Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Enl 3 Final Paper
Enl 3 Final Paper
Enl 3 Final Paper
Chetanya Singla
ENL 003
8 June 2022
UNITY IS STRENGTH
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall” -Confucius
(sometime in 510 BC) tells us about the journey we all go through in life to succeed. It
explains how even though there would be several severe hardships in life that will pin you
down every second, it’s all about coming back up stronger. “They would rise and fall and, in
their falling, rise again.” -Sanora Babb, (Whose Names Are Unknown) is a similar quote in
the book that tells us that even though life is hard right now and people may feel
overwhelmed and scared, it is all about sticking together until the end, no matter what, and
conquering the path to success. Whose Names are Unknown is a fictional tale written by
Sanora Babb, an American novelist, poet, and literary editor; born in 1907, Oklahoma, and
passed on in 2005, in Los Angeles. She wrote this book in the late 1930s while working with
refugee farmers in FSA camps in California, though the book wasn’t published until 2004
since John Steinbeck stole Babb’s notes and was able to release his book The Grapes Of
Wrath before her, causing the publisher to refuse to launch it as they were both based on the
Dust Bowl. Sanora Babb’s Whose Names Are Unknown portrays the stubborn reality of
sticking together by presenting a chain of events of the farmers finally unifying to overcome
all the loss, hunger, and injustices in life, to eventually teach us to cherish what the
Despite the presence of characters with different traits and conflicting viewpoints,
Babb explains the formation of unions and strikes as a community-wide ordeal. She presents
Old Man Gaylord as that flat character who introduced the idea of forming unions and
working together with the government to ease out their current situation but didn’t quite do
anything about it. Long, however, did agree with Gaylord to improve their situation but goes
about it with a different approach that is by striking against the authorities like the milk
farmers (page 101 last paragraph). This causes everyone to lean towards seeing protests as
the only way out. But since neither of these characters ends up going to California, they don’t
change the story. Hull, another farmer in the community, though never showed any progress
throughout the book as he never partook in the protest, consistently opposed the idea of
striking against the authorities as he believed it was pointless blaming them for a natural
disaster like the dust storm. His thinking and acting maturely make him a round character
because of his mindset but otherwise he’s static. The dynamic characters of the book were the
Dunnes and Starwoods. They started by nearly coping with expenses and food, got somewhat
better, and then moved to California seeking better opportunities. Though they were skeptical
about actually going against the authorities to claim their rights, they eventually protested and
ended up losing their jobs and were left with no money to even get food.
Babb alludes to the idea that the struggles faced now would lead up to the unification
of the farmers as one which will help them stand together to help each other out and
emphasize the importance of unity in communities. To stand out this particular motif, Babb
focuses on a very important aspect in the lives of the farmers, that is oneness and working
together. Babb relays the unification of farmers by foreshadowing certain events throughout
the book like the initial discussion of fighting for the chance to have better living conditions
that began at the funeral of Starwood who died during one of the dusters. A majority of
farmers were for the idea of improving their lives as Old Man Gaylord initiated the fire.
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Although some farmers, predominantly Hull, were against this idea because of the wrongs it
could do instead of any good. But then, it was only an idea. Things took a sharp turn when
The Dunnes, The Starwood’s and some others moved to California, where their situations got
worse and they had to strike against the government because of the constant disappointments.
They became desperate to protest “we’ve got to do something sometime, People are getting
desperate. If we don’t stand up for ourselves, now, it’ll be worse.” but since only very few
were willing to as it wasn’t very convincing then, they lost that battle and understood the
importance of fighting together than going one-man army. They soon realized how eagerly
they needed to form a union, with everyone’s opinions and support aligned, to come at par
with those in power. This shows how unity is an essential aspect in the lives of people which
if taken seriously, can serve as an important ally. The title of the book truly explains Babb’s
intention behind the unions, that even though people that get and work together stay
unnoticed, it’s the change they bring about which matters most.
Initially, the discussion of fighting for the chance to have better living conditions
began at the funeral of Starwood. Then, everyone was going through a series of mixed
emotions, anger at the dust bowl for taking a fellow farmer’s life, pain from losing a friend
but mainly a new spirit from Old Man Gaylord’s spark to the fire, when he rants about how
the farmers need to fight to earn back their rights, ““Reckon we ought to git together when
we want something. A herd of hungry cattle bawling shore can be heard plainer’n one here
and one there.” They all laughed and wagged their heads in agreement.” (Page 98). Although
some of the farmers, predominantly Hull, were against the idea of a union mostly out of fear
of doing something that could be seen as wrong. Hull makes his thoughts clear in the lines
following stating that “I ain’t wanting to do anything that ain’t right,” (page 98). Through all
the farmers within Dunne’s community, it presents the notion that in the future a union is
most likely going to be formed. To form a union and go against the government, the farmers
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had to think about their basic needs and demands which needed to be fulfilled. Max starts the
talk by demanding better farming conditions and everyone starts to agree and put in their
demands. Max states: "We have to fight the past; that is, we must fight against the past
overtaking us again. If we don't watch out, the big ones will plow us under, and we'll just be
farmhands for them, maybe worse." (Page 102) showing his need to start a union and raise
their demands soon to have a better future. All of the farmers brought up their demands
which needed to be fixed except for Hull. This shows us how much interest the farmers had
and were on the verge to start a union and striking against the government. However, no one
did strike since it began to fall apart with the Dunnes, the Starwood, and more moving to
California. Now, California doesn’t serve the people any better either. The land isn’t theirs,
they are working low wages, even to the point that they ran out of food. All these
disappointing events add up to the pent-up anger from Oklahoma and finally, people decide
to strike. Though it was a total failure as they not only lost their jobs, if they had joined a
present union or got together and made another one, they would have still had a chance. “This
was one of the easiest strikes the company won because the workers did not have sense
enough to join the union before they struck and to lay a plan.” (page 204 last paragraph).
After all the more hardships faced, in the end, Babb phrases, “One thing was left, as clear and
perfect as a drop of rain- the desperate need to stand together as one man” which proves that
no matter what they think or do, it is never going to work as long as they are alone.
Tone plays an important role in expressing the mood of the writer and Babb uses
many emotions to express the true meaning of unity in the farmer’s life. The idea of fighting
for improved living circumstances was first discussed at the funeral of Starwood, who died
during one of the dusters. Though everyone was mourning for the Starwood family’s loss, the
setting and tone that Babb presents to us are very morbid and gloomy, which creates a strong
feeling of intensity when the talk of union was brought about. Most of the farmers agreed to
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this at the time, although Hull had differing opinions about it. His perception of undermining
all the other farmers and not striking against the government titles him the Devil’s Advocate
and sets a rather striking tone right when there was some new hope. When events advance to
moving to California, Babb introduces a rather depressing yet playful tone. All the events
happening there after all lead up to a very clear message. Like going up against the
government in a small group that has no chance of success, losing their jobs and all the
money, stealing food, and more. They all strictly say one thing: unify now or lose everything.
In summary, based on the tone, setting, and theme of the book, it is clear that unified,
all the farmers are stronger together. They start good thinking about striking together after
forming a union, which would have probably worked but like a smoldering fire, that emotion
burnt out. Soon after moving to California though, things get more out of hand when they are
working very low wages, the land isn’t their own, and more adversities follow up. This
finally triggers them to strike against the government but without any planning. This ends up
creating more problems for them than ever and they finally realize the importance of sticking
together as one and then dealing with situations. And just like every ending is a new
beginning, they too will rise back stronger than ever, together.