Corruption of the California Dream
For centuries, California has captivated many people with its promise of a new life. The California dream was the obtainable American dream. It represented the chance to start over and begin again without the fear that one’s past would come back to harm them. It was as if coming to California and crossing its threshold meant life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for everyone. But in reality, the dream California offered wasn’t one meant for everyone. On the outside, the California dream offered bountiful opportunities and rapid success. Masked with a false representation, California carries deceit, despair and disappointment, failing in its promise of a new life.
In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads venture
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off and travel into California with a false representation of what California really is, only to be disappointed upon arrival. In the film “L.A. Confidential”, California is represented as a luxurious life with movie stars, money, and endless parties. Through the filters of Hollywood life, California seems like an exciting place to live, but looking past the Hollywood mask, deceit lies beneath the surface. In the film “Chinatown”, it shows the promise of California’s future betrayed by the desires of the rich, resulting in despair. Offering a life that one can only dream of, California and its representation of a new life is a front for the reality of corruption of what really goes on behind the mask. “The Grapes of Wrath” is a novel that stirred America in a way that received both applause and scornful remarks. Regardless of its many opposing comments, “The Grapes of Wrath” is a novel where the never-ending sunshine of California offered never-ending opportunities for farmers that were in dire need of work. Like thousands of families that left their homes and moved west to California, the Joads blindly went in search for work with just an idea of California with just a orange pamphlet that was passed around from California landowners offering jobs to farmers. The first instance where a Joad is directly told that the pamphlets are just a way to get farmers to come to California is when the Joads stop at the first camp they see and Tom talks to a man fixing his car. Tom brings up the yellow pamphlet that he and his family saw being passed around offering jobs in California. Tom says, “Back home some fellas come through with han’bills—orange ones. Says they need lots of people out here to work the crops”(245). These handbills are what drove the Joads out of their homes and into California with no other expectation than work. The young man fixing the car responds and says, “They say they’s three hunderd thousan’ us folks here, an’ I bet ever’ dam’ fam’ly seen them han’bill” (245). These handbills were distributed during the Dust Bowl among farmers in a state of vulnerability, enticing the farmers to come to California for the farm owner’s own profit. In the same manner that the farm owners deceived the people, Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer for the LA Water and Power Company, in the film “Chinatown” opposes the project for a dam and reservoir. Hollis Mulwray is followed by Jake Gittes, who was asked to follow Mulwray and see if he is having an affair. Jake follows Mulwray and listens to him speak at a public hearing, denying the people and farmers of L.A. their dam. He is heard saying, “In case you've forgotten, gentlemen, over five hundred lives were lost when the Van der Lip Dam gave way -- core samples have shown that beneath this bedrock is shale similar to the permeable shale in the Van der Lip disaster. It couldn't withstand that kind of pressure there. Now you propose yet another dirt banked terminus dam with slopes of two and one half to one, one hundred twelve feet high and a twelve thousand acre water surface. Well, it won't hold. I won't build it. It's that simple -- I am not making that kind of mistake twice. Thank you, gentlemen”(Chinatown). Gittes attempts to excuse his denial in building a dam and reservoir with the fact that they lost five hundred lives when the Van der Lip dam gave way. Shortly after, commotion ensues and a farmer is heard complaining to Mulwray, “You steal the water from the valley, ruin the grazing, starve my livestock -- who's paying you to do that, Mr. Mulwray, that's what I want to know!” (Chinatown). Here, Mulwray is presented in the same light as the farm owners in The Grapes of Wrath in the sense that Mulwray is keeping these farmers, such as the Joads, from doing their jobs and forcing them into poverty. Mulwray does not care for the people of L.A. and is seen by Jake, who is still following him, crumple up a flyer and toss it out his window. It says: "SAVE OUR CITY! LOS ANGELES IS DYING OF THIRST! PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY! LOS ANGELES IS YOUR INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE!!! VOTE YES NOVEMBER 6......CITIZENS COMMITTEE TO SAVE OUR CITY, HON. SAM BAGBY, FORMER MAYOR – CHAIRMAN” (Chinatown). Mulwray crumples the farmer’s comments and tosses it out of his mind, just as he crumpled and tossed the flyer out his window. This portrays that he truly doesn’t care about the city and their drought problem and that the excuse he made was just an excuse to justify his denying their project. Mulwray attitude and actions towards the city of L.A. is one that is seen behind the masked beauty of California. L.A. Confidential is a film all about masking the corruption of the L.A. Police Department and the Hollywood dream. Taking place in the 50’s, America suffered through the Second World War, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl. The 50’s were during a time where America seemed to boom with confidence and prosper with jobs opportunities. L.A. Confidential brings to light the corrupt system of the LAPD and tries to keep the city of L.A. and its reality confidential. L.A. Confidential starts off the film starts with Sid Hudgeons narrating the film He describes how anyone can achieve the American dream in Los Angeles and how it is truly the greatest place to live. This is far from the truth of and what underlies beneath the surface of the perfect Hollywood life. Prostitutes are cut to look like movie stars and Lynn Bracken is one of them. Lynn first encounters Bud, one of the police officers in search for the Owl Nite killings, when he comes to her place to ask her a few questions. Her house is set up like a presentation. On the television, “This Gun for Hire” with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake is seen playing. There are red curtains that outline her bedroom in a way that presents her room as stage. Lynn is thought to be cut to look like Veronica Lake, but when Bud asks her, “He had you cut to look like Veronica Lake?” (L.A.). Lynn responds, “No. I’m really a brunette, but the rest is me. And that’s all the news that’s fit to print” (L.A.). She portrays the face of Hollywood and the beauty that is seen on the front of every magazine. Beneath that beauty, is a simple brunette who came to Hollywood from Bisbee, Arizona. She tells Bud, as they’re both lying on her bed, that in a, “Couple years I’m going back and opening up a dress shop. The girls in Bisbee need a little glamour” (L.A). Lynn Bracken is projected as one of the images that hide the reality of the real Hollywood. Symbolizing a front for the corrupt system, L.A. Confidential’s police force is affiliated with the television show Badge of Honor. This show is used to emphasize the media’s interpretation of the LAPD. In the L.A. hit show Badge of Honor the cops, “ walk on water as they keep the city clean of crooks” (L.A.). However, the show “Badge of Honor” carries anything but honor. The cast members are blackmailed into receiving stories for the Hush Hush magazine and the cops show only what they want to. It is just as corrupt at the LAPD. Jack Vincennes, a cop who assists the show, creates an image that’s projected to the audience of L.A. as clean, smooth, and safe. At a Christmas party, Jack Vincennes is dancing with a young actress and seen “possessed of slick good looks and a snappy wardrobe” (L.A. pg.7). Jack is asked what he does on the show and responds, “Technical advisor. I teach Brett Chase how to walk and talk like a cop” (L.A.). This demonstrates the false representation of the LAPD and California. The actress continues on with her questions and when asked, “Brett Chase doesn’t walk and talk like you,” Jack replies, “Television version. The American public isn’t ready for me” (L.A.). The show trains and forms cops into the standardized image of what the police look like. This is again heard when the actress says, “These ‘Badge of Honor’ guys like to pretend, but being the real thing must be a thrill” (L.A.). Furthermore, The show conceals the truth from the public and Sid Hudgeons says that if they, “wet the public’s appetite for the truth and the sky’s the limit” (L.A.). The film conveys the fact that not all that is shown is what really happens. In a like manner, “Chinatown” conveys the disheartening message that the obtainable California dream is unobtainable.
In the film, evil repeatedly triumphs over good. The water battle is lost and the people of L.A. must suffer its consequences. Evelyn fails to escape her father and eventually dies, losing her daughter or sister to Noah Cross. Noah Cross, representing the corruption of the California dream, kills Hollis Mulwray when he interferes with Cross’ plans for the new reservoir. Moreover, in “The Grapes of Wrath,” the Joads are repeatedly warned of the false idea that California is. They ignore all these signs in hopes that arriving in California all their worries will be forgotten. Unfortunately, this is not the case and when the Joads first viewed California. The Joads drove, “across the bridge and into the broken rock wilderness. And although they were dead weary and the morning heat was growing, they stopped” (202). Their first view of California is disappointing. There are broken rocks and the sunlight is harsh. Their idea of California was broken and Uncle John is seen saying, “This here’s California, an’ se don’t look so prosperous” (203). Uncle John is right. California was filled with an abundance of lies that deceived people from all over into traveling to the “promise land” for a new
life. Filled with lies, California portrays a prosperous and bountiful life, concealing its reality in corruption. The idea that the American Dream holds, captivates many, ultimately resulting in disappointment because of its false representation. Most don’t come to realize the lies before its too late. Because their hope is consistently fed with lies, real life captures these victims before they get a chance to escape. In “The Grapes of Wrath,” “L.A. Confidential” and “Chinatown,” the California dream seemed too good to be true on the outside. When observed closer, lies, deceit, and disappointment lied beneath the deceiving promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, failing in playing into its infamous slogan—“The Promise Land.”
James J. Rawls perspective of the California Dream consists of promise and paradox. People from all over move to California in hopes of finding opportunity and success. However California cannot fulfill people’s expectations.
People just don’t seem to give up, they continue fighting till the very end rather than lay down and succumb to the challenge faced. In “The Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck uses symbolism and religious allusions as unifying devices to illustrate the indomitable nature of the human spirit.
Most of Steinbeck’s work conveys a deeper meaning or message to the readers, and The Grapes of Wrath presents no exception, as redemption’s prevalence influences the growth of each character. Although the book ends with a tragic flood after the family has faced the loss of Rose of Sharon’s newborn baby, the novel still ends in happiness, since characters such as Jim Casy, Uncle John, Tom Joad, and Rose of Sharon attain redemption and in doing so, become saviors for migrant families. Steinbeck manifests the idea the migration did not necessarily implicate the Joads would find prosperity in the promised land of California, but would instead fulfill the quest for absolution, which results in their heroic
In literature as in life, people often find that they must make difficult choices in order to survive. The reasons behind their decisions and the results of their subsequent actions affect our opinion of them. In the Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, the author portrayed situations where two main characters became involved. The nature of their choices, the reasons behind their decisions, and the results that followed affected them greatly. However, the choices that they made were surmounted successfully. Ma Joad and Tom Joad are two strong characters who overcame laborious predicaments. Their powerful characteristics helped to encourage those that were struggling.
How does California seem to modern America? Violent. Crowded. Filled with bad people. People who live in cities and have lost touch with the earth. These people are portrayed in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath as Californians. Yet, people from the Midwest flocked to California seeking prosperity and opportunity. Their land had been taken by the banks and turned into cotton fields. They were left homeless and desperate. These people sought to work in the fields where they could eat a peach or sit under a tree to relax.
New beginnings and new land, while made out to seem as beacons of hope and chances for prosperity, are complete opposites; new beginnings offer neither success nor happiness, but rather more failures and recurring sorrows. John Steinbeck and Jack Hodgins introduce the idea of new beginnings and settlements just as they emphasize the importance of togetherness as a community and a family in The Grapes of Wrath and Broken Ground. However, it is important to consider that these new beginnings were involuntary and rather forced due to situational circumstances. These circumstances caused drastic changes in the lives of the characters, changes that ultimately led them towards a downward spiral. In both novels, change in location helped advertise new beginnings as a chance for a new, improved lifestyle, which turned out to be a mere lie. The “promised land” was simply a hoax, which they would later realize, as it left them with nothing more than the broken pieces of their woven dreams.
The Joad’s were facing many conflicts and in the process of losing their house. They heard there was going to be work in California and wanted to take the risk and move out there to find a job to provide. The Dust Bowl and The Great Depression were pretty huge topics in history and the novel about The Grapes of Wrath had some pretty raw details about their journey and similar to both histories. The Joad family pushed each other to have a better life in California and did everything they could to have a job to provide and eat, and mainly survive to live another day. In the novel, the beginning, the Joad family faced and struggled with nature, dust nature, just like the people that experienced this during the Dust Bowl. The people in the Southern plains dealt with a huge dust storm and the Joad family were also faced with this storm but struggled from these dust storms because of no work. No work means you can’t eat and
The Joad family members were facing hardships from the beginning. Before the journey, Tom Joad had been in prison and that was a downer to everyone. In the scenes of overcoming this problem, Tom was released and his family was so excited and full of joy to see him. Before they could celebrate too much, they found themselves having to leave the land that most of them were born on, raised on and labored for. They decided that as shady as it was to be forced off their own land, the drought had shattered any hopes of prospering from it anyway. With the hope of a better life out in California and a flyer that said pickers needed, they set out for the proclaimed promised land.
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is a realistic novel that mimics life and offers social commentary too. It offers many windows on real life in midwest America in the 1930s. But it also offers a powerful social commentary, directly in the intercalary chapters and indirectly in the places and people it portrays. Typical of very many, the Joads are driven off the land by far away banks and set out on a journey to California to find a better life. However the journey breaks up the family, their dreams are not realized and their fortunes disappear. What promised to be the land of milk and honey turns to sour grapes. The hopes and dreams of a generation turned to wrath. Steinbeck opens up this catastrophe for public scrutiny.
drop their life and move to a different state. When they arrived in California they were not
The 1920s and 1930s represent two decades in our country's history that were very much connected to one another but extremely different in terms of economy. The Great Gatsby takes place during the roaring 20s, a time of extravagant parties and attempts at finding happiness after World War I. On the other hand, The Grapes of Wrath takes place during the 30s while America is suffering from the Great Depression and people are leaving their homes and lives to find success and work in California. Although the times were very different economically, both were dominated by people striving for the American Dream of wealth and social status in an attempt of obtaining happiness, success, and a better life. During the 20s, people wanted to escape the terrors of the war and during the 30s they were attempting to survive during the devastation of the Great Depression. Both The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath do an amazing job of representing people's desires for the American Dream and more specifically the prevalence of failure rather than success that came as a result of their efforts.
Because of the devastating disaster of the dust bowl, the Joad family was forced to leave their long-time home and find work and a new life elsewhere. They, like many other families, moved to California. "The land of milk and honey". The people in the dust bowl imagined California as a haven of jobs where they would have a nice little white house and as much fruit as they could eat. This dream was far from the reality the migrant farmers faced once in California. The dreams, hopes, and expectations the Joads had of California were crushed by the reality of the actual situation in this land of hate and prejudice.
In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family and the changing world in which they live is portrayed from a naturalistic point of view. Steinbeck characterizes the Joads and their fellow migrants as simple, instinct-bound creatures who are on an endless search for paradise (Owens 129). The migrants and the powers which force them to make their journey--nature and society--are frequently represented by animals. The Joads, when they initially leave home, are a group of simplistic, animal-like people who barely understand or even realize their plight, but as the story progresses, they begin to grow and adapt to their new circumstances. They evolve from a small, insignificant group of creatures with no societal consciousness into a single member of a much larger family--society.
The Grapes of Wrath does not have one specific setting, but rather travels from Okalahoma to California. The setting in this novel is realistic because you can follow the Joads journey on a map. Accuracy to the novel was very important to Steinbeck because he wanted this novel to be a social document rather then just another piece of fiction.
Since 1848 to the present, California has had strong periods of representing the American Dream with its egalitarian advances and times of overwhelmingly democratic positions. Also, California was once a place for economic opportunity, attracting people from all over the nation. Since 1990, however, California has witnessed a reverse migration. Once a land of hope and opportunity, California has slowly been turning into a land of despair.