Fiction Development Between Two Wars - Book Report/Review Example

FICTION BETWEEN TWO WARS Most of the in Wales around 1915-1945 were inclined towards writing on different party ideologies for example communism so that most of their writings were partisan and often intensely ideological. For this reason, they captured imperishably the heroism, compassion and comradeship of working people of Wales during these years when most workers were suffering under the hands of few rich people trying to privatize firms. (Morgan, 1998: P. 238). According to Bratton J, Gold and Bratton, [history has in record that] these were the so called interwar periods and they were periods of great economic depression and high levels of unemployment and severe hardship for large sections of the community. (2001: P.7) Writers like Walter Greenwwood and Lewis Jones are a perfect example of such writers whose works were representing certain ideologies that were held by particular parties and they mainly wrote about how these ideologies affected the working class community. Lewis, for instance, 'was a strong Communist and he actively participated in marches of the unemployed during the 1930s' (Morgan, 1998: P.238).His novel 'We Live' looks into the characters of human relationships with the vivid accounts of the social and industrial struggles at that time. 'We Live' which was published after his death in 1939 was an extra-ordinary saga of the miners from Black Friday in 1921 down to the late thirties, in which the protagonist, Len is influenced by Mary, a teacher, and the Communist Party, which becomes central to his work both underground and in the union politics, and his decision to leave and fight in the Spanish Civil War. Williams in his book 'Writing in The Society' acknowledges that Lewis Jones brings out a class struggle that is family-based and its presence is explicit in the experience of the Miners' Federation and the Communist Party (1983: P. 236). This implies that the writer has been in the working class community, even though we are told that he quit the working class (William, 1983: P. 236). The ultimate purpose was to compose a community that is united enough to stand against dictatorship. In the book, we see Len stand up against his father-in-law Ezra and mobilize people who are supposed to make Ezra succumb to their method of solving the problems that affect the workers. Jones's novel traces the rejection of a working class leader, Ezra, with emotional accusations of betrayal that mark the process of change. Len the protagonist in this story presents reforms through parliamentary means as old-fashioned. Len's efforts have a purpose: His purpose is to promote the need for mass mobilization of workers behind the Communist Party as opposed to the reforms by parliamentary means championed by the Labour Party. He represents the difference between the two approaches in the struggle between Len and his father-in-law Ezra Ezra is bitter towards the company. He is portrayed as hard and determined to fight -either we fight or starve- and he inspires the miners (Dickenson, 2006: P.225). Ezra's participation in the existing power structure, his being honoured by being made the Justice of the Peace and his being the Labour Party Councillor makes the others see him as a traitor who has irreversibly betrayed the people. They see his efforts as being hopeless procrastinations since they are determined to make him to succumb to the anti-working class influence, hence the efforts to use the parliamentary representations is quite useless. In Dickenson's opinion, we see that Jones demonstrates solidarity of the community in its action against exploitation. Norquay and Smyth in their book-Across the Margins- refer to the phrases in Jones book where he demonstrated the unity of the community in fighting. In his book, he has made a socialist declaration, "keep close to people. When we are weak they'll give us strength. When we fail, they'll pick us up put us back on the road again" (1979 [1939]: P.144). There's also his reference to the red socialist flag that shows the way to revolution and freedom (1979 [1939]: P. 139) Jones presents the workers as a group that clearly understands their problems and is willing to find a solution independently without the influence or even manipulation by the employees or leaders. He however brings to light the difficulties and challenges that come with working in solidarity under the industrial pressures. (Dickenson, 2006: P. 223) Walter Greenwood's book 'Love on The Dole' examines how literature and cinema was used to significantly impact the stability of Britain during the interwar crisis, thus contributing to the construction of the new class alliance of workers and their employers. This was geared towards the bridging of the gap that existed between those in the royal class of people owning firms and employing others and the working class, and its major elements were the creation of a national cultural identity that highlighted the difficulty of developing a lower middle class.(Miles and Smith, 1987: N.P) Walter brings out the despair in the lives of the working class. He examines a group of characters struggling against poverty. Unlike Lewis Jones' novel in which the workers are represented as being strong enough to stand up against their oppressors, Walter's play creates depicts the willingness of workers to give their employees a chance to participate in solving their problems. They give room for political discussion of their issues. While Jones' workers reject their leader whom they believe has betrayed them by allowing their bosses to give him privileges that others don't have, the protagonist in Walter's play is Larry who is known for his solitary consumption and he doubles unbelievably as a socialist campaigner. More surprising is the fact that he is clubbed to death by the police for participating in a demonstration. In addition, Sally, a mill girl whose rare beauty is surprisingly duchess-like, is the heroine, and Larry's fiance. It's even more ironic that when Larry is clubbed to death by the police during the demonstration, Sally offers herself to the book maker so that she can secure a job for her father and brother. (Baldick and Bate, 2005: P.185) The book has emphasized on the miseries that the people go through on the dole queue. The dole refers to relief payment to workers. We see how Sally's father shares one hard boiled egg into so many pieces so that each member of the family can get a piece. (Slide, 1985: P. 40) Even with these problems, these people are weak because they do not have a nerve to stand on their own and defend their rights like their counterparts in 'We Live'. Even when they attempt to do so we see that they are humiliated to an extend that they are killed as is the case with Larry. In the end we see that they have to give in to the poor method, where the oppressors are the ones who are deciding on the ways to improve their terms of work, indeed ironical. This play is basically sarcastic. It occurs to them, later that they have been and are still living in imprisonment. The writer explains that, 'they suddenly realize that they have been living as prisoners whereby the walls of the shops, houses and places of amusement were the walls of their prisons where they could not access them because they did not have money to buy access into those places' (Lee P.195) Even with the realization, little is done towards the correction of the situation. This is rather the opposite of the workers in Lewis' 'We Live' in which the workers are aware of the problems that they are going through and they are ready to push the leadership to succumb to their demands. Due to the scarcity of employment opportunity in this society of semi-affluence, the people take to pleasures and struggle so much to keep the government from stop leisure or consumption. This leads the working class to the mismanagement of time even to a fatalistic level but they view this as the only positive thing in their lives. This is a desperate measure that is different from the one that is adopted by the mine workers in 'We Live' in which the workers don't seem to be letting the Labour Party to make their decision or make them make irrational decisions. In 'We Live', we see that they are planning to demonstrate led by Len. In 'Love on The Dole' we see the workers even develop resentment for the successful instead of struggling to attain success themselves. The author has brought out a very sensitive case on morality. We see that due to the pathetic conditions that come with unemployment, the people in this community are willing to throw to the dogs any care about their moral values. Sally might not have been so bad in her moral upbringing but she has to bow down to the urgent beckoning to it and ride the immorality boat that has waves stronger than she can handle just because she needs to secure a job for her father and her brother. It's even a pity that her boyfriend Larry, just before he died, had lost his job leading to his refusing to marry her. Societal obligations like marriage are put aside because the unemployment situation makes life simply unbearable. Even with these conditions, workers in this book do have hope that some day, their problems will end. They view their depression as a road that will lead them to a better life. The darkness and the poverty that they are struggling to overcome amid overwhelming odds and pressures are viewed in their minds as a passing cloud. At the beginning of the story, as we see, Green starts his book on such a low and pessimistic tone that suggests that there is no hope. Suggestively, this might have been the period during the war when no one could see the end of the war. Somewhere along the way, when there was hope that people would see the end of the war, the novel takes a new turn in response. His tone changes so that the people can see the times when there will be no war. 'Greenwood thus changes his view and he transforms his gloomy mood into the clarion call of the people's war refocusing representations of the 1930s in the process' (Smith, 2000: P.101). The two books, however allow romance to represent the search for individual bias. There is both the private bias and the public bias. Romance serves as the arena for their commentary on the gender relations. In Greenwood's 'Love on The Dole' we see the level at which people relate, for instance, both Larry and Harry find solace in their personal relationships. When Harry figures out that the walls of jobs had closed him out, he finds consolation in Hellen because at least he was sure he will have her even in the future. She is the only one who can drive away his fear of the future. (Day, 2001: P.176 [ibid., 78, 80]) Like consumerism, relationships form a way of identity and they are connected, but unfortunately, they do not even have enough to spend. As Harry is bitter that he cannot afford the three pence they need to watch the movie, Larry is in an even worse condition since he does not even have enough for himself so he cannot even think of getting married to double the burden. (Day, 2001: P. 176) The involvement with the employers marks the beginning of betrayal. As was the case with Ezra in 'We Live' by Jones, we see that in Green's book, Ned emerges as the one who has individualism at the center of his actions. While Larry dies following his being clubbed during the demonstration, we see Ned joining the police force and he is one of the policemen used to suppress the demonstrators. In fact, he is the one who was seen as he really 'lay about Larry left and right recklessly indiscriminate' (Day,2001: P.177) drawing the picture that the working class people were used against one another to dismiss and put totally destroy any effort to bring their concerns to light. It is unfortunate that some of the working class people did not see the rationale; or rather they did not consider their colleagues' efforts as radical at all. Green was trying to imply that the body had failed in trying to fight the war, and was being used as a weapon for subjugation Both books have also given very little focus on the description of the work process. Emphasis is placed on things like strike meetings, the pubs and the family kitchen. The books, especially Green's book does not really give a lead or even suggest ways in which the problems he has come up with can be solved. We see clearly that even though he seems to be taking the story to a hopeful ending, he does not offer any suggestions to the problems. Lewis on is side has gone as far as striking is concerned but that does not mean that it is the way to the solution. This is an interesting way to try and bring to the mind's eye the picture of the situation of the workers. Through these pictures, we see their preoccupation with the unemployment as this is the most prominent feature of the 1930s (Lee p.195) and also the depressions that the workers went through at the time when Britain had a financial crisis. Comparing these two books that are representing the plight of workers, we see that they are different in the approaches that these workers went about the situation. While the workers in Jones' book were rebellious and they did not want their problems solved the party way, Green preferred to be more polite in his work by making them so submissive to a certain extend. This could also be attributed to the cruel treatment they received when they tried to strike/demonstrate. The working environment might have also contributed to this different reaction. On the contrary, the issues that these workers went through were the same and in both situations, there were drawbacks to the struggle for change and the challenges that come with the need to carry out a struggle in solidarity, such as the individualistic people like Ned and those that team up with the oppressors like Ezra. The differences in these books are very minor, basically in methodology. References: Bratton, J, Gold, J & Bratton 2001 Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. Day, G 2001 Class Dickenson, J 2006 Renegades and Rats: Betrayal and the Remaking of Radical Organization http://www.books.google.com Morgan, O 1998 Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880-1980: Oxford University Press. Miles, P& Smith, M 1987 Cinema, Literature& Society: Elite and Mass Culture in Interwar Britain. Slide, A 1985 Fifty Classic British Films, 1932-1982: A Pictorial Record. Read More