How Has The Grapes Of Wrath Changed

470 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Prison labor pros and cons

The Grapes of Wrath Essay Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said “All things must change.” This is true in every single thing out there. For my essay topic I was asked not only how Tom Joad and Jim Casy changed from being in jail but also how the jail system has changed. The prison system has changed majorly since the 1930’s. Jim Casy found religion again in jail. In jail Tom Joad learned to cool his hot head. For both Tom and Casy jail improved life. The jail system is not what it used to be. During the great depression the number of prisoners increased greatly from 1925 to 1939. The nation's rate of incarceration climbed from 79 to 137 per 100,000 residents. During that time, many penal institutions themselves had remained unchanged. Convicts lived in a barren environment that was reduced to the absolute bare essentials, unlike today where criminals can get a degree for free. Today there are laws strictly regulating prison labor, but back in 1930's, there were no such laws, so many inmates labored. …show more content…

All you know is his views on the world, so when looking at how he changed, you must look at his views. At the beginning, Casy wasn't sure about his religion or who he was as a person. But after getting out of jail he was self-assured in his belief of God and that he had to preach. Upon seeing Tom again, Casy proclaimed, "But it's in the jailhouse I really got her,“ her being religion. He finally understood what he had been trying to figure out since the beginning of the book. Prison helped Casy to understand not only why he was a preacher but also why he

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes Of Wrath'

    1845 Words  | 4 Pages

    When times get tough, many people turn away from everyone and everything. It must be part of human nature to adopt an independent attitude when faced with troubles. It is understandable because most people do not want to trouble their loved ones when they are going through problems, so it is easier to turn away than stick together. Maybe their family is going through a rough patch and they reason they would be better off on their own. This path of independence and solitude may not always be the best option for them or their family, though. Often times it is more beneficial for everyone to work through the problem together. It is not always the easiest or most desirable option, but most times it is the most efficient and it will get results in the long run. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck makes this point very clear through several characters. Many characters throughout

    Read More

  • Grapes Of Wrath Compare And Contrast Essay

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck had many comparisons from the movie and the book. In 1939, this story was to have some of the readers against the ones that kept the American people in poverty held responsible for their actions. This unique story was about the Joad’s family, who were migrant workers looking for a good decent job. They were also farmers from Oklahoma that are now striving to find some good work and success for their family in California. This novel was one of Steinbeck’s best work he has ever done. It was in fact an Academy Award movie in 1940. Both the movie and the novel are one of Steinbeck’s greatest masterpieces on both the filmmaking and the novel writing. Both the novel and film are mainly the same in the beginning of the story and towards the end. There were some few main points that Steinbeck took out from the book and didn’t mention them in the movie. “The Grapes of Wrath is a

    Read More

  • Grapes Of Wrath Historical History

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    Opening Scene: The opening scene of the novel shows Tom Joad getting out of prison and finding his farm deserted and all other farms in the area deserted. This shows just how devastating an effect the Dust Bowl had on farmers and their families and how many lives were altered.

    Read More

  • Do The time, Lower The Crime by James Q. Wilson and Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences Waste Resource by Kevin Zeese

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    Prison reform has been talked about since the late 1800’s and early 1900’s with the goal of giving prisoners better living conditions. Today’s issues involving prison reform have caused many debates on whether or not prisons should change their traditional ways and try to find a more suitable solution with prison related problems like overcrowded facility and huge sums of money being spent on these prisons. Two article that are going to be analyzed in this essay are entitled “Do the time, lower the crime” by James Q. Wilson and “Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences Waste Resource” by Kevin Zeese. Both of these articles have opposite viewpoints toward prison reform. One side of the argument which is introduced in “Do the time, lower the crime” argues that harder prison sentences are lowering the crime rate and that the cost of prison is succeeded by the beneficial outcomes society gets in return. The pro prison reform side in “Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences Waste Resource” contends that an increase in overcrowded prison facilities has to do with stricter laws and prison sentences being placed on minor offenders. The pro-reform side also argues that treatment programs must be emplaced so less previous convicts return for violations. While prison reform is something that can be beneficial, the opposing side argues that imprisonment has positive outcomes, while the supporting side argues that overcrowded prisons and prison spending have become a serious problem.

    Read More

  • Dehumanization In Society And Malcom X

    1437 Words  | 3 Pages

    For years there have been a countless number of people who have tried to bring the subject of prison reform to the light of the public eye. In the book Prison Writing in 20th- century America edited by H. Bruce Franklin, there are featured excerpts from authors Donald Lowrie and Malcom X’s novels that are based around their life changing personal experiences in prison in the early to mid1900s. Whereas Lowrie’s excerpt tells a story omnisciently of how a single warden was able to initiate a major change in San Quentin Prison in only 6 months; Malcom X however tells his readers firsthand of his transformation during his incarceration in two different prison colonies. Although they share their stories from different points of view, they both express similar motifs of change and share a common external conflict of dehumanization in prison.

    Read More

  • Attica Prison Riot and Prison Reform

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1970s in the United States was a time of incredible change, doubt, as well as reform. The many issues happening throughout the country helped to lead to the discomfort in many prisoners that eventually lead to their e...

    Read More

  • Penitentiary Evolution: Rehabilitation and the Justice System

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    Davis discusses the history of the justice system and how the Penitentiary replaced capitol and corporal punishment. She defines Penitentiary as “Imprisonment was regarded as rehabilitative and the penitentiary prison was devised to provide convicts with the conditions for reflecting on their crimes and, through penitence, for reshaping their habits even their souls.3” though the idea of the penitentiary is arguable a new idea during the American Revolution. The penitentiary process was so that prisoners could learn from what they have done by a process of separation and rehabilitation. After slavery and during the early 20th century the level of crime rates rose during the early 1920’s to 1940’s. In the Article Less crime more punishment Adler4,

    Read More

  • Race to Incarcerate

    1569 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mass incarceration has caused the prison’s populations to increase dramatically. The reason for this increase in population is because of the sentencing policies that put a lot of men and women in prison for an unjust amount of time. The prison population has be caused by periods of high crime rates, by the medias assembly line approach to the production of news stories that bend the truth of the crimes, and by political figures preying on citizens fear. For example, this fear can be seen in “Richard Nixon’s famous campaign call for “law and order” spoke to those fears, hostilities, and racist underpinnings” (Mauer pg. 52). This causes law enforcement to focus on crimes that involve violent crimes/offenders. Such as, gang members, drive by shootings, drug dealers, and serial killers. Instead of our law agencies focusing their attention on the fundamental causes of crime. Such as, why these crimes are committed, the family, and preventive services. These agencies choose to fight crime by establishing a “War On Drugs” and with “Get Tough” sentencing policies. These policies include “three strikes laws, mandatory minimum sentences, and juvenile waives laws which allows kids to be trialed as adults.

    Read More

  • History of prisons in the United States

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the early years going to prison for a crime was not common. When people committed crimes, they were punished by corporal punishment, forced labor, social ostracism, and many far worse punishments. People began using imprisonment as a form of punishment after the American Revolution. In England these practice of imprisonment been taking place since the 1500s in the form of dungeons and other detention facilities. Prisons were one of the first buildings introduced in the New World. In early America prisons were not looked at like prisons are today, most crimes where punished on the spot and the person released. Most of the people that had long term sentences were people that owed debt. Other type of punishments that was used was fines, public shame, physical chastisement, and death. Misdemeanors were punishable by fines, just like some are today. The United States prison building efforts went through three waves. First the Jacksonian Era, which led to the increase use of imprisonment and rehabilitive labor as punishment for their crimes in almost all states by the time of the American Civil War. Second was the Progressive Era, which was after the civil war. The Progressive Era brought in the usage of parole, probation, and indeterminate sentencing. Third was in the early 1970s, by this time the number in prisons had increased five times.

    Read More

  • Workfare To Prisonfare Essay

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wacquant argues “Confinement is the other technique through which the nagging problem of persistent marginally rooted in unemployment, subemployment, and the precarious work is made to shrink on —if not disappear from — the public scene” (60). By forcing people to work unreliable jobs, America is also forcing people into prison. He also states “The vast majority of the occupants of county jails do come from the ranks of the “working poor,” that fraction of the working class that does not manage to escape poverty although they work, but who are largely ineligible for social protections because they work at poverty-level jobs” (70). This endless circle of unjust treatment of the poor has dire consequences. People released from prison are kept of heavy surveillance and are unable to grab hold of a job because employers will not hire ex-convicts. They also lose all ability to receive any further pubic assistance. In response, their children are led down the same path of little to no education, which leads to unstable working conditions, which leads to

    Read More

  • Prison Reform In America

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Roger Prays essay we see how our prison system has come to where we are at now. He shows how history of prisons worked and how our basis of the prison system came about over the last 200 years.

    Read More

  • The Incarcerated and Bare Life

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...that, the incarcerated people are not necessarily criminals. Some find themselves there due to various situations that they are faced with in life. This varies from the time of growth and development of an individual point of view, to the interaction with the society or surrounding environment. Also, the encounter has helped in the change of the perception that, the incarcerated should receive severe punishment of their acts.

    Read More

  • Transformations In John Steinbeck's Grapes Of Wrath

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, transition is defined as a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, style to another, or simply just change. The book Grapes of Wrath have displayed many transitions by the characters and the society that is portrayed in the novel. The two characters that made significant transitions in the book are Tom Joad and Ma Joad. Tom transitions over the course of the novel from an ex-convict that had killed a man, independent, stubborn, and lives his life day by day to exhibiting thoughtfulness, a person with high morals, and compassion. In the beginning of the novel, Ma Joad was just a mother figure and care giver in the family, but later on she slowly begins to become the center for strength and the decision maker in the family when Pa Joad was not effectively able to assume that role. Another significant transition in the novel is the changing in society that

    Read More

  • Essay On The Prison System

    2698 Words  | 6 Pages

    The prison system in the United States was not always like it is today. It took mistakes and changes in order to get it to the point it is at. Some people think that prisons should still be being changed while others feel that they are fine the way they are. It is hard to make an argument for one side or the other if one does not know about the history of prisons as well as the differences between prisons structures and differences in prison management. Knowledge of private prisons is also needed to make this difficult decision.

    Read More

  • Comparing and Contrasting the Novel and Movie Version of The Grapes of Wrath

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Steinbeck wrote the The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 to rouse its readers against those who were responsible for keeping the American people in poverty. The Grapes of Wrath tells the story of the Joad family, migrant farmers from Oklahoma traveling to California in search of an illusion of prosperity. The novel's strong stance stirred up much controversy, as it was often called Communist propaganda, and banned from schools due to its vulgar language. However, Steinbeck's novel is considered to be his greatest work. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and later became an Academy Award winning movie in 1940. The novel and the movie are both considered to be wonderful masterpieces, epitomizing the art of filmmaking and novel-writing.

    Read More

More about How Has The Grapes Of Wrath Changed

Open Document