why; Dale Carnegie--false; Victoria Holt--fake drama; Day of the Jackal--almost, gets the tension; Michener--almost,has drama. Then the 3 shelves had been read.

Fortunately, our township had become a city in the intervening years and built a library (1972) less than a half-mile from my house. Unfortunately, the librarians kept escorting from the adult section to the kid section of which they were so proud. Doubly unfortunately, being an obedient child (my downfall in multiple areas of life) I obeyed. I read little in middle school, because nothing caught my interest.

Fortunately, in high school I had teacher who liked to irritate and shake the ground beneath his students. He threw us into Heart of Darkness, by Conrad laughing under his breath. I took every english class I could with wicked-humored Dane. When he despised my pollyanna-ish, he gave me My Last Duchess, by Browning in a poetry class of the great classic English Poets. In this class we read Pope and lots of Pope. Our final exam were these poems he assigned like medicine to cure a weakness he saw in each of us. We needed to memorize it, analyze it, and defend our presentation of it. Going into this exam, I finally had an "A" in one of his classes--until he asked "Why was she wearing a ribbon about her neck?" Well, I could not bring into my consciousness that malevolent shadow following me whenever I was inside this poem. Pollyanna-ish won and I got a "C".

Fortunately, I was of an age I was no longer escorted out of the adult section in the library, so I read more and more classic he mocked us announcing that we did not have enough life in us to neither comprehend nor write of great literature. Yes, that may be true, but great literature reflects and kindles a flame already lit inside. Besides, great literature can be read more than twice. I think I will go back and re-read Lord Jim.

I read Don Quioxte, because Mr. Rasmussen's idea of school musical was Man of La Mancha. He was banned from doing musicals and plays again. Too bad parents have so little faith and administrators so little courage, Mr. Rasmussen might have shaken the ground beneath our feet, but the opened earth revealed a bigger world we could go forth and master.(less)

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Jul 02, 2012 Randy Ehrler rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my favorite book by John Steinbeck. The life of Ethan Hawley, the main character, is simple and complex. He is a working-class man with a blue-blood lineage. In the small town in which he lives – his name rings of history and power – his ancestors were the founders of the village and basked in the glory of their status and wealth for many years. Not so for Ethan. He now lives in the shadow of his great name – no longer having the funds or status to support his legacy.

The real story of th...more This is my favorite book by John Steinbeck. The life of Ethan Hawley, the main character, is simple and complex. He is a working-class man with a blue-blood lineage. In the small town in which he lives – his name rings of history and power – his ancestors were the founders of the village and basked in the glory of their status and wealth for many years. Not so for Ethan. He now lives in the shadow of his great name – no longer having the funds or status to support his legacy.

The real story of this book, for me, however, was the clash between his status and the material wants/needs/demands of his family. This is the America conundrum – regardless of how well we do financially – there is always more stuff (bigger, faster, shinier, newer) waiting around the corner – contentment is elusive. Ethan is bombarded daily with the wants of his children – from the latest cereal they’d seen on TV to stories of the vacations their neighbors had recently taken – all followed with – “can we…?” Of course Ethan wants to provide these things for his family – he simply doesn’t have the means or the opportunity to do so.

Then opportunity presents itself. To seize it, however, Ethan must trade his morals and ethics for profit. He takes advantage of a “friend” and profits greatly – enabling him to finally provide the many goodies his family has craved. We do not learn much about the family after the fact – the impact this action had on Ethan, on his relationships with his family or the community. We assume he profited and “lived happily ever after.”

The real question, posed by Steinbeck throughout this story is: What would you do to profit – to attain the American Dream? Is the cost worth it? Is the “dream” worth it?

All of us are asked to do things in our jobs and in our daily living that challenge our personal morality or ethics. Corporations do many good things, but also, as economic engines, they often do things that are pro-business and anti-people: mass lay-offs, off shoring, out-sourcing, questionable environmental ethics, and manipulative tactics to gain position or market share. People are at the levers of these acts – people who must make decisions that are gut wrenching on a human-scale, but smart business and of great benefit to stock holders.

Everyday, we purchase millions of dollars of products that are produced in factories that would violate every labor law we have here in the states – yet we are able to purchase it cheaply, which is helpful when one is on a limited budget.

I guess I find it important to know, and understand, the complexity of a global world. There is much good, and much bad. Are we to simply accept the bad and strive for our own personal gain? Should we focus on those we help – our employees, stockholders and customers – and ignore those who may suffer as a result of our behavior? It seems that all human activity has some negative and positive outgrowth – perhaps the best we can do is the best we can do.

This is, perhaps true on a global level – we can feel for the woman who worked to make the five-dollar t-shirts we are buying at Wal-Mart – but can we, individually, change this system? I don’t know. To a large degree, I think, we are all individuals stuck in a monstrous-global economic machine that exists outside of any ethical or moral code. The name of the game is – profit. I am all for the free market – 100% - however, I do not like to see, nor do I celebrate and entity (private or public) that serves itself first, often at the expense of the individual. The Leviathan-state (or Corporation, or any organization) rarely benefits those it professes to serve.

It seems much more complicated, however, on a personal level. The real question is: What would you do to your neighbor to attain the brass ring? That is what Steinbeck presented with perfect clarity – the dramatic change between the Puritanical culture that had passed and the new age of economic ambition and material want. The old Ethan held to the Golden Rule – Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do To You. The new Ethan held to the Gecko Rule – Do It To The Other Before They Do It To You.

The future for such a culture seems bleak.

This book is an excellent meditation on personal ethics. It is definitely worth a tumble.

Peace & God Bless!
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May 28, 2012 Maxxam66 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shakespeare , Kafka , Steinbeck .L’elenco potrebbe continuare e comprendere altri meravigliosi custodi , uomini indulgenti con il resto delle umane genti.
Ho scritto custodi , non scrittori , drammaturghi o poeti perché questi artisti della parola sono soprattutto i benevoli custodi del significato più profondo della legge che governa l’uomo e il suo agire.
Se il legame con il bardo è evidente , non solo nel titolo ma anche in una sottile linea rossa che congiunge Riccardo III e il protagonista di...more Shakespeare , Kafka , Steinbeck .L’elenco potrebbe continuare e comprendere altri meravigliosi custodi , uomini indulgenti con il resto delle umane genti.
Ho scritto custodi , non scrittori , drammaturghi o poeti perché questi artisti della parola sono soprattutto i benevoli custodi del significato più profondo della legge che governa l’uomo e il suo agire.
Se il legame con il bardo è evidente , non solo nel titolo ma anche in una sottile linea rossa che congiunge Riccardo III e il protagonista di Steinbeck, ciò che avvicina lo scrittore americano a Kafka è frutto di una visione assolutamente personale , mediata attraverso uno sguardo che scivola inesorabilmente al di fuori della situazione particolare verso un mondo che ai miei occhi si presenta più ampio , generale , aperto quanto può esserlo una dimensione atemporale.
Se temete quindi che la patologia psichiatrica sia contagiosa , abbandonate questa recensione e dedicatevi immediatamente alla lettura de “L’inverno del nostro scontento”.
A guardia del portone che permette l’accesso alle legge e alla conoscenza , Kafka collocava ,in “Davanti alla Legge” (1914), un custode (non benevolo), che impedisce l’accesso proprio a colui a cui è riservato l’ingresso (e a lui solo, pover’uomo).
Egli si spegnerà nell’attesa, calerà nelle tenebre della morte , forse perché non ha compiutamente capito , non si è adeguatamente preparato a capire , a cercare la conoscenza e la legge morale (forse …trattandosi di Kafka).
Quell’uomo avrebbe avuto bisogno non di un guardiano ma di un benevolo custode che , come Steinbeck , lungi dall’esaurire il suo compito nel proteggere, si fosse prodigato nel tentativo di far comprendere , di illuminare le tenebre in cui è avvolta la conoscenza che l’uomo ha di se stesso e la consapevolezza del suo lato più intimo e oscuro.
Nello scrittore americano infatti , il fulcro , l’oggetto dell’indagine, è l’essere umano , di cui sonda le ombre e le profondità , gli oscuri recessi e le misconosciute grandiosità.
Così come in “Furore” ,anche in questo romanzo una fortissima tensione etica percorre l’intera narrazione ,sottolineando una critica sociale che ne “L’inverno del nostro scontento” assume però sfumature più intimistiche, venate di disincantata , amara ironia .
Il romanzo non ha quindi i contorni quasi biblici di un crudo affresco composito, ma tratteggia la sofferta discesa agli inferi morali di un uomo, la sua drammatica perdita di innocenza.
La narrazione scorre apparentemente piana , fluida come l’accattivante superficie del mare, priva delle maree sotterranee che lentamente erodono la riva e ingannano l’uomo perché “un uomo si batte contro le cose grosse. Ma quel che uccide è l’erosione; a furia di colpetti finisce al tappeto” .
Perché a questo punto può accadere di tutto , il protagonista , consapevolmente vinto,potrà (dovrà) perdersi e il lettore , ingannato nel suo caso dall’apparente misura narrativa , rischierà di confondere la leggerezza con la lievità.
Nulla in Steinbeck è lieve, scontato ; il respiro è potente , la scrittura ricca di significati e da una crepa sottile può erompere la marea.
E la prima crepa di cui sarà vittima il protagonista , Ethan Hawley “ non mi sento in colpa per i tedeschi che ho ucciso. ..e se per un tempo limitato io abolissi tutte le norme ..Una volta raggiunto l’obbiettivo , non potrei riassumerle tutte , quelle norme? Indubbiamente gli affari sono una specie di guerra. Perché dunque non fare guerra totale , in vista della pace ? “ lo porterà inevitabilmente ad essere interiormente travolto.
Fatale risulterà l’ulteriore sfaldamento del concetto di integrità , quando , rispetto alla precedente valutazione personale , prevarrà la proiezione verso l’esterno , l’esposizione al giudizio clemente della gente , per la quale “forza e successo stanno al di sopra della moralità , al di sopra della critica…L’ unico castigo è per chi fallisce”.
Basterà un’occasione dunque , ormai la strada è tracciata.
Quale miglior agnello sacrificale di Danny , l’ amico ai margini della società “Dentro di me Danny è un dolore vivo e , quindi una colpa. Io potrei aiutarlo. Danny è quasi un fratello. Il senso di colpa forse è perché io sono il guardiano di quel mio fratello , ma non l’ho salvato”.

In fondo Danny (forse l’eterna riproposizione del topos del “doppio”) non ha via di scampo perchè “I suoi occhi ti chiedono di perdonarlo perché egli non può perdonarsi” e quindi ha già emesso la sua condanna , proprio perché essa è interiore , personale.
Lui è già una colpa , una colpa per se stesso non può costituire un ostacolo; egli rappresenta ciò da cui Ethan vuole sfuggire , il fallimento , la forzata esclusione dal modello americano che appartiene ad entrambi per antico rango e quindi paga con la dissoluzione fisica .
Specularmente, Ethan, si troverà a dover pagare per la dissoluzione del suo universo interiore ….”E’ tanto più buio quando una luce si spegne, più buio che se non si fosse mai accesa.
Sale la marea …tra le tante luci solitarie è necessario combattere per tenere accesa la speranza …affinchè un’altra luce non si spenga nel buio e un guardiano non sia costretto a chiudere un portone
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Dec 18, 2011 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Rating: 6* of five

This is a wonderful short novel by a master of his craft at the peak of his form. It is also his last novel.

Some people at the time it was published felt it was a wrong turning for Steinbeck ("The Grapes of Wrath", "Tortilla Flat") to abandon both the west coast that had made him famous and brought his considerable social conscience to the world's attention for an east coast grifter's POV. "The Winter of Our Discontent" is a story that has nothing but shades of gray. Everyone i...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Daniel-eigenberg rated it 4 of 5 stars

While not a typical Steinbeck novel, I enjoyed this book. I'm used to Steinbeck capturing the depression era diaspora. The Winter of Our Discontent is a much more contemporary novel (set in the early 1960's). It had much more familiar themes (familiar to modern readers) - capitalism, consumerism, the tension between religion and modern secularism. The books narrator is complicated. He comes from old money, but, because of some errors on his father's part, has lost it and works as a grocery store...more

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Oct 03, 2010 Richard Little rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hidden amongst the canon of great American novels that Steinbeck bequeathed, this really is the most down to earth of a down to earth author's books. Ethan is a tangible hero, one not defined by great measures or actions he takes, but by his eventual ability to live up to his past and his cultural and emotional inheritance, the one common burden facing us all in life.

As a social commentary it sums up the ennui and bemusement of post boom pre boom America, with the sheer abundance of people not...more

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Jul 17, 2010 Annii Frazer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010books, 5starbooks, john-steinbeck, classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 07, 2010 Bob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ethan Allen Hawley was from a long line of Hawleys living in a small seaside town where they had once owned a whole block, now his father having lost the grocery store, the last property besides the family house, he is the sole clerk in the store. Ethan is a proud man and an honest man but he is beset by temptations and his family is looking for an improvement in income. He realizes that his boss and the important townspeople have grown used to looking the other way and scratching each others ba...more

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Aug 17, 2009 Sullyfitz rated it 5 of 5 stars

I haven't read a Steinbeck book since hs/college days and I now regret that. This book was stunningly written. Steinbec's turn of phrase was concise, descriptive, humourous, and engaging. The plot of this book is not as important as the writing and the moral dilemma that Ethan (the main characther) faces and that all of us face at one time or another. Here is an example of STeinbeck;s writing:

"June is painting and clipping, plans and projects. ... In June the happy seed of summer germinates. "wh...more

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Jul 02, 2009 Thomas DeWolf rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Ethan Hawley descends from a wealthy family but the wealth is gone. He makes a fateful choice to turn his fortunes around. Of all of Steinbeck's wonderful books The Winter of Our Discontent is the one that sticks with me, that I think about most often. I probably read it thirty years ago and yet the image of a man's light going out--that level of despair--based on choices he made, remains.

"I don't know for sure how other people are inside--all different and all alike at the same time. I can only...more

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About John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley...more John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley region of California, a culturally diverse place of rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place.

Steinbeck moved briefly to New York City, but soon returned home to California to begin his career as a writer. Most of his earlier work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel Cup of Gold which concerns the pirate Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child.

In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. Later he used real historical conditions and events in the first half of 20th century America, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter.

Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. His later body of work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history, and mythology.

One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America. He died in 1968 in New York of a heart attack and his ashes are interred in Salinas.

Seventeen of his works, including The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947), and East of Eden (1952), went on to become Hollywood films, and Steinbeck also achieved success as a Hollywood writer, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Story in 1944 for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat.(less)

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“I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen.” — 1,546 people liked it

“It's so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.” — 805 people liked it

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