Essay about The Grapes of Wrath - Lifestyle in the 1930's

The dust bowl was a tragic time in America for so many families and John Steinbeck does a great job at getting up-close and personal with one family to show these tragedies. In the novel, “The Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck employed a variety of rhetorical devices, such as asyndeton, personification and simile, in order to persuade his readers to enact positive change from the turmoil of the Great Depression. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck tells the fictional narrative of Tom Joad and his family, while exploring social issues and the hardships of families who had to endure the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Steinbeck’s purpose was to challenge readers to look at

“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.

As can be seen in The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads are a very tight-knit family. Yet on their trip to California, they experience many losses and additions to their family. In general, Steinbeck's novel abides by the circle of life. When a birth occurs, a death follows, and when a death occurs, a birth follows. However, in The

In the year of 1939, the Great Depression affected the lives of many located within the United States. This was a severe, and most widespread depression which affected people across the world. For the reason that there was a fall of the stock market, a drought ravaged the agricultural heartland. Those who were dependent on their farmland to provide for their families became imposed by coercion to retreat and re-locate their entire families. This migration was a struggle during this period because the lack of resources and money to survive. Among other elements, starvation and homelessness caused many to die at an early age. John Steinbeck's, The Grapes of Wrath, exhibits the Joad's, a family who undergoes the collapse of the agrarian

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.

They start to picket and stand up for equal pay and rights. As a result, law enforcement breaks up the camps and drives the people apart out of fear of a revolt. This in turn, fires up violence and an eruption of caos and anarchy. Tom and Casy are victims of the upheaval, which in turn, results in the death of Casy and Tom’s retaliation against the man who killed him. Tom becomes a fugitive running and hiding from the

John Steinbeck and James Baldwin outline several themes throughout their literary works. Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is written in 1939 during the midst of America’s Great Depression. The novel includes a family's journey from their home in Oklahoma to the promised land of California. The Great Depression occurred after the stock market crash in 1929 where the economy was at an extreme low. James Baldwin wrote “The Creative Process” twenty-six years later in 1962.

The Grapes of Wrath tells the bitter story of the Joad family as it struggles to survive and to maintain its dignity in the middle of the Great Depression. But it is also the story of the social class of people like the Joads, tenant farmers who have lost their land and decide to move to California in hope of finding a better life. John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, in 1939, amid the Great Depression, in response to the enduring he saw of individuals with disadvantages. He wrote regarding Oklahomans that were incapable to continue farming since of the disastrous climate conditions. Particularly, he wrote about the Joad family having to emigrate to California. Steinbeck composed the novel from a Marxist point of view. Steinbeck is supporting Marxist thoughts by delineating the distinction of individuals included in capitalism, as the owners take advantage of the helpless.

This news is disheartening to Tom, but the family’s only choice is to keep traveling west. Tom’s grandmother eventually dies too from exhaustion and heat. Finally after many grueling days in the hot sun and numerous stops to fix the car, the Joads arrive at California. However, their dreams of finding a wonderful place to live are shattered when they hear California residents calling them Oakies and saying bad things about them. Californians feel threatened by the families migrating into California because the newcomers will take all the job opportunities and they will steal food to avoid starvation. At first the Joads can’t find work and they are forced to live in one of the Hoovervilles. The Hoovervilles are very run down and Connie , Tom’s brother, runs away from the family because of the disappointment of realizing his dreams will not come true.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck uses numerous literary techniques to advocate for change in the social and political attitudes of the Dust Bowl era. Simile, personification, and imagery are among the many devices that add to the novel’s ability to influence the audience’s views. Moreover, through his use of detail, Steinbeck is able to develop a strong bond between the reader and the Joad clan. This bond that is created evokes empathy from the audience towards the Joads as they face numerous challenges along their journey. The chapters go between the Joad’s story and a broad perspective of the Dust Bowl’s effect on the lives of Mid-western farmers in which Steinbeck illustrates dust storms devastating the land, banks evicting tenant

The Grapes of Wrath is a great example of the historical events that have happened in America. The book focused of the things that took place in the 1930s when the book was written. Steinbeck focuses on three main events that took place and they were the Depression, Dust Bowl, and the New Deal. All of these things have had a great impact on everyone’s life that have survived through the great ordeals. This book let you in on what the people went through in the 1930s and how they moved on from it.

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.

The mood and effects of The Great Depression is well documented within John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, predominately in the values and customs of familial and societal standings. This novel is paralleled by documents and pictures that further extenuate the points made by Steinbeck, by highlighting the setting and theme of the novel and this era in history. A primary example of this is the picture entitled, “Families on the road with all their possessions”, it mirrors three main overall themes that the novel elaborates upon; these themes include the horror and dread the average family had to endure, the family problems and values expressed, as well as the symbolism and meaning of the rain. To fully understand how this image parallels the

Tom Joad and his family always kept a sense of subtle hope throughout their journey from Oklahoma to California. Hope is what kept them from falling apart. Although Casy struggled with his inner faith, overall, the family did have faith that a new life in California would work out in the long run and would eventually be best for their family. They hoped that this new life would provide their family with more opportunities, and most importantly a job. When they arrived, they discovered that "all of California quickens with produce, and the fruit grows heavy”(Steinbeck). This was the beginning of a new start for the Joad family, but also the beginning of a new struggle. Throughout the novel the Joad family is challenged to survive both physically and spiritually. Their power and resilience is challenged at every turn in their unfolding journey. Casy begins to question his own beliefs along with the teachings of God preached in the Bible. Over the course of the novel, Casy drifts away from the teachings of the Bible and stops believing in the concept of right and wrong. "Well, maybe like Casy says, a fella ain 't

In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the author uses the link of the lifestyle people were forced to live, to show just how bad this period was for living. The time of the Dust Bowl was not an admirable time in Americas history. Lifestyle during this period included dusty air, miserable temperatures, and a homeless type of living. These three life style characteristics specifically made living during this time extremely bleak and gloomy.