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Unity And Selflessness In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

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People face challenges and obstacles every day. This truth is timeless and remains valid for all. One particularly difficult time period in American history, that inflicted challenging conditions on all classes of society, is the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, the stock market crashed, causing many to lose their jobs. Immediately following this crash, The Dust Bowl occurred, causing crop failure, ruining the land. John Steinbeck communicates, through the Joad family, in his historical fiction, The Grapes of Wrath, the struggles migrants encountered during America’s unforgettable Great Depression, and contrasts the animalist instinct to survive with those of unity and selflessness, to evoke a response in the reader. Migrants, …show more content…

Steinbeck makes use of a general chapter that explains the experiences of all migrants to describe how “the twenty families became one family… the loss of home became one loss, and the golden times in the West was one dream” (193). The unification of the migrants shows how similarities between people, especially those struggling, leads to the overall formation of a group that aids each other through the challenges of life to survive. Steinbeck introduces this unification to encourage ideas about helping others and …show more content…

Not only are the migrants left to survive flooding without real shelter other than car homes and tents, but also, they must survive without medical attention for a birth. In this stressful situation, Pa asks the other migrants for help in securing an embankment to delay the flooding, allowing the baby to be born. Although one man interjects with “It ain’t our baby. We kin go,” Pa continues unaffected, having faith that his fellow migrants will aid in a time of need (Steinbeck 441). He goes to the embankment and begins the task while migrants follow to help secure safety for the expected baby, which unfortunately is born dead. Willingly though, the migrants offer their help to Pa, contrasting the selfishness of one migrant

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