Promised Land In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

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The Joad’s Promised Land John Steinbeck, one of the most well known authors of the Great Depression, wrote about political and social topics that he considered important. He used his novels to voice his strong opinions about society of his time. Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, was an exposition of the plight that many families experienced during the Great Depression. He creatively made connections between the Joad family’s journey to California and the story of Moses leading the Jews to the Promised Land. Although, still used today, this biblical parallelism was a particularly common technique used among authors in the time of the Great Depression. This was because the bible stories appealed to the struggles that many people had experienced …show more content…

They endure this in the hopes of finding work to support their family. On their long journey, they experience tragic loss, from their family dog to both Granma and Granpa, many other members of their family, and even close friends. However, despite their losses, the Joads never stop helping those they meet on their journey to California, such as assisting and traveling with the Wilsons. They make their way through California, going from migrant worker camp to camp, trying to find a stable job that pays enough to support their family. They meet many interesting characters, some friendly, some not. They discover that many of the native Californians are resentful towards those who are migrating there looking for work. Because of this, the Californians are not welcoming to those traveling, and shun and ostracize those who they call “Okies”. While they are in California, Rose of Sharon, who is expecting, goes into labor while they are staying in one of the camps. Due to the lack of nutritious food and the stress of the journey, Rose of Sharon gives birth to a stillborn. Despite this, they continue to persevere and show generosity despite having little to