An Unforgettable Struggle
Everything will fade and some will even be forgotten as time passes. However, there are certain things or occurrences which are not only easily be forgotten, but they seem to engrave in our minds for as long as we live. As I recall when I was just about thirteen, my parents sent my brother and I to my grandmother’s house in the countryside of South Vietnam for summer. My grandmother’s house situated near the corner of the paddy rice field, where the entire piece of land was divided into parcels. Some of which are dry, some of which are filled with water, and some of which are barren. On some of hot summer days, I often sat at the wooden window from my grandmother’s house, looking out the rice field, which somehow had an infinite attraction to me. The green of the rice field seemed to be more brilliant and vibrant than any other green in the landscape. At the same time, the rice field seemed to inspire the workers to enormous labor. Continuously bowing towards the earth, often directly under the merciless rays of the sun. Those worked in the rice field were poor and suffered hardship. Due to the reason of being poor, these field workers were desperately seeking for job opportunities to sustain and provide a better life for their families. Naturally, landowners are more than happy to take advantage of the availability of these vulnerable, and desperate workers. I have seen and heard that these field laborers endured unfair treatment and wages because they feared being fired or will not get paid from the landowners. In Dubious Battle, by John Steinbeck, which addressed the injustice in the California apple fields for the laborers. These laborers were not treated decently with fairness and fair wages. Therefore, they organized a strike against the rapacious landowners for guaranteed fair wages. Although the strike did not end triumphantly, the initiation was memorable and unforgettable.
The development of the strike in In Dubious Battle took place in Torgas Valley, California apple country. Torgas is a small apple orchards valley which owned by three men, Hunter, Gillray, and Martin. They also owned Torgas Finance Company (89). These landowners who were powered by the law, hired the pickers to pick the ripe apples for packing plant. Often these landowners took advantage of the vulnerable and desperate pickers’ situation, they cut the labor wage. In addition, there were low quality working conditions and no labor standards for these laborers. The pickers were not supply adequate equipments for the job. For example, a seventy-one years old man, Dan, was hired for doing the same job as the younger men in the field. As described in chapter 6, just when Dan was pridefully bragging about how strong he was to another picker, he fell off the broken ladder (77), which was used for the job. Dan was hurt and a group of co-workers had to make a stretcher out of a pair of coats with the sticks inserted through the arms to carry injured Dan off the ground (78). Dan was not taken to the hospital because he was not insured and got no money for the treatment. As a result of this cause, the strike movement was formed and a designated man named Mac McLeod to lead.
Mac was an ambitious and described as a skillfully muscular man, assigned to lead the strike. During a conversation Mac once said, “A strike that’s settled too quickly won’t teach the men how to organize, how to work together. A tough strike is good (26)”. Moreover, he was a self-controlled man, capable of being a mentor towards others. As described in chapter 2, Mac had more experience about field work than anybody in the state (14). One of his assigned duties was to train the newcomers. Other than himself, Mac was also working with a group of men, who were Harry Nilson, Dick, and Jim Nolan. Harry Nilson was a man who originally initiated Jim Nolan’s application to join the Party. Also in the same Party, Dick was described as a well looking man, whose duties were a messenger and supplying Party’s members food and goods. Harry and Dick relatively have been members with the Party for some time. On the other hand, Jim Nolan was just a new comer, still in training under Mac’s supervision. Jim desired to join the Party because his entire family has been ruined by the system (6). Consequently, he was depressed and had nothing to live for. His father had a reputation for being the toughest mug in the country, was killed by a riot gun where he used to work (6). Jim lost his mother while he was in jail for vagrancy (7). Jim also had a sister, who suddenly disappeared and dropped out of sight (13).
As duty called and as having shared similar pitiful plight, Jim and Mac merged with a group of pickers at the apple orchards to start the strike movement. Initially, Mac and Jim arrived at the pickers’ camp site in the countryside where Mac provoked the pickers by saying, “S’pose we didn’t let nobody else pick (41)”? Subsequently, Mac and Jim were introduced to London, a man who they called a good guy (42), acting as their leader. Ironically, Mac and Jim have won London’s heart also developed trust by helping his daughter-in-law deliver a baby when she was having labor difficulties. Mac conceived a plan to carry out his duty by using London as a connection to other neighboring pickers. His tactics had successfully moved the pickers out of their smugness. Together, they expanded their force by gaining other groups of pickers. In order to have the strike movement organized, they elected Dakin (different ranches leader) for general chairman of the strike committee and boss-in-chief (99). Dakin was known for being calm with good reputation that other pickers admired and followed. As the strike movement progressed with multiple attempts, the strikers finally realized that they needed more than just bare hands to fight. Brilliantly, instead of helping strikers resolving their indignant protest, police force used barricades to block the roads, tear gas, and guns to prevent further strikes (242). Consequently, the strikers had to retreat and were lurking into the dense apple orchards, waiting for better opportunity. As a matter of fact, some of the strikers either had fear or grew tired of the situation, they decamped.
Without doubts, the struggles between laborers and employers in the novel can only prove destructive and demoralizing to both parties and also to society as a whole. Neither Communists nor anti-Communists enjoyed the novel because the Author, John Steinbeck, did not in favor of the authority or denounce the striking workers as un-American. For better result in improving working conditions and wages, the authority should not be raiding, but enforcing workplace laws. In addition, the labor system needs to be reformed to ensure that all workers are guaranteed fair wages and equal labor rights.
Steinbeck, John. In Dubious Battle. New York: The Penguin Group, 2006. Print.
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