Summary of “Winter of Our Anxiety” Steinbeck
“I would advise readers who are looking for real people and places under fictitious names and names to look around themselves and look into their own souls, since this novel tells what is happening today almost all over America.”
On a golden April morning, Ethan Allen Hawley wakes up in a beautiful family mansion in the town of New Baytown. He has a beloved wife and two beloved children. But there is no money. A descendant of the once richest family of the city, a graduate of Harvard, he works as a salesman in a grocery store near the Sicilian Alfio Marullo. The salary is barely enough for a living. The tiny inheritance of his wife, Itan Mary, is left for a rainy day. Ethan does not know how to get rich honestly. He can not change his position. The ruin has knocked him down and does not allow him to straighten up. Today is Good Good Friday. Ethan always tolerates this day. He does not think about the crucifixion, but about the intolerable loneliness of the Crucified,
Day by day the course of life of a small town is unchanged. Ethan knows exactly who and when will pass by the shop, who will do what purchases. Every morning he goes to work with Joe Morphy, the cashier of the local branch of the First National Bank. The side door of the bank is opposite the entrance to the shop, and Ethan knows very well that in the daytime she does not lock herself. Today on the way Joy and Ethan talk about bank robberies. Joey has some reasons why criminals, as a rule, come across. Ethan listens attentively to these peculiar rules of robbery.
When Ethan sweeps the sidewalk near the bench, the bank’s director, Mr. Baker, walks past him, like every day at the same time. Baker hints to Ethan that there is some opportunity to profitably place Mary’s money that is in this bank. But Ethan is afraid to take risks, although he promises to think.
After Baker’s departure, the first customer appears in the shop – Mrs. Margie Yang-Hunt, the girlfriend of the wife of Ethan Mary. This is a lonely lady, who is her ex-husband.
In the afternoon the owner of the shop Marullo comes. He is always surprised by the honesty of Ethan, who can not be taught to work on the principle of “you can not deceive – you will not sell.” As soon as he leaves, a traveling salesman appears from BBD and D. His name is Biggers. He proposes to Ethan to order products in his firm, at a discount. This discount in the form of cash will settle in Iten’s pocket, not reaching Marullo. Ethan refuses – this is some kind of darkness! Leaving, Biggers leaves on the counter a leather wallet with the golden monogram of Hawley and a bribe embedded in it – a twenty-dollar piece of paper. Upon learning of this incident, Joy Morphy tries to persuade Itena to accept Biggers’ offer – because everyone does it.
On this day, Margie guesses Mary on the cards and predicts that Ethan will very soon be rich and become an important person in the city. Itena annoys these conversations. At the same time, as if by chance, family members constantly reproach Iten for being poor. To this he jokingly answers that he is going to rob the bank.
In the morning Ethan goes for a walk and comes to his favorite place in the harbor – a cave in the rock, a Vault, as he calls this place. He likes to come here when it’s time to calm down and reflect. Here Margie poured him wealth and for some reason demands that he not abandon his fate. Of course, the cards can not tell the person to act, but, perhaps, they incline him to action. Itself does not need money, he thinks, but they need his family.
Returning home, Ethan meets his childhood friend Danny Taylor. Danny is also from a wealthy, but now ruined family. Now Danny is a poor drunk. He does not even have a home, he lives in some shack. The only thing left is the old Taylor estate with a meadow that Danny does not want to sell. While he is the owner of this estate, he feels himself to be a man. He does not listen to Ethan’s advice. He only asks him for a dollar for a drink.
The next day, Ethan returns Biggers twenty dollars. Biggers thinks that Ethan wants to increase the discount percentage. Later, Ethan tells Marullo about Biggers’ offer and about the bribe. Marullo is struck by the honesty of Iten. Ethan agrees that honesty is his racket, On this day, Margie dines at Hawley and again wonders on the cards. She is well versed in human psychology, and her maps tell people what they expect. To Ethan, they prophesy of wealth.
Ethan begins to feel that somewhere deep inside him is a change.
On Sunday after the church, Ethan and Mary go on a visit to the Bakers. Baker tells Iten that there is a project to build an airport in the city. But the only suitable place in the vicinity of the city is a meadow belonging to Danny Taylor. It is in the construction of the airport that Baker invites Iten to invest money in Mary.
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