How Does Steinbeck Use Propaganda In The Grapes Of Wrath

Propaganda is generally used as a derogatory term; the word itself signifies that the person distributing the propaganda has ulterior motive. The Grapes of Wrath was seen by many Americans as a work of propaganda against the American system. However, those people may not have been aware of the complete definition of propaganda: “information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.” While John Steinbeck was clearly publicizing the hardships of many migrants during the Dust Bowl, it is unfair to say the information he presented was biased or misleading in nature. Steinbeck did not publish a piece of propaganda, because he uses plot and intercalary chapters to show

Steinbeck makes very specific plot and style choices, which are designed to protect the owners and the middle class. Keeping the novel from being biased for the migrants. The bank is one of the main “antagonists” in the novel and it is depicted as “something more than man [...] It’s the monster. Men made it, but they can’t control it” (Steinbeck 33). Steinbeck ultimately never blames anyone in particular for the situation the migrants were put in, he blames everyone. The bank is a product of the collective: the tenant farmers, the owners, and the businessmen. Steinbeck may be publicizing his political point of view, yet his word choice in describing the bank never presents misleading information about the bank. Even during Jim Casy’s last scene he protects the police, representatives of the owner class: “You fellas don’ know what you’re doin’. You’re helpin’ starve kids. [...] You don’ know what you’re a doin’” (Steinbeck 386). Casy’s last statement is an allusion to Luke 23:24, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This allusion Steinbeck provides refers to the fact that everyone in the novel is a victim to the system, making the police officers look innocent. Steinbeck implies that the

The chapters themselves switch between the perspectives of farmers, turtles, owners, and some also give historical allusions. These perspectives give some of the characters who may seem evil rather justified, for example the tractor driver: “Three dollars a day. I got damn sick of creeping for my dinner-- and not getting it. I got a wife and kids. We got to eat. Three dollars a day and it comes every day” (Steinbeck 37). The driver of the tractor is accused of being selfish by the family he has to plow over, however with the quote Steinbeck humanizes the tractor driver. The driver is not evil, he has simply fallen prey to the system in which everyone is a part of. Steinbeck gives the views of all parties in the situation and prevents events from becoming misleading. Even the small farmers in California, supposedly the land of milk and honey, appear to be struggling in the system Steinbeck seeks to publicize: “The little farmers watched debt creep up on them like the tide. They sprayed the trees and sold no corp, they pruned and grafted and could not pick the crop” (Steinbeck 348). This intercalary chapter is a break from the situation the migrants are in, and it presents the view of the smaller farmer, who the migrants felt were lucky. The problem Steinbeck presents is that the system prevents the farmers from