Peer Review Feedback & Semester Reflection

What I have learned from the literature we studied this semester? I have learned a big dealt of the literature, plus I also have learned so many new things from this course.

I have learned about how to write critical analysis paper based on critical theories. When I wrote the first paper about Persepolis, I used formalist theory that I did not know how to put down on my paper. I had to do a lot of research on how to write this type of theory, it was such a big challenge that I loved to try. After the peer review this first paper, I was so disappointed because all my effort was turned down. From the peer comments, my paper came out the controlling idea was not clear, the analysis was not thoughtful, the argument was not well-organized with TEA paragraphs. It was a hard task for me to start over my paper. I had to go back to my notes and read over and over again about writing TEA paragraphs. Thanks to miss Knapp that she required us to write TEA paragraphs in group each class. That really helped me to learn deeply about how to write a complete paragraphs with topic, example/evidence and analysis.

For using blog to post weekly journal, from beginning I was really shock and scared that I could not survive for ENG1B class because I did not have any idea about blog. However, after week by week I felt comfortable with it, and also it gave me a good chance to read other posts and give comments. For the play The Glass Menagerie, I found interested in learning it becasue I could use literrature to apply to our real life. It was fun that we worked with our group and acted in front of our class.  For In Dubious Battle, after reading this novel I have learned more about the life of Americans and migrant workers during the Great Depression. I also knew more about the UFW organization and 2011 movements that totally I have never had a chance to think about.  

Finally, I really enjoy learning this class with miss Knapp, and also I want to thank to her effort to help us learning the new critical theories, TEA paragraph, and the new technology system applied to study.


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Title: PEER REVIEW FEEDBACK

I have received the comments and feedback from two Peer Reviewers, most of them were YES and ALMOST. This second paper I have improved a bit on critical analysis writing compared to the first one.  The main points that I was missing were thesis statement and conclusion. From beginning, I have tried to do a lot of research and put them together on the paper. I just listed down into paragraphs that  whatever I thought they were useful, then I kept pouring the ideas out. I was aware that I missed the thesis statement but I was still thinking what I should give a strong one. Another issue, that I spent so much time on writing the paper based on the course outline before I received email from miss Knapp's instruction of the second paper. So, I had to revise the whole thing for my paper. Thus, I did not have enough time to complete.

After the peer review feedback, thanks to Jim and Joy that they marked some advices on several sentences needed to edit and revise. I re-read the whole paper and edit a few paragraphs that missed topic sentences and/or conclusions. After reading the whole paper, I finally figured out what thesis stament for the paper. Even Jim recommended that I should use one of idea from the introduction, however I thought that was too general to support my paper. Finally, I felt relieved that I got my paper done. It was not easy! Hopefully it will be on the right track as per miss Knapp's expectation.

Jim's Characterization

       From the beginning of In Dubious Battle, Jim is described as a hopeless and miserable person. His family is broken into pieces, his father is anger to the boss system and always tries to fight against the system alone, and finally his father is shot to death. His mother dies while he is in jail and she does not want to talk to him. His sister suddenly disappeared when he was a young boy. After Jim is released from the jail, he breaks down and he wants to do something that can make his life more meaningful. He decides to join the Party that he has learnt about while he was in jail. After being a member of Party, he is introduced to Mac who becomes his mentor and guides him to organize a group apple pickers on strike. During the strike, Jim learn more and more about how to work in a group; also he builds up himself confident that leading him to gain power of a leader.

       Jim is similiar to growers at the point of controlling people. As growers, there is no condition, they use their wealthy power to order pickers either to pick apples or to walk out their ranch. In the same manner, Jim  is suddenly transformed himself to a powerful leader; he uses his leader power to authorize strikers must follow his leadership.  

Revised Rough Draft Second Paper

The Depression and Movement

In Dubious Battle is published in 1936 by John Steinbeck. The author describes the struggle of working class and farmer workers throughout the difficult years during the Great Depression in the novel. There is a main character, Jim Nolan, going through the activity of an apple pickers' strike in a small California town. At the beginning of the book, Jim feels hopeless and powerless against the capitalist system that brought down him and his family. Jim wishes to find purpose and meaning in his life by joining the Party in order to attain the power to fight against the system. After joining the Party, Jim meets Mac McLeod, and Mac takes him along to the Torgas Valley to try to organize the apple pickers on strike after the growers’ association announced a pay cut to fifteen cents. The author points out clearly the pictures of how the working class and farmer workers lived and suffered and were exploited by the capitalist system. The author uses Mac and Jim to lead farmer workers on strike with hope to improve life for the poor and lower class workers.

             The Great Depression had a huge impact on American life during 1930s. “The start of the Depression is usually pegged to the stock market crash of “Black Tuesday,” Oct. 29, 1929, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 23 percent” (Taylor). As the price of stock went down badly, most of people tried to sell their stocks and no one wanted to buy. Since the stock market crashed, there was an immense impact to banks because many banks used most their clients’ saving to invest into the stock market.  There were many banks were forced to close after the stock market crashed. As a result, “Bank failed, millions of citizens suddenly had no savings. Factories locked their gates, shops were shuttered forever, and most remaining businesses struggled to survive.” (“The Great Depression”).  Most of Americans faced to job loss, wages cut or even homeless, the worst of all they found difficulty to stay on their feet. “By 1932 the unemployment rate had soared past 20 percent. Thousands of banks and businesses had failed. Millions were homeless. Men (and women) returned home from fruitless job hunts to find their dwellings padlocked and their possessions and families turned into the street” (Taylor). Working class worker, such as Jim Nolan the fictional character that Steinbeck created In Dubious Battle, suffered the harsh life and struggled so hard to survive during the Depression.

             Jim is one of main character in the novel to present for working class worker who is affected badly during the Great Depression in 1930s. After being released from jail for thirty day of vagrancy, Jim feels hopeless with his life because he thinks his “Whole family has been ruined by the system” (Steinbeck 6).  His father was so much in labor trouble and always got beaten; his sister was disappeared suddenly; his mother died while he was in jail. His father was always frustrated to the system that he found difficulty to bring home enough money for living, as Jim’s comment about his father “The house where we live was always filled with anger. …, vicious anger against the boss, against the superintendent, against the groceryman when he cut off credit” (Steinbeck 20).  His father was angry to the system and always fought the battles alone, and finally his father was shot in the chest from a riot gun. Learning from his father’s experience, Jim decides to join the Party because it makes him feel powerful to belong to something bigger than just the individual. Jim is dissatisfied with himself because he does not see any hope in his life, and also Jim is disappointed with the capitalist system because it is unfair. Finally with a cause, Jim wants to join to the Party as a part of a group to pursue his goals to help the poor and working class workers getting out of starving and frustrated.

            During the Great Depression, millions of people were out of work across the United States. Especially farmers from southern Great Plain were hit hard with both drought and dust storms. Unfortunately they lost their homes, farms, crops and they hardly survived at their hometown. “Driven by the Great Depression, drought, and dust storms, thousands of farmers packed up their families and made the difficult journey to California where they hoped to find work” (“The Migrant Experience”).  Farm owners were so greedy, they attempted to attract more migrant workers coming to their farms to work by posted “Flyers advertising a need for farm workers in the Southwest were distributed in areas hard hit by unemployment” (“The Migrant Experience”). There were thousands and thousands of migrant workers arrived to California, however there were limited jobs for everyone.  Therefore, farm owners took advantage that there were more workers than work available, so they tried to pay the lowest wages plus provided a poor working condition. The farm owners were aware that the migrant workers had no choice to refuse the lower wage job, because they had to spend all their money to travel to the ranch; in addition, they needed to make some money for foods and living.

 In Dubious Battle, after Jim is introduced to Mac, Mac is veteran and also Jim’s mentor while Jim is the member of the Party. One day, Mac learns that the Growers’ Association announces a pay cut to the apple pickers. Mac tries to train Jim in field work by taking him to the apple orchard to organize the apple pickers on strike. Mac explains to Jim that, "Now these few guys that own most of the Torgas Valley waited until most of the crop tramps were already there. They spent most of their money getting there, of course. They always do. And then the owners announced their price cut" (Steinbeck 26).  Mac points out that the Growers’ Association is greedy and tries to exploit the workers, and he shows his anger to the Growers’ Association.  The Growers’ Association knows that the workers will accept the lower wage job.  When Mac and Jim arrive to the Valley, they meet the group of migrant workers with London is a leader, during their conversation Lean-face says that “If we don’t pick ’em, somebody else will” (Steinbeck 41). Later Mac and Jim help London’s daughter-in-law going to labor. After helping the girl, they gain the trust within the workers quickly and gather the men into the group. Then there is an accident with old Dan, Mac and Jim eventually gather the men to start the strike.

           

Works Cited

Steinbeck, John. In Dubious Battle. New York: The Penguin Group, 2006. Print

Taylor, Nick. “A Short History of the Great Depression.” The New York Times. 3 Dec. 2011.

<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/great_depression_1930s/index.html>.

“The Great Depression.” United States History. 3 Dec. 2011.

< http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1569.html>.

“The Migrant Experience.” The American Memory – Library of Congress. 3 Dec 2011.

  <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tsme.html>.

Rough Draft Second Paper

In Dubious Battle is published in 1936 by John Stenbeck. There is the main character, Jim Nolan, through the activity of an apple pickers' strike in a small California town. At the beginning of the book, Jim feels hopeless and powerless against the capitalist system that brought down him and his family. Jim wishes to find purpose and meaning in his life by joining the Party in order to attain the power to fight against the system. After joining the Party, Jim meets Mac McLeod, and Mac takes him along to the Torgas Valley to try to organize the apple pickers on strike after the growers’ association announced pay cut to fifteen cents. The author describes the struggle of migrant workers during the difficult years in the Great Depression. He points out clearly the pictures of how the working and farmer workers lived and suffered, and how the labor organization was going to be formed with hope to improve life for the poor workers. 

 Jim is the main protagonist, one of character in the novel presents for working class during the Great Depression in 1930s. After being released from jail for thirty day of vagrancy, Jim feels hopeless with his life because he thinks his “Whole family has been ruined by the system” (6).  His father was so much in labor trouble and always got beaten; his sister was disappeared suddenly; his mother died while he was in jail. Jim decides to join the Party in order to dedicate his life to fight for the working man; also he wants to do something that will give his life meaning, as he says “I want to work toward something. I feel dead. I thought I might get alive again” (8). In addition, Jim thinks to join the Party to make he feels wonderful to belong to something bigger than just the individual because his father fought the battles alone and always lost.  Jim is despairing because he does not see any hope or peacefulness from the whole system. He then wants to join to the Party as a part of a group and to work toward his goals.

 Jim is eager to work toward something meaning in his life and he does not hesitate to face dangerous while to work for the Party.  After joining the Party, Jim is introduced to Mac, Mac is veteran and also is Jim’s mentor to guide him to become a member of the Party. Jim is so enthusiastic to take action and he can not to wait any longer, as he tells Mac “What I’d really like to do is get into the field. I’d like to get into the action.” (21). Even Mac warns Jim that “In the field it’s hard work and dangerous work. But don’t think it’s so soft at the joint, either” (21).  One day, Mac learns that the growers’ association just announced a pay cut to the apple pickers. Mac tries to train Jim in field work by taking him to the apple orchard to organize the apple pickers on strike.  The point Mac wants to show Jim that the strike is not meant the owners raise the wages but “We want the men to find out how strong they are when they work together” (26).  When they arrive in the Valley, Mac and Jim help London’s daughter-in-law going into labor. After helping the girl, they gain the trust within the pickers quickly and gather the men into the group. Then there is an accident with old Dan, Mac and Jim eventually gather the men to start the strike, London and Dakin become the natural leaders of the group.

During the strike, there are various incidents involving the strikers and the orchard owners that are nearly caused the strike falling apart. At the beginning of the strike, Mac and Jim almost get captured because there is a snitch among the strikers.  By then Jim gains a little worry that the strike is going to be successful or not, he asks Mac “D’you think we’ll win this strike, Mac?” (121) Mac realizes that fact that a war cannot be won in a single battle, he replies to Jim “We haven’t a chance. I figure these guys here’ll probably start deserting as soon as much trouble starts. But you don’t want to worry about that, Jim. The thing will carry on and on. It’ll spread, and some day – it’ll work. Some day we’ll win. We’ve got to believe that”(121). Mac tries to explain Jim that no matter how the strike turns out but it has attention to show that the workers have rights to express their feelings and objectives.  Furthermore, during the pickets are marching at the train station, Joy is shot to death by a vigilante. Then, Al is a sympathizer whose lunch wagon is burned down and he gets injured. There is shortage of food supplies, the men get hungry and all they want just meat. The men are apathetic and Mac worries that the men start falling pieces as he says “I get so scared the strike’ll crack” (146).  Jim tries to encourage Mac and  he wants the strike will move on.

Role of Gender

In Dubious Battle is written by John Steinbeck about the struggles of farm workers and working class for surviving during the Depression of the 1930s. Jim Nolan, the protagonist, and his mentor, Mac McLeod, were organized the apple pickers on strike in the apple orchard of California during the 1930’s. Most of men involved in this strike, thus male gender plays the main role in this novel; beside women played small part in the novel.

The novel began with Jim’s decision to join the Party because he was hopeless. He mentioned his father, Mr. Nolan, had much trouble in labor and always got beat. Jim’s father was fighting against the bosses alone so he always lost. Jim has learnt from his own experience that fighting alone would lead to failure, thus Jim followed his father to fight against the boss system but he wanted to join the Party as a group. Jim wished to dedicate his life to the cause of his family and working workers. Jim could see a great purpose in the Party, as he said “I want to work toward something. I feel dead. I thought I might get alive again” (8).

After joining the Party, Jim met Mac and they worked together. Mac was Jim’s mentor and he trained Jim in field work by taking Jim to the apple orchard. Mac had experience in organizing strikes, but he was unwilling to let Jim involved in the activities of strike, rather he wanted Jim to take more time to learn in the field. Mac could gain the trust within the apple pickers quickly and he took advantages from the cause to push the pickers on strike. Mac was a strong representation of his belief and he was enthusiastic to work toward his goals and desires.  

In addition to Jim and Mac, London and Dakin were leaders of migrant workers to work in the farms and they wanted to fight for fairness and justice. Mr. Anderson was the farm owner; he agreed to let the strikers to camp on his land in exchange for free labor. By the end he was angry with Mac because his barn was set on fire and tried to kick the strikers out of his land. Al Anderson was a Party sympathizer and finally he was eager to join the Party.

For women, they played small part in the novel. Jim’s mother was described a housewife, she stayed home to take of her husband and children. Jim’s father always got beaten and came home all covered with blood; Jim’s mother washed his blood. She did not have any power in the house. She was a Catholic, but Jim’s father would not let her go to church because Jim’s father hated churches. Mrs. Dakin, Dakin’s wife, was described as “A fine, big-bosomed woman with a full face, …” (61). She lived under her husband’s authority, and obeyed her husband’s demand when he said “You and the kids better pay a call to Mrs. Schmidt, Alla” (62). She felt disappointment but she just followed, but “her lips pouted and closed over the gold” (62).

Difficulty Paper

             In Dubious Battle is written by John Steinbeck about the struggles of farm workers and working class for surviving during the Depression of the 1930s.  Because the circumstances were happened in 1930s, thus the subject matter within the time frame and languages were difficult to understand.

From beginning of the book, Jim Nolan was from a working class and was arrested for thirty days of vagrancy. After being released, Jim joined the Party due to the fact he was hopeless with his life. Besides Jim’s family was ruined, his father was so much in labor trouble and always got beaten; his sister was disappeared suddenly; his mother died when she has learnt that Jim was in jail.  One day, Jim met Mac McLeod and they went together down the Torgas Valley to help farm workers on strike for getting better wages and getting out of poverty, because the Growers’ Association announced a pay cut to the pickers. Down at the apple orchards, the opposed groups called Jim and Mac were “reds.” When I read to this, I thought “reds” mean Jim and Mac were in jail in and out for vagrancy pretty often.  I did not realize that “red” was used for Communist Party member. Sometimes, Jim and Mac were referred as radicals.  I thought a radical was represented for the Labor Union member. I was confused between those, so I came back to Introduction section and I re-read again in order to understand more about history and event related to the time frame of the novel.

Other difficulties I found in the novel were languages that the author used. Sometimes the author used slangs and farm workers’ languages that I have rarely heard. For example, Dan, the old man was an apple picker, said that “I was in the north woods when the Wobblies was raising hell. …”  (52). I did not know what was Wobblies meant, I had to go back to the Introduction to learn that "Wobblies" were member of the radical Industrial Workers of the World in 1905. Another example, the author used farm workers’ languages when they had conversations together, on page 186, Albert said “No idears, no money, no nothing.” And another sentence was said “When I’m workin’ and I get three dollars to the good and I get set to look up a floozy, somethin’ on this buggy busts and costs three dollars. …” The truth was I had no idea what Albert’s comment was, so I went to English Dictionary website to search for “Buggy is Older Slang – an automobile, especially an old or dilapidated one". 

               In conclusion, even In Dubious Battle was difficult to understand due to the time frame and languages. However, it was the great novel to learn abou the hard life of working class and farm workers struggled to survive during the Depression. Aslo they were outraged by mistreatment from the farm owners. The subject matter from the novel was related to the UFW organization was born in 1962. The UFW helps to protect farm workers against lower wages and also helps farm workers stay away from bad working condition.

Reader Response : UFW Website

On UFW website, on the section of “Take Action” is caught me by the information about: “Say NO to Methyl Iodide use in CA’s strawberry fields. Send your e-mail to Governor Jerry Brown NOW!”

              The Bush and Schwarzenegger administrations officials approved a new dangerous pesticide, methyl iodide, to use in California in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Scientists have called methyl iodide “one of the most toxic chemicals on earth.” In addition to causing cancer, it is known to induce late-term miscarriages and cause permanent neurological damage. Farm workers face the most serious health risks from methyl iodide. Neighboring communities also face increased health threats as the pesticide is airborne and drifts to where residents live, work and play. And methyl iodide would likely contaminate groundwater that will result in exposure for many people. On March 23, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown publicly stated that he would reconsider the decision to register methyl iodide in California. We should participate with the United Farm Worker to urge Governor Jerry Brown to ban methyl iodide in order to protect our public health and also to support farmer workers staying away from direct toxic exposure.  

  As a resident in California and also as a consumer of fruits and vegetables, methyl iodide use will impact to our lives, especially our children’s health in the future. Thinking about one of our love family may get sick because of methyl iodide chemical exposure. It is the top priority to support the United Farm Worker pushing Governor Jerry Brown to make decision right now on banning methyl iodide use.