Character Response

At the beginning of In Dubious Battle we start off with Jim, a young man who is trying to find a place in the world. His childhood was not the best, when he was a teenager his sister went missing and the case soon went cold. After this his mother becomes distant and his father angry. A few years prior from where we begin the story, Jim's father had also been killed in a fight. Jim has just been released from jail after being arrested for viewing a protest. His mother has recently passed away and he is completely lost in the world. Jim feels that he will die like his father, fortunately when he was in jail this last time he met people who were in the party. Jim now believes that the party maybe his way out of this vicious cycle his parents unconsciously led him into. As soon as he gets out of jail he contacts the party informing them he wants to join. He is soon accepted and meets his party family, Mac, Dick, and Joy. He is now doing some of their unimportant work, getting a feel of what it's like to be apart of something bigger. He wants more though, and soon gets what he's asked for. Mac decides that it is fine if Jim goes along with him on the next strike and they head off to the little apple orchard town. Jim is amazed at the world outside the city he's lived in his whole life and longs to see more of it. Here Jim is really beginning to discover what he wants. When they get to the town Jim follows Mac around eager to know more about how people work and craving for the strike to begin. First they have to find where some of the pickers are camping and they soon find London and his group. They help deliver Lucy's baby and Jim is amazed at how persuasive Mac is and also how well he understands how everyone thinks. Soon the picking begins and Jim's feelings of being apart of something bigger strengthens, he is becoming more confident. Here Jim starts to understand how everyone thinks and is quickly learning from Mac's actions. Though not all of Jim's actions have seemed smart to Mac, many of them have turned out to be lucrative, such as Jim spending his time and effort on Dan. Jim also begins to understand the art of persuasion and adds in points, such as the cotton wages when they are talking to Dakin, in their conversations to strengthen their arguments. Through the rest of the story Jim learns about protesting and how easily men can get discouraged, but also riled up. He also learns how to deal with men who lose everything. At the end of the story Jim has a fire in his spirit that fuels him up, wanting to always move. He know feels that he has a purpose in life and wants to achieve it. He is a much different person then who he was at the beginning. I can easily relate to Jim's most prominent conflict, finding a place to fit into. It's hard to find what you want to do in life, and where you belong. Once I did find what you want to do it's like nothing can stop it though, which is a lot like what happened to Jim. Another issue Jim deals with was his upbringing and how his dad was an alcoholic, he could have easily followed into that cycle but he broke out of it. I too have dealt with parents who had similar problems, but if anything it kept me away from it even more. Though some of Jim's issues are easy to connect with them not all of them are.

Reader Response to In Dubious Battle

Throughout the first 150 pages of In Dubious Battle you learn much about Jim, the party, and what exactly they're fighting for. In the beginning Jim seems like a very mysterious man, you can't really tell if he's up to no good or not. We learn why he went to jail and how he grew up to be the person he is. His mother was hopeless and his father was a drunk who was always getting beat up. He had once had a sister, but she was kidnapped when they were teenagers and never seen again. From the first chapter you can really sympathize with Jim and understand why he's looking for somewhere to fit in. We also have no idea who The Party is, but Nilson seems like a nice guy so you don't presume that it's too bad. When Jim meets the other guys it really makes you wonder what The Party is, you have the leader of the house Mac, a crazy little man named Joy, and Dick who seems to be a real charmer. It's such an odd group you really wonder what it they are all striving for is. Although Mac seems like he could be a very intimidating man, he and Jim get off on a good foot and Mac tells him he is happy to have him be a part of the group. Soon Mac comes back one day and tells Jim that the two of them will be going out to farm to start picking some apples. They hope to lead a successful riot. It is then that you realize that the party wants rights for the pickers. It isn't stated what the party is, but at this point we can guess that they may be a part of a unions movement or if you know more about the history of strikes from the early 1900's, that it was the communist party. A few days later Jim and Mac head off to the town where the riot will take place. They travel by freight trains, heading out early in the morning. Jim mostly sleeps on the way there, but he is amazed at what he sees, he had never been out of town before. This is quite amazing for a man of his age! The two also learn a bit more about each other, Jim learns that Mac isn’t a prize fighter, which shocks him, but that Mac understands a lot about how a man thinks. Although much of Mac and Jim’s conversations so far in the novel are normally small talk, it gives you a lot to relate to and to understand why these people were attracted to join such a party. It also gives you time to attach to them and to sympathize for them. I think Steinbeck ha an amazing way in getting you to have a lot of feelings for a character, once you are drawn into the book. He often uses this to his advantage in many of his stories to get his point across and to touch you.