Greed In John Steinbeck's 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.

In the late 1930 unemployment rates were dropping at exponential rates, people were traveling west looking for jobs, hoping to gain even the smallest amounts of money. They were struggling to survive, fighting for jobs and living in horrible conditions. The Dust Bowl had wiped out most of their homes and many were desperate, people referred to them as migrant workers. The story Of Mice and Men revolves around the adventure of two migrant workers, George and Lennie. The book begins with a scene of nature, calm and beautiful yet cruel and complex. Much like nature, John Steinbeck's book tells the dark side of our nation and it’s people. Because of this, Steinbeck's book is still valuable to teach students. His simple yet complex story characterizes

In the novel, Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, depicts the struggles between upper class, middle class, and poor, migrant workers which show how natural human greed and selfishness amongst those with sustainable income increases tension between the separate classes. Steinbeck also uses the empathetic views shared amongst those in the same situations and how it gives them a want to help each other survive. The rich are wasteful with things they are unable to profit from; they cannot stand the poor nor the thought of the stagnation of their company. They are unable to accept a large consistent profit; the business itself is not the monster that begins to die from a constant profit but the greedy humans behind it.

By working together, the poor people can help each other and make sure that they are being treated fairly. This is put into practice in Grapes of Wrath, where people banded together to make sure they weren’t being unfairly treated. One example of this occurred when the workers went on strike to protest against unfair wages. While this was often unsuccessful, it still harmed the people who thought that they could take advantage of the immigrants and got the message across that the “Okies” could still fight back. Another example of this occurred when the people in Weedpatch worked together to make sure that the saboteurs sent by the Farmer’s Association couldn’t start a fight inside of the camp. They only succeeded in stopping these saboteurs because they were able to work together and cooperate, which shows how important it was for the immigrants to band together. By using all of these examples, Steinbeck offers the solution that people who are being oppressed because of their lack of wealth can achieve freedom by uniting and working

In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck effectively uses the rhetorical strategy of pathos to illuminate the dehumanization of migrant workers during the Great Depression. His story revolves around the Joad family, as they travel from Oklahoma to California in search of work. Steinbeck appeals to the reader’s empathy

The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, is considered by many to be the hallmark of American literature. It covers the journey of the Joad family as they stick together through one of the harshest eras in American history, the Great Depression. The structure of the Joad’s narrative is interspersed by smaller, highly descriptive interchapters, which sets the novel apart from other classics in its ability to make the reader understand and relate to the Joads and everything they went through. The detailed, impactful vignettes foreshadow problems the Joads have to overcome and the overview descriptions in the vignettes contrast with the specificities of the Joad’s story. They contain Biblical allusions, colorful descriptions, and objects that can interact with the main characters later in the narrative. Through the use of imagery and diction, the vignettes make Steinbeck’s message more impactful and meaningful.

Steinbeck and Thoreau both recognize the responsibility the citizen has in influencing the government to create the society he or she wants to live in. Far too often, this duty is neglected because of how vulnerable one man can seem against the government. In The Grapes of Wrath, the migrant workers are constantly being taken advantage of while they struggle to remember their roots. They can only find solace in each other as they learn the “technique of building worlds” within their communities because it is the only way they can survive (Steinbeck 131). The solidarity that these migrant workers possess is the spirit of Steinbeck’s philosophy on how much impact citizens have. If just one man can realize the potential within himself, this spark will spread until there is a movement. Steinbeck underscores how crucial the role of the individual in creating a better society through displaying the close relations between these migrant workers. It goes to display the victory

The Modernist movement took place in a time of happiness, a time of sadness, a time of objects, a time of saving, a time of prosperity, a time of poverty and in a time of greed. Two novels, written by Steinbeck and Fitzgerald, portray this underlying greed and envy better than most novels of that period. These novels, The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath, show that despite the difference between the 1920s and the 1930s, greed remained a part of human life, whether superficially or necessarily, and that many people used their greed to damage themselves and others.

John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, takes place during the Great Depression, a time when troubled and distressed American men and women lived; a time of poverty and an economic crisis. When change is thought upon, it is to be thought of new life and new experiences. The Great Depression is the kind of change that replaces a part of American living with “ Somepin’s happening. I went up an’ I looked, an’ the houses is all empty, an’ the lan’ is empty, an’ this whole country is empty” ( Steinbeck 94). In his work, Steinbeck presents the hardships that Americans had to go through by being mindful of particular aspects which makes the reader understand the characters’ distress. For example, the landscape of the farm lands. Even though the land has its brutality, it grows to be the scenery for humans to be able to recognize and consider their troubles about work and life in general. With these concerns, there are differences between the people who are accustomed to the landscape and admire it, and those who do not agree with it. In the novel, Steinbeck uses attributes of class conflict and injustice as a way of presenting and socially commenting that the Great Depression brought attention to more problems beyond the idea of poverty.

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.

The unconventionally written intercalary chapters of Steinbeck's novel, “The Grapes of Wrath”, are designed to show the readers a view of economic depression and social aspects of America during this time period. Steinbeck tells the reader about the situation through a macroscopic point of view, when he writes the intercalary chapters. It is through these intercalary chapters that Steinbeck tells us about the struggle of many migrant farmers who are pushed out of their homes and start to live their lives on the road, while trying to find places for them to work. Between each of these intercalary chapters are narrative chapters where Steinbeck gives the readers a microscopic view of the situation, by giving us an example of one of the migrant

The 1930’s were a decade of great change politically, economically, and socially. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl wore raw the nerves of the people, and our true strength was shown. From it arose John Steinbeck, a storyteller of the Okies and their hardships. His books, especially The Grapes of Wrath, are reflections of what really went on in the 1930’s. John Steinbeck did not write about what he had previously read, he instead wrote what he experienced through his travels with the migrant workers. “His method was not to present himself notebook in hand and interview people. Instead he worked and traveled with the migrants as one of them, living as they did and arousing no suspicion from employers militantly alert against

In John Steinbeck’s tragic, mangled novel, The Grapes of Wrath, the reader is shipped off into the heart of the great Dust Bowl in the American Midwest in the peak of American hardship. Through his use of realism in the era of the modern age, Steinbeck reveals the hardships that were faced by common American citizens during the Great Depression, and utilizes the Joad family in an effort to depict the lives of the farmers who had to flee to new land in the high hopes of a new and better life. The obstacles the family faces are similar to what countless other families had to face, with very little of the population able to successful thrive at the time. By utilizing the empowering endeavors unforeseen by these poor families and the meteorological catastrophes overlooking the Midwest, Steinbeck illustrates the nationwide panic faced by many Americans in an effort to delineate their confusion and uncertainty.

“Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, and emerges ahead of his accomplishments” (Steinbeck). The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a classic book read by millions in high school due to its simple prose, clear symbolism, and its heartwarming story of perseverance against the odds. However, this novel is far more than a heart-tugging story, but is actually a historically correct interpretation of the Great Depression of the 1930’s in the United States. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath’s plot and characters reflect the Great Depression environmentally,