ipl-logo

The Struggle In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

939 Words4 Pages

Frederick Douglass said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.¨ John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. In his novel, Steinbeck talks about the people’s journey and experiences when they are forced to leave Oklahoma and leave behind all of their possessions and memories. They were being forced to move during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. He writes the novel from the Okies point of view, so the story talks about the struggle they were going through and the amount of hate they were receiving from the Californians. The main family in the novel, the Joads, went through a lot. They lost many people, and were forced to live a poor lifestyle because they couldn't find work. In the end, Tom Joad decides to leave his family …show more content…

Ín chapter 5 of The Grapes of Wrath, it says, “The tenant system won’t work anymore. One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families. Pay him the wage and take all the crop…”.(33) During the time of the Great Depression employers were trying to find the most economical way to plow their crops. In a video we watched called Last Stop Before the Border it talks about how immigrants went through all this trouble to come to America and then when they got here it was still a struggle for them and they normally couldn’t find work, just how the Joads could not and many immigrants during the dust bowl or during the Great Depression. In chapter 5 it also says, “We can’t depend on it. The bank- the monster- has to have profits all the time. It can’t wait. It’ll die. No, taxes go on. When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can’t stay one size¨.(32) During this time in the 1930s people tried to get their money from the bank and the bank did not have it. This left many people poor which meant that they couldn’t even afford to feed their families so they had to migrate to find work and to get shelter and food for their families. In the end, many families needed money and resources and did whatever they needed to get

Show More
Related
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
1251 Words | 6 Pages

The 1940 film Grapes of Wrath accurately describes the working conditions of migrating families during the Depression. The Joad’s family was a fictional family that depicted the low wages and poor living conditions of the migrant workers during the Depression. The Grapes of Wrath was historically accurate for the entire film. The family’s during the Depression would pack everything across country and sleep wherever they could find a space to rest their tired bodies.

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

In between each narrative chapter of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck wrote intercalary chapters to add to the narrative. These sixteen chapters were a very effective way for Steinbeck to make his points, and progress the theme of the novel. The intercalary chapters were a wise way to summarize the entire struggle of the suffering people during the dust bowl. They showed how Joad family was one example of the millions of families who migrated to California during the dust bowl, and the general rage and resistance felt in the innocent farmers, brought on by rich privileged men who gain their power from the unstoppable big banks. These chapters strengthen my knowledge of the struggles of the time, and give me more information of what is not seen from the Joad’s struggles alone.

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

Members of families would leave because they couldn’t take the hardship of being poor and tried to do something else with their lives but that just ends up destroying their families. Some parents would have to send away their children to relatives because they couldn’t support them the way that their relatives could. This is a major hit to families because parents love their children so much and sending them away takes a real toll on the parents. One example from the film was when the mother and the kids were ripping off wood to take home to use as a fire when the mother turns around and sees a wife chasing after her husband who is just about to leave. This example shows the harsh reality of the Great Depression because family members would just get up and leave and some of them would never see them again and for children that is a blow. Another example from the film is when the mother sends away the kids and Braddock comes home and is angry and says that his children are his life and what makes him keep grinding.

Read More
527 Words | 3 Pages

Financial struggle is one of the world’s biggest problems today. The present isn’t the only time period the world has had this issue. Financial struggle has been a huge problem since the beginning of time, although the worst time would probably be during the time “Grapes of Wrath” is set in. During the late 1930’s was the “Depression Era” this was when many, many families had been in debt and couldn’t afford many things, including food. In the book “Grapes of Wrath”, the family who the book is focusing on is the Joads.

Read More
240 Words | 1 Pages

Steinbeck later became a well known American novelist whose Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath, portrayed the plight of migrant workers during the Great Depression. His stories often dealt with social and economic issues. The novel focuses

Read More
904 Words | 4 Pages

According to summaries online, The Grapes of Wrath is a novel which a family is forced out of their farm during the Great Depression and decides to move to California because it’s rumored that there are plenty of jobs and space there. However, on their way there, another migrant warns them to go back to avoid the disappointment and loss that he had experienced. In spite of the warning, the family continues their journey and ending up California only to find no jobs and having experienced loss and disappointment. In addition, this song describes how California was illegally keeping migrants from coming in who didn’t have jobs or enough money. Guthrie uses the lines, “ the police at the port of entry say ‘You’re number fourteen thousand for today’...

Read More
1880 Words | 8 Pages

In Chapter 5 the owner men say “ And the owner men explained the workings and the thinkings of the monster that was stronger than they were. A man can hold land if he can just eat and pay taxes; he can do that. Yes, he can do that until his crops fail one day and and he has to borrow money from the bank. But-you see, a bank or company can’t do that,

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
813 Words | 4 Pages

Many landowners in California took advantage of this massive influx of migrant workers. The flood of new workers allows landowners to drive wages down. Tom and the Joad family moved to California for work after the bank foreclosed their family farm. When they arrived, they met a man who exposed the secrets of the business and how the landowners lied about wages. The police then attempted to silence the man by leveling unfounded accusations and charges against the man.

Read More
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.

Read More
1206 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, the author discusses socio-economic issues in society. The story is centered around the Joad family, who have been kicked off of their land and must move to California to survive. Throughout their journey, the Joad’s encounter problems with their vehicle, authority, and housing conditions as well as losing family members along this journey. The novel depicts common issues that arise from living in a capitalistic society. Steinbeck does an impeccable job of exploring whether being confrontational is a virtue or a flaw in the main character, Tom Joad.

Read More
1053 Words | 5 Pages

During the Great Depression farmers usually had to travel around the country during the time to find work if they did not have a job. They typically had no permanent place to stay and often had to deal with bad working conditions and low pay. George, a migrant farm worker himself, talks about how he has been traveling all over the country for work to Lennie, his friend. He says, “I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose every job I get.

Read More
1343 Words | 6 Pages

‘The Grapes of Wrath’ is a story where he discussed the events of how he grew up and the shattered dreams of land ownership in California. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Steinbeck (PROPERLY SORUCE THIS, ROUGH DRAFT) His family immigrated from Germany which is reflected by the fictional journey of the Joads family in his novel who were forced to migrate west during the Dust Bowl. " Families, blowing their meager belongings into trucks, were rolling away south, out of the dust bowl, to California.

Read More
2004 Words | 9 Pages

The upper and lower-class have had the longest damaging social divide throughout history which was caused by the upper-class living a lavish lifestyle while their social counterparts went through new struggles every day. The upper-class has ownership and bosses the working class around, while the lower-class is forced to accept the low-paying jobs the owners offer. In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the migrants face several hardships on their journey to California, and also struggle to obtain daily necessities as a result of not having jobs. The Joads, the family seen throughout the book, come across numerous difficulties due to the lack of job opportunities. For instance, when the Joads are provided with jobs to pick cotton or jobs

Read More

More about The Struggle In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

Related Topics

Open Document