Grapes Of Wrath Analysis

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a novel about the injustices migrant workers faced during the Dust Bowl. He discusses how these injustices by the government lead to revolutions by the people. In “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau, he discusses his ideas on people and their relationship with the government. Steinbeck and Thoreau present similar and different ideas on the government. The two works analyze government issues such as jail, individualism versus collectivism, and disobedience to the government. John Steinbeck and Henry David Thoreau, in their works, discuss their ideas about punishment in jail. In “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau expresses his disagreement with this. He writes about his experience in jail by concluding

Throughout his essay, Thoreau illustrates the importance of individualism in society. He explains that, like plants, man must “live according to its nature” or he dies (Thoreau 10). He implies that people cannot fulfill their purpose of life without following their nature and morals. Thoreau promotes his idea of individualism by expressing the importance of people being nonconformists in order to live according to their individual beliefs. Moreover, Thoreau concludes that in order for any government to be successful, it needs to “progress towards a true respect for the individual” (Thoreau 14). A government must satisfy every person’s individual beliefs, and this is not possible when the government only satisfies the majority. In contrast, Steinbeck establishes his ideas on collectivism in his novel. In the beginning of the book, Casy explains to Tom that “all men [have] one big soul [everyone is] a part of” (Steinbeck 17). Steinbeck promotes his idea that men must work together to be successful and to create an ideal society, and the government must satisfy the needs of the collective group of people. He believes that collectivism is more productive than individualism because a group of people is more effective than one person. Steinbeck and Thoreau contrast each other’s ideas on individualism versus collectivism in respect to the