Grapes Of Wrath American Dream Analysis

The American Dream presents the idea that all American citizens should have equal opportunities in regards to their hard work, persistence, and tenacity; however, Steinbeck displays the flaws in the American Dream due to the biased and prejudiced views of high-class citizens within the novel, and how people in lower classes will never receive equal opportunity. Throughout The Grapes of Wrath, the narrator vividly illustrates the harsh circumstances that the Joad family, alongside other Okies, face along the expedition to California. Correspondingly, the privileged landowners prove guilty for the death of the American Dream elucidated in the novel.

For example, in chapter nineteen, Steinbeck illustrates that “Once California belonged to Mexico

and its land to Mexicans; and a horde of tattered feverish Americans poured in” (231). Furthermore, the aftermath of greedy migrants native to the United States stole the land from Mexicans and claimed it as their own, similar to the Englishmen who settled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Steinbeck also mentions that the California landowners see this example as a threat; hence, Californians believe that the incursion of Okies will allow the same event to happen, generations later. Consequently, the landowners somewhat fashion an unfair system in which the migrants are treated as though they are worthless. Particularly, the migrants constantly alternate between sordid roadside camps; also, the Okies earn exceptionally low wages and must compete against their own bloodline in regards to survival. The novel depicts a figurative line between privileged, wealthy Californian landowners and poor, impoverish migrant. In conclusion, Steinbeck identifies that division between classes serves as the primary source for suffering in the world, and why the American Dream will never reach its fulfillment.