ipl-logo

The Food Industry In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

667 Words3 Pages

Family has been an integral and valued part of Western culture for centuries. The reason for this can be traced back to times when food was not easily accessible to a people, unless they worked for. Families found that it was necessary to stick together in order ensure that everyone had sufficient rations. This idea, drawn from common sense, became a wonderful tradition, which today is called the family nucleus. No book shows the realities of relying on the strong core of a family in same way that The Grapes of Wrath does. Steinbeck's word is hailed as a classic today for its accurate depiction of life for small farmers during the natural catastrophe known as the Dust Bowl. The book begins with Tom Joad, a son of farmers, returning to his …show more content…

This was perhaps the beginning of a major change in agriculture that is still an issue today with farmers. This problem is that of large farmers and businesses forcing smaller farmers out of business by lowering the already marginal profitability farming on a small scale. This elimination of small competitors from the field of competition not only eliminated jobs, as shown in The Grapes of Wrath, but also led to the development of monopolies in today’s food industry. Although this is a natural result of capitalism, it cause several inherent problems, the most important is keeping food from being produced and consumed locally, which aids the financial standing of local areas, instead of centralizing it in major corporations. It also allows for the exploitation of laborers due to the lack of competition among different producers for wages and working conditions. The Grapes of Wrath showed the early effects of such monopolies and both farmers and laborers socially and economically, and, in a way, it could be considered a warning against allowing such circumstances to develop. Whatever the intent of the book during time, important messages can be drawn from it concerning the agriculture of the United States, and the change from families working together to corporations ruling the

Show More
Related
1401 Words | 6 Pages

In 1969, Dolores Huerta reached a stumbling block in which she questioned, “How do I stop eleven million people from buying the grape?” (Huerta, Proclamation of the Delano Grape Workers). The essence of Huerta’s question is that she needed to develop a different strategy that would prevent growers from gaining profits from grape sales. Meanwhile, two years into the grape boycott, farmworkers from Delano, California had gained the support for equal rights from political figures and consumers throughout the United States. Furthermore, Americans from all walks of life were able to sympathize with the farmworkers who merely sought for better working conditions, increased wages, and growers to recognize their union.

Read More
1639 Words | 7 Pages

In the Grapes of Wrath, the farmers don 't always have the benefit of a helping hand. People sell what little they can to prepare for moving out. As they sell their belongings for really low prices they say “we could saved you, but you cut us down, and soon you will be cut down and there’ll be none of us to save you” (Steinbeck 87). The farmers know others will experience similar circumstances and know that they could have helped one another, showing understanding of another’s troubles even in their desperation. As they descend into destitution, they strive to help one another.

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

John Steinbeck has been a pillar of American literature for decades. His work, especially Grapes of Wrath and The Harvest Gypsies, helped to shed light on some of the issues that plagued California, and the rest of the United States during the Great Depression. His works accentuate the theme of the importance of community, especially when those with the power to help don 't. These novels take place during the Great Depression, a time when there were very few jobs, little stability, widespread poverty, and diminished hopes for the future. This era sets the stage on which these stories take place. During these harsh times, many people turned to the government or banks for help, but they were turned down by the banks because they wanted a profit, or they bankrupted, and the government 's resources were stretched so low they could only help few people.

Read More
596 Words | 3 Pages

From 1865 to 1900 agriculture was at war, shifting from small, individual farms to larger commercialized farms because of the devaluing of currency, competition from corporate farms with more land and better technology, and government policies that proved detrimental to those clinging to old ways of life. To escape debt and seek profit in new lands, many farmers started working westward but so did corporations looking to expand. Because of westward expansion, companies like the union pacific railroad company built railroads that connected lands all across the U.S. and earned 10 miles of land in either direction of the railroad. This land put the railroad in control of many western lands and in control of the prices of land, travel and resource transportation.

Read More
294 Words | 2 Pages

The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.

Read More
678 Words | 3 Pages

In the late nineteenth century, farmers faced problems that they saw as threats to the lifestyle they lived. Monopolies, trusts, railroads, money shortages and distribution of silver were the reasons why these agrarian people were discontent, and they had the right to complain about any of these things. Although some may say that the complaints made by these agrarians are not valid, farmers did indeed have their fair share of problems. As a result of these problems, the Populist Party which was made up of farmers arose because of reasons that the farmers thought caused agricultural decline, giving valid reasons to be discontent and not happy with the unfairness they had to go through in an unprotected world market.

Read More
912 Words | 4 Pages

Greed is certainly evident in The Grapes of Wrath and divides society greatly. Steinbeck condemns the landowners as he states that their overwhelming desire for more wealth creates hardships for the migrant farmers and divides society. Steinbeck states, “If you who own the things people must have could understand this, you might preserve yourself. If you could separate causes from results, if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin, were results, not causes, you might survive. But that you cannot know.

Read More
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.

Read More
852 Words | 4 Pages

The workers that were protesting outside the farm in The Grapes of Wrath are just like the protesters that protested in New York, they wanted fair and better wages so they could support themselves and their families. Although these two situations happened in different eras, they still hold the same issue that people need fair wages in order to survive. In the book, the low wages were bad because the Joad family couldn 't afford food while the low wages now won’t allow workers to pay rent. The time periods might be different but the issues are still the

Read More
1015 Words | 5 Pages

(100) Now, rather than only seeing the owners through the biased lense of the Joads, the reader can also see the drive behind the owners who appear to be the villains of The Grapes of Wrath. It would be easy for Steinbeck to maintain a bias against the owners but he strives to help teach the logic behind all human decisions. He also shows the opposite side too, not just from the Joads. “Fear the time when the bombs stop falling while the bombers live—for every bomb is proof that the spirit has not died. And fear the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live—for every little beaten strike is proof that the step is being taken.

Read More
936 Words | 4 Pages

“The vision of a huge fertile garden extending from the Appalachians to the Pacific Ocean had inspired Americans since the early days of the republic” (Out of Many - A History of the American People, pg. 622). Since its beginning, the American ways of farming had always been gradually evolving, but in the time between 1865 and 1900, it transformed like never before. The American tradition of agriculture would experience dramatic changes, as the growth of production and agribusiness would ensue from revolutions in technology, massive increase in population, and alterations in government policies. A major factor in changing the way of agriculture was the new technology being developed in farming and transportation.

Read More
790 Words | 4 Pages

The Industrial Revolution shaped the growing economy at the time in many positive and negative aspects. The Industrial Revolution took place during the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s and was considered to be the “New Industrial.” Many things were brought to the economy at the time due to this occurring; some in which being machinery, technology, production of goods, and even performance. The economy was not the only thing greatly affected by this revolution but the farmers, the working-class, and the middle-class were also affected to a deep extent.

Read More
953 Words | 4 Pages

Since the book came out in 1939, everyone has had a opinion on the ending to John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. It has a very controversial ending, that Steinbeck thought would name the last nail into the coffin, so to speak, on how bad the dust bowl and moving west really was. The ending starts when the Joad family is threatened with a flood, so they make their way to a old barn where they find a boy and his old father. The boy says his father is starving, and that he can’t keep anything solid down. He needs something like soup or milk.

Read More
1880 Words | 8 Pages

Intercalary Chapter Literary Analysis During the Great Depression, the nation as a whole was stripped of financial security and forced into a survivalist way of living. This changed the ways that people interacted with one another and the overall mentality of society. In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family is torn from their land and find themselves with nothing, a common story for migrant farmers of that time, derogatorily called “Okies” by Californians. But this is not the only group that is struggling, the entire county was in a state of panic and bruteness, no matter how “well off” they seemed to be.

Read More
451 Words | 2 Pages

Grapes of Wrath clearly illustrate the class struggle between workers and the upper class. Steinbeck displays the discrimination between the migrant people and landowners. Migrant workers are handled worse than animals, family’s or “Okies” are starving as food is wasted by the wealthy and the landowners maintain control through violence. “What do you want us to do? We can't take less share of the crop – we're half starved now.

Read More

More about The Food Industry In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

Open Document