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Loneliness In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

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In the late 1930s, the stock market crashed and millions were left jobless and hungry. Almost half a million people left their homes and moved to California in hopes of finding jobs. Through photos, music, and articles, we are able to get a closer look at what life was really like during the 1930s. Looking through the photos, I noticed a look of despair and hopelessness in everyone. In many of the pictures, the most prominent feature I saw was a sense of loneliness. In the 1930s, many of the migrant workers would drift from job to job never making enough money to support or raise a family. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck depicts this loneliness with George telling Lennie, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. …show more content…

My attention was immediately directed towards her eyes, which were not looking directly at the camera but looking past the camera, possibly contemplating an unknown future for herself and her children. Her eyes seem to tell a story full of sorrow and …show more content…

According to summaries online, The Grapes of Wrath is a novel which a family is forced out of their farm during the Great Depression and decides to move to California because it’s rumored that there are plenty of jobs and space there. However, on their way there, another migrant warns them to go back to avoid the disappointment and loss that he had experienced. In spite of the warning, the family continues their journey and ending up California only to find no jobs and having experienced loss and disappointment. In addition, this song describes how California was illegally keeping migrants from coming in who didn’t have jobs or enough money. Guthrie uses the lines, “ the police at the port of entry say ‘You’re number fourteen thousand for today’... if you ain’t got the do re mi Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.” Guthrie uses the ‘Do’ in ‘Do Re Mi’ as a play on words of “Dough”, meaning

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