The Role Of Serving Others In The Grapes Of Wrath

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.

What became evident in my life, were the snowball effect consequences that come with making good or bad choices. Due to this, I arrived to the realization that helping others is principal for all to do. In my opinion, helping others is like guiding and counseling them consciously like a counselor. When family would support me with a difficult situation, I was advised and able to transcend. Everyone will

On the other hand, it has also made me less of the selfish person who I was before into an increasingly caring person. For an example, I put people before myself now because in El Salvador the people go beyond for their loved ones and friends. They go home with very little and still manage to have something and be happy. I do not hesitate to help more as well. When I had seen how much the kids do for their parents, I realized on how lazy and ungrateful I was to my mother. It made me want to get a job and help my mom with bills, which I did so exactly. Years later, what I have done to help the people out there is sending a huge box full of anything my family and I did not need every six months and filling it up with as much as we could.

Ye, have heard that it hath been said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy." But I say unto you, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hat you, and pray for them which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

One deciding to serve their surrounding community in an attempt to better the lives of people living in that community is one of the most selfless actions one individual person can perform. Throughout my time in high school career I committed myself to serving the broader community in order to better society whether it be me serving as Co-President of Life is Delicious or raising money for Special Olympics Connecticut by doing the Penguin Plunge.

1-1. “Before me and Neeka started asking D about her life, we were erasers too—she got to step into our world, with all the trees and mamas calling from windows and kids playing on the block, and forget.” (18)

The traditional human family represents a necessary transition between self and community. In the difficult era of the 1930's, the family's role shifted to guard against a hostile outside world rather than to provide a link with it. With the drought in the Dust Bowl and other tragedies of the Great Depression, many were forced to look beyond the traditional family unit and embrace their kinship with others of similar necessity. In his novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses the theme of strength through unity to comment on the relationship between the dissolution of individual families and the unification of the migrant people. The journey of the Joad family

During the story, a lot of families were losing their land to the banks. Many of the families had been living there for generations, and the land was wrongly taken from them. Steinbeck wanted to show how the conglomerates were taking away core parts of the families. He also wanted to show how they were mistreated by everyone. Steinbeck shows this point by writing how the banks severed the families’ ties that were connected to the land, showing how the banks destroyed people’s lands, and forced the families into destitution.

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,

In the article, Palmer says that it is very easy to become lost in our quest for selfhood because of the external influences that impose upon each one of us. Human beings strive to not only do what is best for themselves but for the larger population of the world. According to Palmer, however, once the self has been achieved, the individual is a more production member of society and fulfills the role that they were originally designed for. "Only when I know both seed and system, self and community,

Robert was another friend that Ben had made while working for General Motors. Ben discussed how he and Robert had many things in common. For instance, Ben stated “His forefathers, like mine, had drifted into this moron dragnet lookin’ for steady work and a pocketful of beer change.” (Hamper pg. 53). This is important because, again Ben is showing that they have bonded over personal information rather than how well they do their jobs. Once again, this is away of showing that they respect each other’s individuality by sharing information about each other. When you share information about yourself to someone else you are telling them more about you as a person, not a worker. Ben also goes on to discuss different parts of Robert’s life. For example,

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.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, a French novelist who went by the pseudonym George Sand, claims “charity degrades those who receive it and hardens those who dispense it.” Those who give to others solely believe they are contributing to the greater good. While those receiving more or less don’t reciprocate the same gratitude. It comes from human nature to believe deep down to help others less fortunate than one. Generosity spreads to those in need creates gratitude for those who dispense. In his novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck explores this theme while telling the story of a poor family’s journey during the Dust Bowl. In the novel, Steinbeck uses Mae to demonstrate generosity shown towards suffering people reveals an individual’s underlying morals.

Think of a parent who gives up sleep, energy, and probably his or her life, if necessary, for the child. If as a community of people we can achieve that self denial for each other, change would be limitless. Being selfless is not about stripping away any of one’s own dignity and worth. In contrast, it is about recognizing that there is dignity and worth in every single person. To be selfless, one must learn to put others needs first over one’s pride or desires. Also, one should use selflessness to practice charity because “doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves” (Horace Mann). Using selflessness, we can learn to seek true charity. This is when one has sincere concern for the well-being of others and strives to help, not relating to his or her own self-righteousness in doing those deeds. Charity is the rightful duty of everyone, and our generation can start giving back now by giving up hours to volunteer at that local soup kitchen or donating old clothes to the Salvation

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.