The, Oklahoma, By John Steinbech Essay

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

Many people are seen journeying to California because their homes were taken down. They all have hopes to make a living in the west while making good money and having a steady job. There are handbills all around, and Pa has one that says, “Pea Pickers Wanted in California. Good Wages All Season. 800 Pickers Wanted.” (147). Because of these claims, there are false hopes that arise. Wilson, a friend of the Joads, talks about how the journey to the west is worth it, for the jobs are easy and there are good wages, which means that with some luck, “a fella could have a place of his own” (147). The reality, however, is that with many people going to different farms, there are more workers, and therefore less wages distributed among those workers. Through these handbills, John Steinbeck shows how the maker of these – the upper class – makes sure that many people will be attracted to the falsified wages that will be earned, which manipulate everyone who is willing to work. Another instance of this deceit was shown when two cars drove into a camp where the Joads were staying. Men came out of the cars and asked if anyone wanted work, explaining that there were jobs in Tulare County and that they needed a lot of pickers. However, this was the only information given, and when asked about how much would be paid, the men would not give an answer because they did not want to pay the workers a lot of money. Steinbeck incorporates these secretive characters to show that the upper class tricks those of the lower by censoring important information that when found out, may stop the lower class from obeying the upper class’s commands, and an example of this rebelling is shown when the workers argued that “if [they] don’t know [how much they will pay], [they] got no right to hire men” (263). The upper class

One of America’s most beloved books is John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The book portrays a family, the Joads, who leave Oklahoma and move to California in search of a more prosperous life. Steinbeck’s book garnered acclaim both from critics and from the American public. The story struck a chord with the American people because Steinbeck truly captured the angst and heartbreak of those directly impacted by the Dust Bowl disaster. To truly comprehend the havoc the Dust Bowl wreaked, one must first understand how and why the Dust Bowl took place and who it affected the most. The Dust Bowl was the result of a conglomeration of weather, falling crop prices, and government policies.

Show: Oklahoma                         Date: 1930’s (Movie 1950’s) Music by: Richard Rodgers                    Book by: Oscar Hammerstein II Lyrics by: Oscar Hammerstein II               Choreography by: Agnes de Mille Location and time of story: 1930’s Oklahoma                Principal Characters: Curly – tenor Laurey – Soprano Ali Hakim – Speaking part Jud Fry –

Characters in The Grapes of Wrath are often contrasted to emphasize certain qualities in their relationships, the most notable being a lack of empathy versus a caring and generous nature. Steinbeck’s use of juxtaposition is key to understanding the significance of the contrast involving the landowners and the migrants and why they cannot share sympathies and opinions. These two groups are both rivals and continuously reinforce differences in their lifestyles, and such is the case for the landowners and migrants, which are two drastically different classes that will not cooperate. The migrants are searching for job opportunities and safe places, but are often cheated by the landowners, who are corrupted by their drive for cheap labor and, ultimately, riches,

The bare land of California faced severe drought under the scorching sun, precious crops are harvest ready, scarcely diminishing without any growers around. However, a group of benevolent nomads approaches this dying land in hopes of living among it and healing it. Migrants from all around the world travel across countries, borders, and vast terrain. California, being a famous location today in the United States, is also set to be the heaviest drought environment with very large farmlands. This land would have deteriorated, but it was healed in the most mundane way, agricultural farming. Steinbeck introduces the mere impact that these migrants they’ve had in the country, but in most cases, it’s not seen like that. In “The Harvest Gypsies”, Steinbeck writes a deliberate passage to assure that these migrants are not of the country's problem. He denounces prejudice views among them, includes the issues they face with the law, incorporates their unprecedented arrival, and alludes California’s importance in migrant labor for agricultural economics.

George Champlin Sibley was an explorer who led this first expedition in 1811 (Dyson 1). The book “Oklahoma a history” has a map showing this explorers routes on page 49 (Baird and Goble 60). The path that Sibley created is very unique path. He starts toward the middle of the now state, Oklahoma. Then continues south for about twenty five miles, heads east for a bit and loops back north past the state line. Then about fifty miles later, heads south for around ten miles and is again past the state line. It’s a very interesting path that Sibley made. However, I wonder if the terrain had something to do with loops. Although, Sibley did maneuver around the Arkansas River the first loop, which leads me to think he may have just gotten turned around.

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

John Steinbeck, author of many classic American novels, greatly influenced modern American literature. Steinbeck often referred to the Salinas Valley of California in his writing. He often referred to the settlers and the adversities they had faced during the migration to the Salinas Valley area. With novels such as Of Mice And Men and The Grapes Of Wrath, Steinbeck explained the harsh reality of the severe hardships the settlers faced to accomplish the American Dream. These novels share many similarities in regard to their themes. To understand Steinbeck’s work, we must first understand Steinbeck.

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

Ungovernable economic and natural forces within The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck play a significant role in altering the circumstances that impact the Joad family during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. However, these merely provide an environment for outcomes to occur and serve as a catalyst for human action. In fact, human action is the primary factor that contributes to several turns of events for the Joads. The influence of human actions within the novel can be viewed when analyzing the symbolism of natural forces, the self-interest of business corporations and private owners, and the compassion shared within the empathetic migrant community. When natural forces within the novel are presented within a symbolic and metaphorical light, human actions and their effects on the Joad family are highlighted.

     John Steinbeck wrote about what surrounded him. At the time he was writing, the nineteen-thirties, a great depression was plaguing the United States. Many people were out of work. Many farmers were losing their farms and homes. An extreme drought had also wrecked the farms of the Midwest and made them into what is now referred to as the "dust bowl". It was a terrible time to be poor, and most were. People died of malnutrition every day. In California, where Steinbeck resided, migrant workers dominated the workforce. Thousands traveled from all around to pick fruit in the farms of the Salinas Valley for minuscule wages. Thousands more could not find suitable

The 1930s were a time of hardship for many across the United States. Not only was the Great Depression making it difficult for families to eat every day, but the Dust Bowl swept through the plains states making it nearly impossible to farm the land in which they relied. John Steinbeck saw how the Dust Bowl affected farmers, primarily the tenant farmers, and journeyed to California after droves of families. These families were dispossessed from the farms they had worked for years, if not generations (Mills 388). Steinbeck was guided by Tom Collins, the real-life model for the Weedpatch camp’s manager Jim Rawley, through one of the federal migrant worker camps. He was able to see for himself,

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.