The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck

His acquaintance Margie urges him to accept bribes the bank manager (whose ancestors Ethan blames for his family’s misfortunes) urges him to be more ruthless. Ethan’s decision to gain wealth and power is influenced by criticisms and advice from people he knows. His wife Mary and their children resent their mediocre social and economic status, and do not value the honesty and integrity that Ethan struggles to maintain amid a corrupt society. One can almost draw a parallel with Steinbeck’s protagonist, the honest Ethan Allen Hawley, who is pushed into his moral downfall by his family. The characters and circumstances that I have listed are only a few. And we the older ones were left totally bowled over! ’ And lo and behold you will get a bigger rock, not on this cheap gold but on platinum.” Alifya guffawed with triumph. If he gifts you a solitaire do NOT fall off the chair in gratefulness! Look at him with tear-filled doe-like eyes and whisper, ‘It is small, but it will do. She advises us, in the staffroom, as we sat looking at her, awestruck, “Never ever let your guard down. That simple, besotted husband of hers has been converted into a bovine-dying-to-please slave. She too wears that pretentious look of disdain on her face as and when it suits her. It is a great school.” But I wondered aloud to him as to why would anybody do that? “Ma, they say that their parents have asked them to always rate the school thus, so that the teachers work more and the fees will not go up!” The loss of innocence? Or the reflection of consumerism that happily roller coasters through our arteries these days? Isn’t that bad, I mean we have been studying in this school since we were four years old. Guess what most of the boys did? They blindly clicked on ‘strongly disagree’ the worst rating. “Mamma, we had a survey at school today where we had to rate our school on different parameters. One day, I found my son laughing, laughter laced with mockery. The ‘depressed diva look’! This look gains you attention and love.” Something seemed to tug at my heart, a ‘look’ to get love? She then gave me her million dollar smile, “No ma’am, this is the look of the season. “Hi Ma’am, how are you? We miss you so much!” I inquired if she was feeling tired after her day of hard work at school. The look on her face was that of disgust. I looked up and saw Tina, whom I once taught, coming towards me. It was his last novel published in 1961.Īs I sat in my car waiting for my son to emerge from his school, I read the novel and the plot and circumstances reminded me of everyday occurrences in every strata of today’s society.

John Steinbeck’s The Winter of our Discontent. It seemed to zoom out scenes from our contemporary life that usually serenaded around me with diurnal regularity. The book really touched a sensitive chord in my heart.

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck