Conflict In The Grapes Of Wrath By John Steinbeck

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Big Brother expecting you to work, make sustainable income, provide for a family, and pay taxes all while making nearly minimum wage. Today's issues are that “irrelevant” jobs don’t make enough to live off of. This was the conflict in the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. This realistic fiction book takes place during The Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. This goes to show how even after all those years, income concerns still haven't changed. There are many current similarities that go hand in hand in with the novel. Some examples of the similarities are: low salary, characters compared to modern protesters, and plot parallels to real world occurrences. Many people with jobs that pay close to minimum wage, such as those working at McDonald’s …show more content…

They both believe what they are doing has a positive effect no matter how small their impact is. Without them and their jobs, things would fall apart. Once again, Jorge Math says, “We are the backbones of these fast-food restaurants, and I believe that we should be more rewarded.” ("Fast-food Strikes Widen into Social-justice Movement", par. 8). Tom just like Jorge, thinks that the people higher in the social class are cheating them and taking what is theirs. Although, unlike Jorge, Tom set off to get a job which would pay more and have better benefits. The novel is based around the Joad family setting off to California to start a better life for themselves and follow The American Dream. The people interviewed for the fast-food article on USA Today don’t seem to follow the classic American Dream as much as the Joad’s, but how do they plan to get out of their economic …show more content…

Hope is what kept the Joad family going and not giving in even though that can be easier than giving up. After him and his family’s history of bankruptcy and being in jail, Tom Joad gets a job laying down pipes (Steinbeck, 291). He worked hard and the first night his family settled at Weedpatch he found himself a job. This can be possible for the New York McDonald’s workers who don’t think they're making enough. If they stay in the same hole they’re in nothing is going to change, unless a miracle happens boosting their pay up to the fifteen dollars they are fighting to get. ("Fast-food Strikes Widen into Social-justice Movement", par. 1). It goes back to The American Dream, achieving your goals won’t be easy, but if you put in the hard work and in their case, look for a higher paying job or working two jobs, their dreams could become a

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