The Winter of Our Discontent

The Winter of Our Discontent is a 1961 novel by John Steinbeck.

Plot introduction

The story is about a Long Islander named Ethan Allen Hawley who works as a clerk in a grocery store he used to own, but is now owned by an Italian immigrant. His wife and kids want more than what he can give them because of his lowly clerkship.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title is a reference to the phrase "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York," from William Shakespeare's Richard III.

Plot summary

He finds out that the immigrant that owns his store is an illegal alien, turns him into the Immigration and Naturalization Service and receives the store by deceiving the immigrant. Ethan continues to have feelings of depression and anxiety brought about by his uneasy relationship with his wife and kids, risky flirtation with Margie Young-Hunt, and consideration of a bank robbery scheme.

The story resolves when Ethan gives the town drunk/bum enough money to get so incredibly intoxicated as to die shortly thereafter of acute alcohol poisoning; due to an arrangement made with the drunk prior to his death, Ethan then becomes a "somebody" in the town by inheriting a large, valuable tract of land needed by local businessmen to build an airport. This puts him post-story in the position of being able to get in on and even manipulate and control the behind-the-scenes dealings of the corrupt town businessmen and politicians. (Somehow Ethan assuages his guilt, having known fully well beforehand what the drunk would do with the money, apparently by telling himself that dying is what, in fact, the drunk/bum really wanted.) No longer will he or his family want for anything. Contrary to what one might think, Ethan is not satisfied with his newfound financial success. His family is not immune to problems either; his son won a nationwide essay contest entitled 'I Love America' and earns fame until it is known that he plagiarized almost all of his essay. Ethan contemplates suicide but returns to society in order pass on his knowledge of good and evil; he does not want his son and daughter to fall into the same trap that he did.

Characters in "The Winter of Our Discontent"

Ethan Hawley – a grocery clerk (the story's protagonist)
Mary Hawley – his wife
Allen and Ellen Hawley – his adolescent children
Danny Taylor – Ethan's childhood friend and town drunk
Joey Morph – bank teller and town playboy
Margie Young-Hunt – middle-aged seductress
Mr. Baker – town banker
Marullo – Italian immigrant owner of grocery store

Literary significance & criticism

Literary critics have dealt with The Winter of Our Discontent in a variety of ways; some have praised it as a Steinbeck classic while others have called the book a disappointing work. Some critics claim that the regular and somewhat sloppily constructed soliloquies of Ethan Hawley illustrate a lack of style. Throughout the book, Steinbeck tends to overtly tell the reader what characters are thinking rather than allowing the plot and structure of the novel to reveal their thoughts. In various letters to friends before and after the publication of Winter, Steinbeck clearly states he wrote the novel to address the moral degeneration of American culture in the 1960s. Literary critics and scholars have condemned Winter for its poorly concealed moral emphasis, citing that the novel lacks the stylistic integrity of previous Steinbeck works.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The novel was made into a television movie in 1983, starring Donald Sutherland as Ethan Hawley.