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What Is John Steinbeck's Use Of Social Inhumanity

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Inhumanity is extremely cruel and brutal behavior. America has condoned the use of inhumane acts throughout the years. During the 1960s, John Steinbeck gave a voice to working class America to show how poorly treated the working class were. Steinbeck demonstrates the necessity to end inhumanity by questioning the dissimilarity in social and economic status in order to portray how individuals should correctly treat human beings. Steinbeck’s interest about social inhumanity first emerged when he grew up working in California. Steinbeck took interest in “the individual versus the collective” so much he “would sit up into the night and discuss [the] philosophy” behind it (Bloom). During Steinbeck’s early life, he was very observant. Steinbeck observed the details of individual lives around him in the countryside. As Steinbeck became conscious of the lives around him, he saw the immoral side of human beings. Since Steinbeck was not born into wealth, he became “desperate for money” and “took a job as a steward on a freight ship” …show more content…

Steinbeck believed that if “there ain’t no sin and no virtue” because he has trust in what an individual feels (Steinbeck 28). He does not believe there is always a good and bad social decision. Due to the extremely low pay for migrant workers, they wondered why they are “doing this kind of work for-against your own people” (Steinbeck 45). These migrant workers were cursed because they were stuck in a low paying social class to support their family. The landowners demonstrated a disrespect for the lower social class by giving the migrant workers lower pay. Due to poverty, people were selling their possessions to make any money they could to survive. Buyers were not only “buying (…) junk”, but “buying junked lives” (Steinbeck 110). After selling all their possessions, they represented nothing because now they truly had

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1359 Words | 6 Pages

Steinbeck’s somber yet passionate tone is his most powerful tool, as by writing The Grapes of Wrath this way, he emphasizes how much of a victim the migrants are to their circumstances and the extent of the landowners’ greed. Early on, Steinbeck inflicts his passion into an account of a pawnbroker taking advantage of a migrant farmer. “We could have saved you, but you cut us down, and soon you will be cut down and there’ll be none of us to save you.” (94) This statement by the farmer has somewhat somber connotations, as he refers to both having misfortune, but the intensity in which he threatens the pawnbroker is unmistakable.

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912 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout history, authors utilize the written word to either expose grievous faults within society or celebrate the feats of society. John Steinbeck is certainly no exception as he has constructed many pieces which serve to enlighten the audience on the accomplishments and faults of society. The novel, The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck attempts to expose faults within society which include prejudice and the overwhelming desire for greed. He does so through his use of allusions, diction, and characterization. John Steinbeck in the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, attempts to expose one of society’s most detrimental flaws--prejudice through the use of repetition and characterization.

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1177 Words | 5 Pages

John Steinbeck has a style of writing unparalleled in history and in the modern world. In the same way, his philosophies are also unparalleled, with his focus in socialism not extending to communism or abnegation of spiritualism. His ideal world is utopian, holding the dust bowl migrant at the same level as the yeoman farmer was held in Jeffersonian times. In The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck Steinbeck, who posses impregnable technique, conveys his message of a group working tirelessly for the betterment of the community.

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599 Words | 3 Pages

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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454 Words | 2 Pages

The Great Depression was a time of economic crisis around the world from the time period 1929 to World War II. To help capture the feeling in this period, John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath. The main plot of of the story is about the Joads, a farming family forced from their home sent to search for work in California. Steinbeck includes a series of intercalary chapters to help paint a picture of migrant workers and the challenges they faced. In chapter 9, Steinbeck explores the emotional trials the tenants forced to endure when they are required to leave their homes and their lives, this chapter is an appeal to pathos.

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626 Words | 3 Pages

And wages went down and prices stayed up.” (pg 283). This again displays the ideology that the owners held: profit is far more important than the quality of people’s lives. Because there were no regulations or labor laws, it was not seen as problematic at the time, so Steinbeck wanted to change that. In order to accomplish this, the author utilizes the beliefs and morals held by the vast majority of people in the country at the

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Unfortunately, many fail to do so because they waste money at their whore-houses. In conclusion, Steinbeck uses Crooks to portray his beliefs about harsh reality and his experiences have caused him to think in this way. After analyzing this novel, it is clear that Steinbeck touches upon the fact that the reality of a situation will always pop up when someone gains aspiration and hopes that their dreams will come true. There are many people in this world who made their dreams come true and there are many morals that claim that hard work leads to success and achievement. However, the story that Steinbeck wrote expresses that even if it's nice to stay in the happy dreamland, the real world problems will always be shadowing

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One of the main themes (or lessons) that steinbeck teaches is that we are all humans, and therefore we all have a lot in common. We need each other. The problem is that we ignorant humans have set up a system where we have put divides in between different groups of people that are nearly impossible to overcome. Steinbeck uses characterization to showcase this theme. Steinbeck gave each character a defining “physical” characteristic and a personality/main emotion.

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John Steinbeck, in the novel, Grapes of Wrath, identifies the hardships and struggle to portray the positive aspects of the human spirit amongst the struggle of the migrant farmers and the devastation of the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck supports his defense by providing the reader with imagery, symbolism and intense biblical allusions. The author’s purpose is to illustrate the migrant farmers in order to fully exploit their positive aspects in the midst of hardships. Steinbeck writes in a passionate tone for an audience that requires further understanding of the situation.

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81 Words | 1 Pages

In Chief Tecumseh’s Address to General William Henry Harrison, and Chief Seattle’s Letter to President Pierce, both chiefs attempt to persuade white men in positions of power to leave their tribes alone by explaining their tribes love over the land. In contrast, Chief Tecumseh utilizes allusion to anger his audience into uniting together to stop the white man, while Chief Seattle conveys imagery throughout his speech, stating that the white man will taint the Earth as a result of his greed.

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550 Words | 3 Pages

Injustices, tragedies, and unfortunate circumstances have plagued humankind for all of existence. Many of these problems have arisen from the society of man, and could not be found in nature. The hatred, selfishness, prejudice, and maliciousness seen in so many injustices man created unnecessarily, as well as all the suffering it causes does not need to exist. If an individual witnesses a crime or injustice occurring, it is their responsibility to defend the weak and fight for whatever is morally right, even at the cost of themselves.

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168 Words | 1 Pages

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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808 Words | 4 Pages

From history of hundreds of decades, we have witnessed the great progress made by human, in technology and in society. But injustice always exists everywhere in this world. Injustice and unfair treatment could not be erased from the world easily. Just like the situation described by John Steinbeck, the immigrants faced injustice. But there are too many injustices that even worse in the world.

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513 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck portrays the theme of social injustice throughout the story in the lives of several characters that include Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and the stable buck, Crooks. All of these characters are mistreated in some way, shape or form. The hardships that these characters faced help guide us to see the social injustice that is prevalent in the story. Lennie is a victim of social injustice due to the fact that he is mentally disabled. He is not treated fairly when he was accused of rape.

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1263 Words | 6 Pages

Steinbeck is criticizing the economic system that drove farmers to homelessness and hard poverty. He is also critical of this capitalist economic system because, in addition to destroying

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