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The Joad's Family Identity In The Grapes Of Wrath

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The Joad’s Family Identity Identity is the condition of who you are or what something is. Identity can change over time. It is not something that is set forever. Sometimes your identity gets influenced by others, such as your family. For example, the Joad family from the classic book The Grapes of Wrath has already identified themselves as the working class. The working class emerged when the bourgeoisie needed people to work for them and since they were born into that class, there were not many options on how to live their life. John Steinbeck, the author of the book The Grapes of Wrath, was able to portray an accurate description of what proletariat’s life was like in the 1930s and how identity comes into the equation. The Joad family …show more content…

Although it could have been the other way around, but the proletariats helped shape the bourgeoisie class and made it to what it is today, kind of like how you use your fingers to help shape a perfect clay pot. The bourgeoisie are owners of social production or employers of wage labor. The proletarians helped shaped the bourgeoisie class when some other people were unhappy with their life and wanted more or they wanted to make a better living for themselves. So, they brought up their own business and did every single slimy, sleazy action they could to get to the top. Some bourgeoisie are very cunning and greedy. They have many tricks up their sleeves, so the proletariats can work for them and the bourgeoisie does not have to pay them very much. For example, in the book The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family gets a bunch of handbills asking for work in California. John Steinbeck wrote, “We seen them han’bills. I got one right here. […] Pea Pickers Wanted in California. Good Wages All Season. 800 Pickers Wanted.” (Steinbeck 203) Most likely, there will be more than 800 people showing up for the job. So why would they print our more bills than needed? The answer is simple. What they are doing is that bourgeoisie printed out more handbills than the workers they need. That way, they can hire all of them, but they don’t need to pay them that much. According to DoSomething.org, about 836 million people live in extreme poverty. While only a small percentage of the world is the bourgeoisie. However without the proletariats, the bourgeoisie would no longer have people working for them and they would go out of business. The proletariats appear weak in the bourgeoisie eyes, making the bourgeoisie feel superior. By making the proletariats feel weak, the bourgeoisie easily manipulate the proletariats. Therefore, the proletariats basically brought up their own enemy, allowing the bourgeoisie to have

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