It was once said that the “man endures pain as an undeserved punishment; woman accepts it as a natural heritage.” Throughout the history, many authors have written book about the struggles of a man against the government, the laws, and the upper class. They did not write about the struggles of a woman nor about her role in helping the man win the battle, for it may have been considered her duty. Likewise, John Steinbeck emphasized the male gender more than the women gender in his book, In Dubious Battle. Throughout the chapters, Steinbeck provides many different roles for male gender to play, but only provides one role for the women. In addition, he gives his readers with a taste of an unfortunate part of workers and laborers’ history; however, he only presents the male side even though many women also participated in that part of the history.
In Dubious Battle not only illustrates the hardship of an era, but it also shows the hardships of a man. Many males in this book have either been beaten down by “the system” or have been given the urge to revolt. For instance, Jim’s father was “slugged so much in labor trouble that he went punch-drunk” (13). The father acquired a drinking problem because of the police force and the situation he was forced into. In effect, because Jim’s father became an alcoholic, he was not able to provide his family with basic necessities of life. He spent his whole life hating the police force and rebelling against them rather than helping his family lead a better life. In this instance, the male gender can be seen as a slave of the government. However, if Jim’s father was beaten down by the upper class, Mac’s rebellious side was awakened when some ex-soldiers “licked [him] unconscious” and “jumped on [him] and broke [his] right arm” because he gave a speech about starvation (32). The hatred that appeared in Mac would not have been awakened if he was not beaten for exercising his freedom of speech. In effect, if he was not beaten up, he would have never become a quick-witted organizer that brought havoc for some bosses. The male gender, thereby, has played a role of a poor labor that has been abused and cheated, and they have played a role of a rebellious person who has been driven into revolt. Unfortunately, they have played another role—a role that has costed the women.
The men in this tale are mostly workers and laborers who did not get treated properly by their bosses. In effect, they seem to use their leftover power to dominate the women, for they cannot dominate their bosses. The book showcases the women gender as weak. They women do not have much power or a voice in their family decision- making process or the cause for which the men are working towards. For example, Jim’s mother “was a Catholic (14),” but his father would not “let her go to the churches (14)” because “he hated churches (14).” Even though Jim’s mother was religious, she could not practice her own beliefs because her husband did not allow her. Because she was weak and did not hold much importance in the decision- making process, she allowed her husband to rule her life. Besides Jim’s mother, Misses Dakin is another character that did not hold any significant amount of power in the family. In chapter four, when Misses Dakin stares “questioningly at her husband (85),” Mister Dakin does not respond to her gaze but stares back with cold eyes. “His long white hands [also] twitched at his side (85),” which caused Misses Dakin to forget her question and act as though nothing was amiss. This passage gives a subtle hint about the role of a woman. It shows that women are not allowed to question their husbands because they might get abused, thereby making them weak. The women are also seen as objects. Some men only use them for sexual reason rather than for marriage purposes (261). Jim, the protagonist, is one of the men who is scared of commitment, for he does not want to end up like his parents—“two room flat and a wood stove” (804). Meanwhile, Mac sees women as object that could please a man. This scenario was seen when Mac told Burton, the doctor, that he needs to see a woman to lift up his spirits (262). The role that the femal gender plays in this novel is therefore not only of a weak person, but also of an object used by males for their pleasure.
Gender plays a significant role in this book. It guides the reader through the mindset of the male characters and shows the dominance of male over the females. The male gender is seen throughout the book—in bosses and in the poor laborers. However, the men are not always portrayed innocent. Few men in this book are depicted as selfish being who are so passionate about the cause that they are willing to use anything—even their friend’s death. Mac is one of the devious characters who stops at nothing when it comes to organizing strikes and manipulating the strikers’ emotions. When his longtime friend, Joy, died, Mac organized a funeral and used his body to steam up the crowd and gain public’s sympathy (192). Furthermore, he performed the same act when Jim, whom he was close to, got murdered. Instead of mourning for his friends, he used them for his own gain. According to him, nothing is more important than the strike. Moreover, he also does not care about a human life. After delivering a baby for the first time in his life, he stated to Jim that “even if it killed [the girl], we’ve got to use anything (66)”. This goes to show the disregard he has for a woman’s life. The male, thereby, not only plays a role of a dictator, but he also plays the role of a self-centered man.
In Dubious Battle has given male genders many roles. Some men played the role of a weakened soul while some played the role of a rebellious individual. Furthermore, there are some that played the role of an egotistical person. On the other hand, women have only been given a role of a weak person lingering in the shadows. Throughout the novel, there has only been one female character that has been mentioned more than once—Lisa. Although she does not play a heavy role nor is she involved in the decision- making process, she is seen as a helper throughout the novel. Although the novel showcases the female gender as weak, in real life the women were not weak. Many individuals believe that the character of Lisa may have been based on the Pixley Cotton Strike leader and Communist organizer, Caroline Decker (“In Dubious Battle…”). Caroline Decker, by no means, sat in the background during the movement. On the contrary, she was an active woman. In California, she organized the migrants in camps and took part in several pickers’ strikes (“Biographical History”). Furthermore, she also organized “a national 30-day training school” that taught workers and Communist Party members about agricultural organizing (“Biographical History”). Steinbeck may have created Lisa based on Decker, but Lisa was nothing like Decker, for she did not have a strong role. Another woman who made a difference in the society was Dolores Huerta. She was a fearless lobbyist activist, an organizer, and the founder of Agricultural Workers Association (“Dolores Huerta Biography”). In addition to the AWA, she also co-founded National Farm Workers Association with Cesar Chavez, which is a predecessor of United Farm Workers (“Dolores Huerta Biography”). It is hard to imagine as to why Steinbeck chose to give the female gender a weak role when in reality, the women were just as strong as the men.
The gender has played an important role in the novel. The male gender thought the novel has been given several characteristics, while the female gender has only been given one. The men in the book are aggressive and have a certain amount of power and dominance over the women. They control the events in the novel, organize strikes, raid, murder, and make decisions, whereas the women only do one thing: follow their men around and stay in the background. Steinbeck also did not show the power that women really held in actuality. Even though the female gender is nearly non-existent in the book, the women in during the labor movement were anything but fictional. During the labor movement, many women stood their ground with the men for a certain cause. However, Steinbeck failed to portray that in this great novel, In Dubious Battle.
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