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In Dubious Battle (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

At a glance:

Characters Discussed

Mac, a communist labor organizer who organizes a fruit-pickers’ strike. After many hardships, in the face of starvation and imminent eviction, the strike seems doomed. Then Mac rallies the strikers with a stirring speech over the body of his friend and co-organizer, Jim Nolan, who is shot when he and Mac are enticed into a trap.

Jim Nolan, the friend and co-organizer, who is finally killed. The son of a workingman whose death was caused by policemen’s blows, he has come to communism by way of starvation and early ill-treatment.

London, the leader of the fruit pickers.

Doc Burton, a philosopher and skeptic. He does much to maintain the sanitation of the camp and the strikers’ health during the strike. Things worsen after his disappearance. It is in response to a report that he is lying wounded in a field that Jim and Mac rush out into the trap in which Jim is killed.

Al Townsend, the owner of a lunch cart. He gives handouts to the strikers, for whom he feels sympathy. His father permits the strikers to camp on his farm.

Lisa London, the daughter of the camp leader. Mac’s influence around the camp greatly increases after he, giving the impression he is a doctor, delivers Lisa of a baby.

Joy, an old and disabled comrade who is killed in an early conflict. Mac’s speech on this occasion does much to unify the workers.

Dick, a handsome comrade who uses his charms on women in order to get food for the strikers.

Bibliography:

Benson, Jackson J. The True Adventures of John Steinbeck, Writer. New York: Viking Press, 1984. Definitive biography considers In Dubious Battle in context with the author’s life and works.

Benson, Jackson J., and Anne Loftis. “John Steinbeck and Farm Labor Unionization: The Background of In Dubious Battle.” American Literature 52, no. 2 (May, 1980): 194-223. Situates Steinbeck’s novel within the social conditions from which it emerged. Just as intriguing as the similarities between fact and fiction are the instances in which Steinbeck altered facts, notably his omission of women from the labor movement and Mexicans from the migrant community.

French, Warren. John Steinbeck. 2d rev. ed. Boston: Twayne, 1975. Illustrates Steinbeck’s use of Arthurian legend.

Hayashi, Tetsumaro, ed. John Steinbeck: The Years of Greatness, 1936-1939. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1993. Collection of essays on Steinbeck’s life and literary achievements during the late 1930’s. Several articles are pertinent to In Dubious Battle.

Pressman, Richard S. “Individualists or Collectivists? Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle and Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not.” Steinbeck Quarterly 25, nos. 3/4 (Summer/Fall, 1992): 119-132. Discusses Steinbeck’s representation and occasional misrepresentation of American communism.

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