Generosity In The Grapes Of Wrath

Throughout John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath, many concepts appear that were noted in How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. However, the three chapters of Foster’s how-to guide that most apply to Steinbeck’s novel were “It’s All About Sex…,” “Every Trip is a Quest (Except When It’s Not),” and “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow.” On more than one occasion these concepts are hidden within the book, and two of them actually seem somewhat linked together. After reading between the lines, The Grapes of Wrath has an extremely intricate plot and many ulterior meanings. Foster’s book helps to solve these meanings and make it so that the novel can be completely understood.

During the Great Depression, many people lost their jobs or took pay cuts which created challenging circumstances for many families. The majority of these challenging circumstances generated from selfishness. Self-interest consumed landowners and businesses to the point that it caused thousands of families to sink into poverty. Due to the the Dust Bowl, many families had to migrate West, especially to California where there was a high demand for workers. Migrants learned that their survival depends on their devotion to the collective good. Therefore the migrant families united and shared anything they could give. In John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, the migrants are constantly committing selfless and altruistic acts which shows the reader that in order to survive, people have to create a devotion to a community.

‘When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle” was stated by Edmund Burke. This quote can be tied to the struggles and sacrifices of the migrant workers against the tractor drivers and people who drive them off their own land in Grapes of Wrath. The concept of sacrifice is depicted in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath through the actions of the characters Jim Casy and Tom Joad. In the novel, Jim Casy, a former preacher takes a stand against the deputies who keep forcing the migrant workers to relocate elsewhere and making them unable to unite in one place. Casy’s defiance leads to him sacrificing his life for the fair treatment of what the deputies call “Okies” or those from Oklahoma. Casy’s sacrifice sparks Tom Joad, who was a friend of his and was baptized by him, to take a stand against the unfairness of the deputies. Tom becomes a sacrificial lamb and decides to carry on what Casy tried to do. As you can see, the concept of sacrifice is evident in Jim Casy’s actions when he sacrifices his life to unify the migrant workers against those who try to drive them out and also Tom Joad who decides to risk it as well to finish what Casy

The mild people of California find in the Okies what they have yet to experience - fear and desperation. Sensing the extent to which the migrants are willing to work, the locals begin to fear for their own jobs, and most importantly, for their own property. In fearful defense, they attack the Okies as marauders who mean to destroy both populations through their desperation. This fear transforms into hostility, which reveals itself in the story through the deputies and managers who abuse and assault the Joads, as well as other migrant families in the workers'

John Steinbeck is the renowned author of novels such as Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, and The Pearl. In his novel The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck expounds on the theme of the cruelty people inflict on one another as well as how they can overcome the inhumanity of others. Steinbeck’s artfully demonstrates that this cruelty is often born out of the human tendency to think of oneself first; others, if they are thought of at all, come second.

“At the heart of every immigrant’s experience is a dream- a vision of hope that is embodied in his or her destination” (Gladstein 685). In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath the migrants imagined the absolute aspects of living care free to the west. However, everything changed once they traveled to the west, realizing the simple concept turned into hazardous problems. John Steinback emphasized the American dream of economic stability and truculent situations towards the Joads family's point of view. Throughout the immigration, the Joads family goes through constant and unpredictable changes in employment, and their eventual failure to find success in California. The novel has been called by critics "a celebration of the human spirit", in several ways it is true due to the aspects of human nature. Despite the hazardous actions people can do, it is important to realize everything around us.

When examining John Steinbeck’s, Grapes of Wrath’” he details the story of the Joads an Oklahoma family on their way to California in the midsts of the Dust Bowl. As he discusses their journey towards the american dream he inserts several intercalary chapters that break up the discussion of the Joads and shifts the focus towards the things that symbolizes them. In the novel there are several intercalary chapters that are used to depict the lies and deceit that occurs to the Joads right under their nose.

Homelessness is an issue that many unfortunate individuals struggle to cope with . These people are often ignored by society . Some homeless people do not respond well to outreach groups because they have fully lost trust in humanity. In the Grapes of Wrath , farmers must move west looking for job opportunities and permanent lodging. In the novel Steinbeck portrays the Joad family as one of these group of people. They are willing to undertake any type of job, in order to achieve the American Dream . The main reasons why people are displaced can be due to a nation’s economic situation, climatic state, and the sheer fact that politicians in charge ignore the needs of the common man. Homelessness is still a relevant problem today because it

Empathy is vital to trust- but what if that understanding is absent, or if sympathy is not given as needed? Such is the case of The Grapes of Wrath, where class differences rule over a turbulent and aggressive rivalry. The novel follows the struggling lower class, oppressed by the corrupt upper class, who cannot understand their hardships. This lack of understanding and willingness to sympathize with the lower class boosts tensions and further emphasizes differences between the classes, leading to the primary conflicts of the story. Through the use of juxtaposition and point of view in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck shows that the upper class lacks the empathy to relate to the struggles of the lower class.

In the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, passage two depicts the theme of “morality and its relation to social class.” With more and more people getting fired, evicted, and pushed out of their occupations, tensions start to grow between the people who manage to stay on top, and the vast majority who fall to the poverty line. In an argument between someone who has a job, and someone who does not, the latter insists “for your three dollars a day fifteen or twenty families can’t eat at all” (Steinbeck 37). Morals from that time period were very community based, and since they were, people in the communities began to rely on each other for support when needed. However, when the dust bowl began, people needed to start fending for themselves,

The Grapes of Wrath is set in the horrible stage of our American history, the Depression. Economic, social, and historical surroundings separate the common man of America into basically the rich and poor. A basic theme is that man turns against one another in a selfish pride to only protect themselves. For example, the landowners create a system in which migrants are treated like animals and pushed along from one roadside camp to the next. They are denied decent wages and forced to turn against their fellow scramblers to simply survive.

Another act done out of favoritism was when Kerman requested a job transfer and got results. All of the women in the camp who worked in the electricity department had to deal with Desimon. None of the women liked him because he was verbally abusive and did not treat them with much respect. Kerman had an incident with Desimon where she felt harassed and could not stand working with him anymore. She brought this issue to Desimon’s boss who quickly replied with “I’ll switch you out of there immediately” (Kerman 174). One can conclude that it was not the first time Desimon was reported by one of the inmate’s because of the fact that he was not well liked. Also instead of dismissing Desimon to avoid such incidents with the other women, his boss places Kerman in a different department. Working with Desimon would have made Kerman’s life in prison harder than it already was, this was a favor because he also could have denied Kerman’s transfer leaving her to deal with Desimon’s verbal abuses.

In Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath, he describes the struggle of the small farmer and farmworker. The principal characters define quiet dignity and courage in their struggle to survive and in the caring for their loved ones. Through this novel, Steinbeck displays his respect for all the poor and oppressed of our world.

In Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family represents the thousands of migrant families who came to the west with the fantasy of obtaining a peaceful life after the Dust Bowl. Conversely they are faced with something resembling the epitome of human cruelty. Business owners and Californians do what they can to keep the Oklahoma families from breaching the invisible line that divides the privileged and the poor. This line, which only exists in the mind, causes people to loose their sense of humanity. The following quote describes the attitude of the wealthy: “And in the little towns pity for the sodden men changed to anger” (Steinbeck 434).

In the novel The Grapes of Wrath, we are shown many social issues within the story. Social issues are displayed through homelessness, adaptation, prejudice and more. The social issues bring the novel together as one, and they have a great effect on the Okies in the book. Also, adaptation plays a big part in the social issues. Steinbeck captures great struggles in migrant work on the farm and shows how workers needed to come together as one.