John Steinbeck's quest for brotherhood

As a child, John Steinbeck developed what would be a lifelong interest in the stories of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. As an adult during the 1930s, he recreated the Arthurian brotherhood cycle--its formation, flowering, and dissolution--in three of his novels: Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, and The Grapes of Wrath. Each brotherhood novel is characterized by the following Arthurian elements: a leader is chosen by the people and dies during the dissolution of the brotherhood; a cause is worked for; quests are undertaken; and a social code of behavior is followed. Steinbeck used the Arthurian brotherhood cycle to show how the problems of the 1930s in America could be solved, although he knew that ultimately the brotherhood solution would not work.