Primary among Steinbeck’s messages in The Winter of Our Discontent is his criticism of extreme American individualism and capitalism. The central character in the novel is a naturally good man who is satisfied with his life until the tentacles of American capitalist ideology infiltrate his sense of self. Ethan is happy with his financial status, but he changes his ambitions when his family and neighbors begin to pepper him with questions about his apathy. Confronted with American values of greed and wealth, Ethan decides to ignore his internal conflict about acquiring wealth for the sake of wealth and begins a dangerous journey into sacrificing the values that make him a good person.

Chief among these pressures is the presence of Mr. Baker, the town banker. Mr. Baker represents the American stock market. His zest for capitalism rests on the idea that money begets more money. He encourages Ethan to speculate with his wife’s inheritance, despite Ethan’s reservations about losing the money, a lesson the country learned but seems to have forgotten after the Great Depression. Mr. Baker insists that Ethan does not have to lose his money if he takes the risk of investing, believing more in the cycles of stock markets and the idea that a truly smart man can make wealth from poverty.