Social Evils In Robert 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.

Throughout the book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the physical transition of the Joad family from a small close-knit group of people living a quiet life on a farm in Oklahoma, corresponds with the internal transition of the concept of family. As the Joads leave their farm and journey westward, they no longer live just within their own isolated unit. Becoming involved with other families as they migrate, changes their focus and by the end of the book, the family members each reach out in their own way to embrace all of mankind as a family.

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

Steinbeck exploits a disturbing and melancholy tone in The Grapes of Wrath in order to describe the desolation and destitution of California, once the Joad family arrives. A majority of the novel supports Steinbeck’s disturbing tone, especially with the novel set during the Great Depression; moreover, the setting of the novel proves parallel with Steinbeck’s disturbing tone. Many families traveled to California in attempts to begin a better life; however, many of the migrants discovered that California’s lifestyle did not meet any of the expectation many of the families had. The poverty, low wages, and unemployment that the Okies faced in California proved disappointing, and Steinbeck continually illustrates the struggles the Okies face to

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

Interchapter 21 describes the flood of migrants coming into California and the locals reaction to it. The migrants, forced out of their homes by the dust storms, banks, and tractors, are coming to California to find jobs and rebuild their families. The locals take up arms against the “dirty and ignorant” (Steinbeck 283) Okies “with clubs, with gas, with guns.” (283) The diction of “dirty and ignorant” shows the brewing hostility of the locals, prompting them to beat them back with clubs, gas, and guns. Despite the Californians best attempts to push the migrants

“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.

How many different ways can any one given concept be interpreted, and what are the factors in how that concept is interpreted? As we know, there are countless types of people in the world, so how can it be expected that everyone defines the same phrases the same way? It would bank on the age, sex, gender, lifestyle, history and character of each individual. John Steinbeck understands these two concepts very differently than myself or society as a whole.

Steinbeck utilizes the novel as a form of social protest by enunciating the brutal and inhumane way the wealthier class treat the migrant workers. For instance, in order to not loose any profit from the fields, the affluent bankers decide to forcefully drive the families off the fields using tractors to “bite into the house corner, crumble the wall, wrench the little houses from its foundation”(39). However, the working class does not have the opportunity to refuse this decision because of the desperate

In the American epic novel, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, there are pivotal and dynamic changes that occur in the various significant characters of Jim Casy, Ma Joad, and Tom Joad. Steinbeck specifically uses these characters to show their common realizations about all of humanity, in order to demonstrate his underlying meaning about the importance of people coming together, helping each other out, and surviving. Ma Joad illustrates this idea clearly when she speaks to Tom mid-way through the novel: “Why, Tom, we’re the people that live. They ain’t gonna wipe us out. Why we’re the people--we go on.” (350)

In John Steinbeck 's The Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad and his family are forced from their home during the 1930’s Oklahoma Dust Bowl and set out for California along with thousands of others in search of jobs, land, and hope for a brighter future. The Grapes of Wrath is Steinbeck’s way to expound about the injustice and hardship of real migrants during the Depression-era. He utilizes accurate factual information, somber imagery, and creates pathos, allowing readers connections to the Joad’s plight

Seventy-five years later, John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, and the film adaptation, are still relevant to life now, because there are several relatable themes running through the book and movie. The novel depicts the about the economic inequality of the 1840s and 1930s. Yet still today, there is economic inequality. The wealthier people with jobs also look down on the poorer, unemployed people. Perhaps there is a fear that the jobless will come in and steal jobs. However, the American dream is clearly present in the novel and has been throughout history.

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.

In The Grapes of Wrath, Casy and other migrant workers explain to Tom about the strike that they are participating in. “We got there an’ they says they’re payin’ two an’ a half cents. A fella can’t even eat on that, an’ if he’s got kids—So we says we won’t take it” (Steinbeck 383). This is still the same issue migrant workers protest for today. In a periodical by Rosario Ventura and David Bacon, he periodical also includes Ventura’s personal story as a migrant workers in the United States. Bacon also writes about the low wages the migrant workers receive, in the periodical he states “While all farm workers in the United States are poorly paid, these new indigenous arrivals are at the bottom. One recent study in California found that tens of thousands of indigenous farm workers received less than minimum wage” (Bacon 2). This proves that Steinbeck’s portrayal of the lives of migrant workers is consistent to the lives of migrant workers today by showing that migrant workers today still protest and fight for better wages as Casy and the other migrant workers are in The Grapes of Wrath. As said previously, migrant workers in today’s society contribute greatly to the American food system, the fact that migrant workers today still fight for better wages as they are in The Grapes of Wrath, is shocking because it is not the Great Depression

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.