Difficulty

While reading In Dubious Battle I came across much difficulty. The time that this novel took place was the main reason for my frustrations.  Steinbeck uses so much dialogue throughout the book that I found it hard at times to know what character was actually speaking. Some parts of the book I had to re-read a few times to truly understand what was going on. I tried to picture a movie scene in my head to understand how these conversations were actually taking place.

            In Dubious Battle also had a lot of words that I had no idea what the meanings were. For example, ‘handbills’, I had no idea what that meant. So I would look up words online whenever I found it important in the text. I found that it meant a text or notice of something.

            Since this book was based on something that happened so long ago, I found it hard to want to read it. There are book that you cannot put down, and there are book that you want to put down. This was definitely a book I wanted to down!  I tried to read 20 pages a night, but found myself putting the book down just after 5 or 6 pages. Finally I forced myself to read 200 pages in one day just to get it over with! I tried to get my mindset into liking this book, but it just did not happen. I couldn’t relate to any character in this book at all. I wish that I could’ve enjoyed it more…but I didn’t.

            One of the most difficult things about this book is how it ends. After forcing myself to read it, the ending was horrible!  Steinbeck must have been a depressed man to end this book like that. 

Gender Theory

      While reading In Dubious Battle a reader will rarely come across any mention of females. Only a few points during this read will a woman come into play. The first mention of a women was in the very beginning of the novel, Jim's landlady, Mrs. Meer. Her role was almost motherly towards Jim. She even offers him a place to stay if he were to ever come back.
       Dakins wife truly shows how women were separated from men. Jim and Mac came to Dakin's home wanting to ask him if he would come and join the strike. Now, even though his wife probably would not have told anyone their plans of strike, she was still ask to go aside when a conversation went on between the men. She also takes the children with her, something a women was expected to do at this time. John Steinbeck describes her as, "…a fine, big-bosomed woman with a full face, with little red spots of rouge on her cheeks…" (61). He describe her mainly by her "womanly" features, in a way that he never describes any of the men in this book. It's almost as if she is just used as an image in the novel and not as a source information or relevance to the meaning of the plot.

U.S. Farm Worker's Rights

I choose this image because it shows the faces of the farm workers. This image also has a variety of people and a variety of farming. The web address that is boldly stated below gives the picture more meaning and impact to the general public on just how hard farmers work.

I have always known that our farmer are crucial in society. They provide the public with food, something that no one can live without, yet they still are treated poorly. Cesar Chavez was and still is one of the most important figures in farming. He led the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). It wasn't long before Cesar Chavez joined NFWA with another organization and formed an even larger association, The United Farm Workers. He did this during the grape strikes in the 1960's. After he helped the grape farmers strike he moved on to other types of farming, continuing to help mistreated farmers all around the United States.