Unity And Humanity In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath, a novel by John Steinbeck, follows an Oklahoma family during the Great Depression. We follow the Joads, a family of dustbowl farmers who have been evicted from their land, must travel west in order to survive. Throughout the novel, the Joads continue to fall apart and tested on their integrity. John Steinbeck shows the importance of unity and humanity in this troubling time of class division. At the start of the novel the Joads have been evicted from their land because the landowners are not making a profit of the farming. The landowners suggested to the Joads that they should move west to California since there is work there. The Joad family decides to sell all of their belongings to buy a truck and move west. In one chapter in the book, Steinbeck writes from the car dealership perspective, showing how the car dealers are taking advantage of the fleeing farmers, selling them faulty cars at ridiculous prices. It highlights the division between the rich and the poor, the farmers have no choice but to trust the dealers who are cheating them off their money. Along their journey they meet the Wilsons who are willing to cooperate with the Joads on their trip to California. Grampa also suffers a stroke and dies, which is the first death in the story. Along their way to California, the Joads

Tom sneaks out of the camp that they were staying in where he encounters Casy. Tom learns that Casy became the voice of the migrants for labor strikes, and that he argues that people should be given living wages. The people in power do not want the poor people to be grouped up and organized so they try to break up the strikes. When the police officers found Casy, they kill him, and Tom in the midst of the fighting, kills an officer and was able to escape. When word got out that Tom killed an officer, he is forced to leave his family, but he is now inspired by Casy to unite all of the workers to fight for better