Examples Of Industrialization In The Grapes Of Wrath

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Over-Arching Question: How did the industrialization of agriculture affect American society?


The great migration was a very hard time for many people. It lasted from 1910-1970. This time was especially hard for the migrant workers also known as the "okies". In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes Of Wrath, he tells a story of the Joad family and there hard times as they migrate towards California during the great migration. After reading this novel, it is clear that the industrialization of agriculture affected American society in both, a positive and negative way. An example of this was when all the migrants were unemployed and homeless because they were forced to leave their homes.





In the beginning of the novel, Steinbeck introduces …show more content…

One of the struggles many families faced, along with the Joad's was death. "Pa asked softly," What was it". "Stroke", said Casy." A good quick stroke"(Steinbeck,188). After many roadblocks, the Joad's joined forces with another family and finally reached California.When they arrived there wasn’t as many jobs as they had hoped. People who had arrived before them had "taken" most of the jobs for picking cotton."California. This here's California an' we're right in it"(Steinbeck,276).Some were fortunate to have a job but many were left unemployed.Also, many people had to live in government provided camps in raggedy-makeshift tents because they couldn’t afford to live on there own.It was hard enough to buy food to eat off a cotton pickers salary(if you had a job).Its almost as if the industrialization of agriculture didn’t happen, most migrant families would be financially stable.The industrialization made many lose there jobs, houses and …show more content…

You could say that life was decent. They had earned enough money to buy clothes and other items. Some migrant families were fortunate enough to find some sort of housing and/or a job. "Its nice". She said. "Its almost as nicer than anything we had 'cept the gov'ment camp"(Steinbek,558).If the industrialization of agriculture didn’t happen, I don’t think that America would be so industrialized. It probably wouldn't be so dependent on technology to do a lot of simply tasks for

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