In order for a harvest to be successful, there are many different jobs and people who tend to the crops in different ways to ensure its survival. Even when it’s winter, there are farmers enduring the cold, working the fields, so if the crop dies the farmers have no work and must work hard together to restart and mend the harvest. In Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, the Joads lose work in Oklahoma and head out to California on the promise of jobs, only to encounter many struggles there and on their journey, which they share with thousands of other poor farming families like them. Through the struggles the Joad family faces during the Great Depression, the fight of the great owners against the migrants, and Casy’s teachings, Tom defines individual …show more content…
He discusses the harsh stereotypes of being an “Okie” and that despite the many promises, there is no food or work out West. “You ain’t gonna get no steady work. Gonna scrabble for you dinner ever’ day. An’ you gonna do her with people looking’ mean at you. Pick cotton, an’ you gonna be sure the scales ain’t honest. Some of ‘em is, an’ some of ‘em ain’t.” (pg. 206) The Joads as well as the other migrants are all going out West to California on the promises of lots of work and a better land. However, they are very wrong. The man at the river tells the Joads how the Californians dislike the Okies. They see in the Okies a threat of violence and think that they will steal their land. The man discusses how there is no work left and thus the Joads and families like them will be starving. This concerns the Joads as this harsh reality is also the death of the 2nd American dream. This fear the Great Depression has created will soon turn into anger and spark revolutions and riots. The Joads are in the government camp and witness the starting of a riot. Steinbeck gives context to the reader by describing the severity of the hunger and fear of the migrants in California, disappointed by what they found out West. “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.” (pg. 349) The owners are literally killing the roots of the food and destroying it and in addition they are keeping starving people from trying to salvage it. By doing this, people are forced to buy the processed food from these same companies that are throwing the food away but they can’t afford it. To the owners, profit means more to them than these people's lives. The more the owners push, and the hungrier the people are, violence will happen. If the hunger doesn’t end, bad things will happen. Thus, giving you the grapes of wrath, an