Tuesday, September 30, 2008

"Maybe this thing ain't men at all"

In a previous post, I made a structural argument for what is taking place. Steinbeck makes the argument more convincingly:

Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold. And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves. Some of them hated the mathematics that drove them, and some were afraid, and some worshipped the mathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and from feeling. If a bank or a finance company owned the land, the owner man said, The Bank —or the Company— needs—wants—insists—must have—as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them. These last would take no responsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all at the same time. Some of the owner men were a little proud to be slaves to such cold and powerful masters.


..................

Well, it's too late. And the owner men explained the workings and the thinkings of the monster that was stronger than they were. "A man can hold land if he can just eat and pay taxes; he can do that."

"Yes, he can do that until his crops fail one day and he has to borrow money from the bank.”

“But—you see, a bank or a company can't do that, because those creatures don't breathe air, don't cat side-meat. They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don't get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat. It is a sad thing, but it is so. It is just so."


..................



"It's not me. There's nothing I can do. I'II lose my job if I don't do it. And look—suppose you kill me? They'll just hang you, but long before you're hung there'll be another guy on the tractor, and he'll bump the house down. You're not killing the right guy."

"That's so," the tenant said. “Who gave you orders? I'll go after him. He's the one to kill."

“You're wrong. He got his orders from the bank. The bank told him, 'Clear those people out or it's your job.'"

"Well, there's a president of the bank. There's a board of directors. I'll fill up the magazine of the rifle and go into the bank."

The driver said, "Fellow was telling me the bank gets orders from the East. The orders were, 'Make the land show profit or we'll close you up.' "

“But where does it stop? Who can we shoot? I don't aim to starve to death before I kill the man that's starving me."

"I don't know. Maybe there's nobody to shoot. Maybe the thing isn't men at all. Maybe, like you said, the property's doing it. Anyway I told you my orders."

“I got to figure," the tenant said. "We all got to figure. There’s some way to stop this. It's not like lightning or earthquakes. We've got a bad thing made by men, and by God that's something we can change." The tenant sat in his doorway, and the driver
thundered his engine and started off, tracks falling and curving, harrows combing, and the phalli of the seeder slipping into the ground. Across the dooryard the tractor cut, and the hard, foot-beaten ground was seeded field, and the tractor cut through again; the uncut space was ten feet wide. And back he came. The iron guard bit into the housecorner, crumbled the wall, and wrenched the little house from its foundation so that it fell sideways, crushed like a bug. And the driver was goggled and a rubber mask covered his nose and mouth. The tractor cut a straight line on, and the air and the ground vibrated with its thunder. The tenant man stared after it, his rifle in his hand. His wife was beside him, and the quiet children behind. And all of them stared after the tractor.



Read the whole chapter here. Better yet, read the whole book. It's worth it for the end alone.

3 comments:

Alise said...

Timeless analogy. We create the machine, but the machine also creates us. I think eventually the bailout plan will go through with modifications, but now the political game must be played in the Senate. Tell me, does the disobedience shown to President Bush by his own party give you some small comfort? I think it's nice to know the will of the people triumphs over Executive power...when it's an election year for members of Congress.

Anonymous said...

I think you're right about the bailout plan going through, madam.

Though...I don't believe House Republicans reflect the "will of the people."

nick g

Rusty Big Balls said...

Take a look at what us crazy Paddy's are doing...has all of europe wagging their tongues. Our government is guaranteeing all loans and deposits in Irish owned Banks.

The net result of this is that all our banking stocks are rallying like mad, and the rest of europe is thinking of doing the same...

And the best bit.......not a single cent has changed hands...just given the market that fuzzy feeling about bank stocks again.,,

Veyr clever really.....as long as none of the big banks go tits up!

Boo YAka SHA!