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Power In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

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According to the University of California at Davis, during the 1930’s “roughly 2.5 million people left the dust bowl states” due to the desolate conditions. The story The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, shows the hardships of the fictitious Joads family who left Oklahoma, during the dust bowl, in search of more opportunities. Throughout the story, Steinbeck claims that the “elite” control the money and power and use it for the wrong reasons, while the migrants are given less and have greater needs. In the beginning, Steinbeck describes the elite landowners as harsh, ignorant and altruistic. Steinbeck characterizes the owners as ignorant by writing that in reference to their hardships “they do not know[ing] these things are results, not causes” (150) In addition, Steinbeck characterizes the owners as harsh by repeating the words “striking” when talking about their actions. Steinbeck also believes that the ones in power misuse it and the ones that don't have power are discriminated and given unequal opportunities. He believes that because the landowners have everything and the migrants aren’t given the …show more content…

“For the quality of owning freezes you forever in the “I”, and cuts you off forever from the “we” (pg152). Steinbeck believes that “we” is dangerous for the elite because it creates change and creates more strength in numbers which can ultimately lead to the uprising of the migrants against the elite, which is one of Steinbeck’s ultimate goals. Steinbeck states that “owning freezes you forever into “I” and cuts you off forever from the we” (152) which helps show Steinbeck’s belief that the migrants truly can rise up and his bias against the landowners. According to Steinbeck since the owners caused the need for the “we” due to their actions, destruction and owning the land they are forever stuck in the

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In this despondent selection of “The Grapes of Wrath”, Steinbeck uses simple and morose euphemisms to cover the awful truths that the “owner men” must deliver to the unfortunate tenants. Steinbeck illustrates that the owner men do all that they can within logic to separate themselves from the fact that these innocent people’s lives are ruined simply because they need a bigger profit margin. “And all of them were caught in something larger than themselves … These last would take no responsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all at the same time” (Steinbeck 21). Steinbeck describes the owner men as being in a situation beyond their control, where in reality they absolutely could have refused to ruin innocent people’s lives,

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In comparing “I” to “we”, Steinbeck comments that “the quality of owning freezes you forever into “I,” and cuts you off forever from the “we” (152). When a person has something, they worry about their personal possessions and consider others needs but neglect to share their wealth and their mindset. They feel owning a job or their home makes them sperate from others in their struggle to stay in positions of wealth.. During the dust bowl many instances of this selfishness show. In the farmland, a few take what they can when losing their homes.

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Steinbeck’s uses the intercalary chapters to describe the migrant’s meaningful struggle. “Fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe”(p.205). Steinbeck uses this chapter to describe how the farmers may be dying of starvation, but they are dying for a cause that defines them, and will dye to save those they care for, in order to get what they deserve in the future. Humanity would not improve or grow stronger against evil if they gave up on fighting for their cause. Steinbeck uses this chapter to show the struggle and fight of all the people, and shows how the Joads too, are fighting toward a goal that mankind dying

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For the quality of owning freezes you forever into "I," and cuts you off forever from the "we." Steinbeck makes allusions to several revolutionary leaders which protested for different ideas. Furthermore, Steinbeck is implying that these men were not causes but results of all the injustice in which they saw society endure. He makes it clear that the landowners who are obsessed with obtaining more land are not able to unite and such will lead to their demise. In addition, Steinbeck states, “And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away.

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Community, so close to Steinbeck’s heart, is exaggerated in every possible way in this novel. In an eloquent way, he molds the reader’s hearts to believe that a communal soul (or oversoul) is best for the people as well. Truly, the language and rhetoric applied in order to encourage this philosophy is unlike any other writing by Steinbeck, or any other socialist writer for that

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During the 1930’s thousands of Dust Bowl migrant workers made their way from the central plain into California seeking work. In their search for work and some form of income many of the migrants and their families ended up in Hoovervilles, which were makeshift roadside camps that were greatly impoverished. Steinbeck was able to travel through the labor camps and recorded the horrible living conditions of the migrant workers. The collection of these recordings was published as Harvest Gypsies. During the tours of the labor camps he saw the oppression of the workers first hand in addition to workers being demoralized by wealthy land owners.

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It left thousands, homeless. hungry, and sick. John Steinbeck described some of the effects of the dust bowl in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath: "And then the dispossessed were drawn west- from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out, tractored out. Car-loads, caravans, homeless and hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand.

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The spirit of unity emerges as the one unfailing source of strength in Steinbeck’s novel. He tries and accomplishes in conveying it to the reader, through imagery. On multiple accounts,

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Steinbeck is saying that the more land a person owns, the more powerful they will become or the more powerful they will think they

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In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck follows the Joad family as they suffer the hardships caused by the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. The most important lesson people can learn from the novel is the value of a human life. Although the 1930’s was a low point in American society, the ill-treatment of human beings is still relevant today. Just like Jim Casy’s philosophy, it is important to fight for the rights of the people and their dignity. There are several examples of oppression in The Grapes of wrath.

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He includes in his article that “They are resourceful and intelligent people'' and are “gypsies by force of circumstances” who are “never allowed to feel at home in the communities that demand their services” (“Harvest Gypsies”). Although this article is about migrant workers in California, it can be argued that by using the term “gypsies,” Steinbeck is fighting for all the powerless in the world. He refers to them as resourceful and intelligent to urge the reader to see humanity in the situation they are in and the treatment they are receiving. Through this article, he is acting as a voice for the voiceless helping to end the cycle of powerful vs. powerless. It is vital to the growth of our society that we start to see the humanity in all people and look past circumstances they are in, as Steinbeck is urging us to

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Because of oppression, everyone’s dreams ended up not working out. John Steinbeck concluded with such a conflicting end that brought up so many interesting debates with no easy

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Violence isn't the way to achieve ones goals. Almost everyone has someone of something that stands in the way of their ultimate goal. Many people come to a point where they feel that the only way to achieve that goal is at the expensive of another. This isn't necessarily the case. Rather then inflicting violence on one another we must use the intelligence we were blessed with.

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The Dust Bowl, beginning in the 1930s, added to the struggle of American farmers as lands out west in states such as Oklahoma and Kansas were over-plowed, causing the topsoil to become uprooted, creating massive dust storms. These dust storms left the land unusable to farm, displacing many Americans in the agricultural industry. Steinbeck’s The Harvest Gypsies displays the struggles these farmers faced when moving west to California, hoping to find some sort of work. Many displaced farmers lived in squatters’ camps, temporary dwellings for those looking for work. Steinbeck described these camps as having awful living conditions, saying that “From a distance it looks like a city dump, and well it may, for the city dumps are the sources for the material of which it is built.”

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Steinbeck thinks racism is hurting the whole country and also colored people’s minds. The whole country is in trouble because of the violence about desegregation. “Oh, I have had plenty since and felt the shattering waves of violence, despair, and confusion, (Steinbeck 247). The people who want segregation are hurting and fighting with the people who want integration. All the violence is spread throughout the nation and the problem weighs down everything.

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