I’ve been hesitant to write a review of this novel, in part because I loved it so much and have so much to say. Today I’ll just focus on the novel’s unusual and insightful stance on what it means to hold a belief. If you don’t want spoilers, here is your sign to stop reading.

The Fragility of Belief

Steinbeck takes a somewhat cynical–though, I maintain, accurate–stance on belief, as we see what Ethan “believes” in the novel gradually undermined, not through empirical refutation, but rather by learning that those around him do not believe.

Though he makes no reference to Steinbeck, I think the philosopher Slavoj Zizek captures this idea well when he says we “believe through the Other,” by which he means that, for many of the biggest questions in life, we are not fully able to believe in the answers ourselves but find assurance in the belief of others. Too philosophical? Zizek thinks so too, so he tells this joke:

A man is convinced he is a grain of seed. He is quickly taken to a mental hospital where the doctor eventually convinces him that he is not a grain of seed; he is a man. Freshly cured, the man is permitted to leave the hospital. However, five minutes later he rushes back in, trembling with fear.

“There is a chicken outside,” the man says “and he is going to eat me.”

The doctor tells him, “Come now, you know very well you are not a grain of seed. You’re a man!”

“Of course you and I know that,” the man tells him, “but does the chicken know?”

When we realize the chicken doesn’t know, our own belief is inevitably shaken. Our belief–at least in part–relies on the belief of others.

Ethan’s “Others“

In the novel, Ethan’s belief that good ol’ fashioned American values like hard work and ingenuity will lead him to success are, surprisingly, not undermined by the fact that his own hard work and ingenuity has been met with nothing but failure–through this adversity, he can persevere. However, the change in Ethan’s mind occurs when he talks to Mr. Baker (and others) and realizes that Baker, Marullo, and perhaps even his own revered ancestors did not believe in those values, preferring a cynical and corrupt worldview in which one must be willing to bend the rules to achieve success.

Another more devastating loss comes when Ethan realizes his son Allen has plagiarized portions of his prize-winning essay. It is trying enough for Ethan that the representative from the television station that aired Allen’s speech is eager to look past the plagiarism, to sweep it under the rug. This disdainful behavior can be expected of media executives. But when his own son, rather than showing remorse for his actions, instead suggests that this type of behavior is simply normal, Ethan is forced to confront the fragility of his own belief in right and wrong. Even his son, it seems, has a better grasp on the dark secrets of success than he. The imagined innocence in Ethan’s mind, of which Allen was a symbol, vanishes.

When a Light Goes Out

Without these “others” holding the torch of belief, Ethan’s own belief flickers. Steinbeck understands this well, thus we get the beautiful quote at the end of the book:

It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.

We think of belief as a personal choice, a natural endowment, or some other type of property that inheres to the individual. We often treat our beliefs as something we possess, or something we’ve arrived at based on evidence, reasoning, or intuition.

The crucial insight in The Winter of Our Discontent is just how much Ethan’s belief–and, in turn, all belief–is dependent upon what we take to be the beliefs of others. We are not, it would seem, fully in control of what we believe and what we don’t. It is more mysterious, more fragile, than we first supposed.

Conclusion

That Steinbeck could, through this story written in 1961, give life to a conception of belief that wouldn’t be articulated by philosophers for years to come is not only an example of his virtuosity as a writer but also of the necessity of fiction.

Rating: 10/10. Should be required reading for all seniors in college or any young person preparing to enter the workforce.