John Steinbeck's Paradox: The Revealer Of Truth

Buddy Al-Aydi
Teacher
Advanced Placement English Language and Composition
30th August, 2016
Paradox: The Revealer of Truth
Colonial America had received oppression from the British with use of strict laws and heavy taxes. In order for America to be at peace, they had to go to war. By going to war, they had endangered their lives and showcased their brute strength in order to scare the British away. They had achieved peace by advocating for the opposite;which is only one example of how paradox defines reality. John Steinbeck’s Paradox and Dream, George Orwell’s 1984, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success are examples of literature that most appropriately showcase the use of paradox in reality. Paradoxes expose the pessimistic

outlook on reality that is ignored or overshadowed by the optimistic outlook. As a result, it helps people understand the true definition of reality by instigating questions on the choices humans make.
Those who question everything are the ones that expose the reality.

Winston from 1984 exhibits this behavior through his diary entries. He questioned the true meaning of Thoughtcrime, which “does not entail death: it IS death”(Orwell 28). Winston effectively exposed the pessimistic reality of Thoughtcrime, which actually is death, through questioning its validity. It is a type of felony that is well known and feared among citizens in 1984, and anybody that has questioned it has been silenced, until this point.
Similarly, John Steinbeck’s Paradox and Dream was created out of the constant questioning of the world around him. As a result, he has drawn conclusions on the true reality of the American Way of Life, in which “all bow with reverence… although each one get puzzled and angry when asked to define it”(Steinbeck 2). He, too, has pessimized concepts that citizens are constantly using and learning about. In addition, Steinbeck was one of the first that ever questioned the American Way of Life. The purpose of these questions are to dispel the popular beliefs that were instilled in individuals for a long

time.
These “facts of life” have, in fact, encountered conflicting evidence. One example is the idea of success, expressed by Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success. Despite popular belief, success is not “the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is, rather, a gift”(Gladwell 267). The entire premise of the book was using examples to support this claim, whether it was the birthdates of hockey players or the KIPP program in New York.
Gladwell’s definition of success is associated with the pessimistic view of how people achieve success. Rather than working hard for it, it is an opportunity that only few can achieve. Coincidentally, one can argue that Americans are “passionate in the belief of our own myths”(Steinbeck 4). These “paradoxical” myths, as Steinbeck claims, are everywhere, and it is what keeps the human race active.
Regulating the human race is a role that is associated with the government, like the totalitarian government of 1984.

This behavior is especially evident with The Party’s repetitive slogan “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength”(Orwell 3). The paradoxes in the slogan are how the citizens in the government are regulated. It creates a reality that the citizens are forced to accept, and each sentence offers the pessimistic perspective of each of the ideas. Even Paradox and Dream slightly downgrades the American Dream. It is described as “our vague yearnings toward what we wish were and hope we may be”(Steinbeck 17). This, like The Party, is what keeps the human race working, even though the American Dream has paradox interweaved in its

fabric.
Although it is everywhere, it is not easy to recognize a paradox. Few people decide to question the world around them because they are hypnotized to only believe the positive. The “outliers” who discovered them were only able to because of the opportunity presented to them. Paradoxes are the beacons of light that shine on the ignored, pessimistic side. By utilizing and learning about these paradoxes, one can have an overarching view of how different people see the world.