Abstract In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck critically utilizes the handbill as a semiotic instrument to reveal capitalism’s ideological control over displaced migrants during the Great Depression. Employing the theoretical framework from Horkheimer and Adorno’s theories, this article argues that the handbill disseminates deceptive narratives of economic opportunity, masking systemic exploitation under the guise of individual autonomy. Through Barthes’s semiotics and Althusser’s Ideological State Apparatuses, the analysis demonstrates how the handbill functions culturally to internalize capitalist ideology, reshaping migrants’ identities into compliant subjects who unwittingly perpetuate their own exploitation. Steinbeck’s representation illuminates the paradox inherent in Enlightenment rationality, showing how reason is distorted into a capitalist mythology that sustains oppressive socioeconomic structures. Furthermore, this study examines how the seductive allure of prosperity conveyed through the handbill effectively dismantles collective resistance and isolates migrants. Ultimately, the article emphasizes how commodified hope embedded in the handbill undermines migrant solidarity, prompting a critical examination of paths toward reclaiming authentic subjectivity and collective agency in resisting capitalist manipulation and ideological coercion.
Abstract “Steinbeck Today” includes contemporary notes and mentions of John Steinbeck’s works and legacy of interest to scholars, fans, and general-interest readers. During the final months of 2025, the lasting impact of John Steinbeck has been evident through news items that covered a variety of topics from the author’s life and work. These include new activity at locations associated with his career, significant changes at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas and the Steinbeck House in Sag Harbor, and a major milestone for the Steinbeck Fellowship at San José State University.
Abstract In October 2022, Strand Magazine published a Steinbeck essay entitled “How About McCarthyism?” The 1954 essay, originally published in the French newspaper Le Figaro, addresses one of Steinbeck’s most enduring themes: the persistent struggle to build American democracy. America could withstand demagogues like Senator McCarthy, Steinbeck argued, because the dissenters would win the day, not through civil discourse, but through messy, passionate, all-too-human resistance. In his critique of America’s moral complacency, Steinbeck shares much in common with Reinhold Niebuhr, the most prolific American political scientist of his time. But Steinbeck isn’t interested in political compromise or mutual reconciliation. Instead, through his fiction, Steinbeck develops a philosophy of “living into,” first articulated by his friend and collaborator, Ed Ricketts. It is a philosophy that encourages us to meet “the other” where they are and not where we think they should be. Instead of cancelling, or lampooning one another, Steinbeck encourages us to surround ourselves with those who passionately express their differences. Instead of encouraging us all to think alike, Steinbeck points his readers toward a messier, uncivil world of joyful affirmation and vibrant dissent.
