Refugees In John Steinbeck's Grapes Of Wrath

An argument can be made that this photograph does not offer a complete or accurate picture of the migrants who had lived during the time. The audience is given little background into the lives of the actual events that have created these native “refugees”. Even with the popularity of Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath,” that painted the harsh reality of migrant workers, it did not completely encapsulate the, “ segregation and oppression ... nearly identical to those employed by Hitler during the Holocaust, which was happening at the same time.” Although many media portrayals had characterized these awful conditions, the metaphor to the Holocaust and invoking the ideas of refugees is mainly hyperbole to incite an emotional response. But from the

Her supporting works such as, The Plow that Broke the Plains portrayed only the worst side of the Dust Bowl by how the works minimized the role of the drought in their turmoil. The blame for the Dust Bowl migration was put on the farmers who plowed the land instead of natural cause. Seeing a family have to endure their conditions by something that many believed was self-inflicted may not create sympathy for them considering the general public did not want them to be a part of their community and repeat the same destruction. For the migrant farmers, There was a motto in many Oklahoma farming towns: “if it rains”, which determined much of the life of people who did not migrate out of the Dust Bowl. The Okie farmer subjects of Family in Barn, is an interesting choice considering, “farmers in the Dust Bowl were the least likely to move,” and only 36 percent had resided on farms as of that earlier date.” That being said this photograph seems to suggest that the family lost hope that their conditions are going to get better and forced themselves to leave. Those who moved were mainly motivated by wages and moved for money following the Great Depression and the main contributing factor were that places that offered employment,