An Eco-Critical Reading Of John Steinbeck's Worker Trilogy

John Steinbeck is one of the greatest American writers of the 20 th century. He created three great workers, In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath, all of which are regarded as worker trilogy. These novels share the same background of the 1930 s. They demonstrate the situation of Great Depression in 1930 s of America, which also reveals the miserable life of the migrant peasants during the years of the Great Depression. Through these literary works, Steinbeck expresses his concern of the ecological crisis and bitter accusation of human destructive behaviors of the ecological environment, and articulates the harmony in eco-system. This dissertation aims at analyzing the ecological problems in the trilogy, in order to explore the ecological concept revealed and the theoretical and realistic meaning in the novels. The thesis is unfolded into three parts, the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion.The body of this thesis is divided into three parts. Chapter one reveals the imbalanced social ecology in In Dubious Battle through describing the influence of the Great Depression on the Society. Workers endure poor living condition, as they get very low wages from work, while the capitalists occupied the majority of resources. So workers choose to rebel by striking, which caused many conflicts. Through the analysis of the story, it becomes clear that violence cannot solve the problems. Therefore, in the second novel of the trilogy, violence is not considered in order to solve the ecological problems. Chapter two examines the spiritual ecology in Of Mice and Men through the journey of George and Lennie. In the story, Lennie and George are suffering the miserable life, because of the Depression. However, they learned to find consolation in dreams. In the cruel society, their dreams are shattered by reality, so spiritual energy is also feeble in the confrontation with ecological problems. So Chapter three discusses the natural ecology in The Grapes of Wrath, after which harmony was advocated in this part.The trilogy is so closely connected that it forms the process of the exploration of solving the ecological crisis. First, social problems are noticed. Then, seeking for spiritual peace is regarded as the consolation in ecological crisis. Eventually, through the consistent exploration for solutions, harmony is emphasized as the key to erase the ecological crisis.