The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck

Margie comes to dinner at the Hawley house, and Ethan manipulates her into reading his fortune again because he knows she had changed it to spite him for his actions the day before. Baker the banker stops by to ask the Hawleys to tea on Sunday, and Mary calls to let Ethan know her friend Margie is coming to dinner that night. At the store, Ethan suggests to Marullo that he go back home to Sicily to see his family. On Saturday before Easter, Ethan walks with Joey Morphy to work and hears Joey's modern views about doing business. That night he sees Danny Taylor, his childhood friend, and attempts to help him. He goes on a late night walk to the harbor, visits his secret place, trying to sort things out. Ethan is dismayed and surprised to find that his family thinks he is a failure. Mary says Margie read her fortune and Ethan will be rich by July. Allen tells Ethan he is tired of being poor, and Ellen asks him when they will be rich. That night at home, Ethan's children announce they are entering an essay contest so they can win prizes and money. Marullo, who now owns the grocery store, attempts to help Ethan with business advice, but instead the two men get into an argument. The bank teller, Joey Morphy, tells Ethan his dream of robbing a bank, and in doing so teaches Ethan how not to get caught in a crime. Mary's best friend, Margie, comes to the store and flirts openly with Ethan, and his rebuff causes Margie to slant her Tarot card reading for Mary in such a way to change Ethan's life. The town banker advises him concerning Mary's recent inheritance. Ethan encounters many people during the day, and each encounter foreshadows change in his life. Ellen is dreamy, and a sleepwalker, who shares her father's fascination with an odd stone in the family's heirloom collection, a talisman. Ethan has a special secret place down by the harbor where he goes to sort things out, as he has since childhood.Īllen is a young man who is worried about how others see him, and interested only in money. His childhood friend is Danny Taylor, who is now the town drunk. He has grown up in this town and knows everyone. It is now 1960, and Ethan is a grocery clerk in the store he once owned.Įthan walks to work daily, and sometimes goes to the old harbor. He was educated at Harvard, and was a Captain in World War II. Ethan was raised by his father, his grandfather, and his Aunt Deborah, as his mother died when he was young. Ethan's ancestors are Pilgrims, whalers and pirates. The family resides in a house that has been passed down to Ethan by his grandfather, in the New England town of New Baytown. Ethan Hawley is married to Mary, and has two teenage children, Allen and Ellen.

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck