Summary Of John Steinbeck's Grapes Of Wrath

Emma Goldman once said, “No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution… revolution is but thought carried into action.” The historical fiction novel Grapes of Wrath, was written by John Steinbeck in 1939. A banks debt system force the Joad family to move during the era of the Great Depression Oklahoma Dust Bowl. They set out to go to California where it is regarded as a place for many to set out a good and sustainable life, but are also accompanied by many desperate others who are also in need of jobs, money, and a better future. During their journey to seek prosperity and finance, they go through the mental and physical hardships of realization, loss, and prejudice. John Steinbeck convinces his audience that there

They are human beings who aren’t trying to take, but to settle and survive. On page 221 of the novel, it states, “Well, you and me got sense. Them goddamn okies got no sense and no feeling. They ain’t human. A human being wouldn’t live like they do. A human being couldn’t stand it to be so dirty and miserable. They ain’t a hell of a lot better than gorillas.” In the society we live in today, we are told that migrants are terrorists, rapists, and are here to take away the supposed opportunity that we Americans are supposed to obtain; In reality they are running away from destitute, despair, and poverty in order to achieve betterness for themselves and their family. Some families in Mexico are desperate to ensure that their family strives in education, wealth and seek that necessity here in America, but what many are unaware of is that, America will not let these families come in and will do anything to keep them out such as deportation which makes the process harder to access and makes people live in fear and solitude. On page 283, it states, “And the man of the towns and of the soft suburban country gathered to defend themselves; and they reassured themselves that they were good and the invaders bad. As a man must do before he fights. They said, these goddamn okies are dirty and ignorant. They’re degenerate, sexual maniacs. These goddamn okies are thieves.

In the novel, it states, “Well, they was nice fellas, ya see. What made ‘em bad was they needed stuff. An’ I began to see, then. It’s need that makes all the trouble. Well one day they give us some beans that was sour. One fella started yelling. And we all got on the same tone… They come a-runnin’ and they give us some other stuff to eat - give it to us. Ya see?” (382). The French Revolution is one of the most iconic revolutions in history that deals with the uneven balance between the privileged and the burdened. It depicts how people in that era were living in despair with declining living conditions, food shortages, and religious intolerances. As the people were unwilling to accept these changes they took matters into their own hands and overthrew the monarchy. In Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck says, “And because they were lonely and perplexed, because they had all come from a place of sadness and worry and defeat, and because they were all going to a mysterious place, they huddled together; talked together, shared their lives, their food, and the things they hoped for in a new country.” (193) Leaving a place of destitute in order to find salvation is what migrants do, but as easy as it it is to say it's very hard to do. The migrants, let alone the lower class in America, deal with being rejected by society and escape that by surrounding