The Grapes of Wrath as a Communist Manifesto
Steinbeck's political views are quite evident within The Grapes of Wrath. The subject of much controversy, The Grapes of Wrath serves as a social protest and commentary. Steinbeck's views as expressed through the novel tie directly into the Marxist ideals on communism.
Perhaps the first thing Steinbeck does in The Grapes of Wrath is establish the status quo. He sets up the farmers and the banks as the two main opposing forces. "Lord and serf... in a word, oppressor and oppressed" (Marx, 1) Immediately Steinbeck sets up the very same situation Marx establishes in The Communist Manifesto complete with proletarian (farmers) and bourgeois (bankers) classes.
The Joads and the other farmers clearly represent Marx's proletariat. The entire struggle they face is that of finding work or dying on the most basic of levels. Still, they fall victim to the conditions of the Great Depression, resulting in their continued inability to procure such a job. The migrants appear strongly as " the proletariat, the modern working class... who live only so long as they find work .. who must sell themselves piecemeal ... and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition to all the fluctuations of the market" (Marx, 4). Steinbeck and Marx find an obvious agreement over the situation and classification of the Okies, the proletarian workers.
One must also consider the role of the capitalist bankers and upper-class owners in the novel. The banks serve several purposes. First in the novel, they force the rural farmers off of their lands. Being the natural proletariat, they must take to the road in order to find a job. The upper class, as well, distribut...
... middle of paper ...
...hing for a reform of the current system. Bear in mind however, that there is no way to reform a system and let it be run by a "monster." Steinbeck's complaints about capitalism stem from its very basis and allow for no reform short of revolution. The old ways have died, violence is building, and as Marx would agree, revolution is imminent. The bourgeoisie and proletariat exist exactly as Marx states, and all the conditions are shaping up for a proletarian uprising. The revolution draws nigh as Steinbeck's characters learn the principles and values on which Marx bases communism. The Marxist revolution in The Grapes of Wrath is at hand, especially as working men unite.
Works Cited
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.
Furthermore, this was kind of funny, because as a kid I was amazed at how Amazon ships customers’ packages in the fastest and the most cost-effective way. As a kid, I remember asking my parents “How does Amazon do this?” and I remember them saying that I will need to major in a topic that will help me understand this process. Every time I ordered an item from them, I would think about the process of obtaining the packages using robots, packing the items safely, and then shipping them off to customers. This is an example of logistics and efficiency at its finest. As a junior, I still do not understand this process fully, since I am currently taking IDIS 240. But, by the time I graduate, I hope to fully understand this process.
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
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.
Although Steinbeck argues for collective action to achieve specific goals, only the most unperceptive critics continue to argue that he is a collectivist in either philosophy or politics. Throughout his work he decries the mindless indoctrination of the totalitarians and maintains that only through reflection upon his bitter experience can learn the value of acting in concert with others for the relief of emergency conditions -- like the flood at the end of The Grapes of Wrath -- so that the individual may subsequently be free to realize his own potentialities. Nothing better illustrates Steinbeck's concept of social organization than the pictures in Chapter Seventeen of The Grapes of Wrath of the world that is created each night a people come together, and disappears the next morning when they separate.
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.
John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath in response to the Great Depression. Steinbeck's intentions were to publicize the movements of a fictional family affected by the Dust Bowl that was forced to move from their homestead. Also a purpose of Steinbeck's was to criticize the hard realities of a dichotomized American society.
When Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, our country was just starting to recover from The Great Depression. The novel he wrote, though fiction, was not an uncommon tale in many lives. When this book was first published, the majority of those reading it understood where it was coming from-they had lived it. But now very few people understand the horrors of what went on in that time. The style in which Steinbeck chose to write The Grapes of Wrath helps get across the book's message.
The Grapes of Wrath combines Steinbeck adoration of the land, his simple hatred of corruption resulting from materialism (money) and his abiding faith in the common people to overcome the hostile environment. The novel opens with a retaining picture of nature on rampage. The novel shows the men and women that are unbroken by nature. The theme is one of man verses a hostile environment. His body destroyed but his spirit is not broken. The method used to develop the theme of the novel is through the use of symbolism. There are several uses of symbols in the novel from the turtle at the beginning to the rain at the end. As each symbol is presented through the novel they show examples of the good and the bad things that exist within the novel.
...ving his heroes combat it. In a way, Steinbeck is advocating communism since his heroes have turned to the path that completely diverges from capitalism.
Some time some approach to solve some problems are totally opposite, But people think that is the right solution. I want to explain this with my life experience. Last year I was working for a company as a programmer, while writing some application for that company I came across a problem. I talked my boss about that problem he take the program code from me and ask my college to fix that problem, and he fixed that problem. But that was not the solution because he produced some security holes in the system...
Let us discuss the key monetary costs associated with home buying to stack up against your monthly rent check. Here are points to consider when deciding on buying versus renting.
McCroskey, J.C. & Sheahan, M.E. (1978). Communication apprehension, social preference, and social behavior in a college environment. Communication quarterly, 26, 41 45.
In one study, genetic testing was the “best way to confirm genetic disease diagnostic” (Rew et al., 2010). This can prepare parents to know what expect and how to treat the disease or disorder. The results also help the doctors to be prepared if the child has the certain disease or not. It can allow the quality of living to increase as more intervention programs can help treat the potential disease. Even these tests can give an insight of the child’s health, it only shows the likelihood of getting the disease. This can produce anxiety and worry for the
Human institution are not perfect, so is married couples. Effective interpersonal communication is essential in resolving frequent problem that arise from every human marriage.
When there is a lack of communication, relationships seem to fall apart. So for that matter, two people who were suppose to be partner, eventually end up going to court for to get legally separated. After all, when there is little to no communication or any other type of emotional connection, divorce seems to be the only way to resolve the problem. “Many couples marry because they share similar beliefs, but as time changes so do people.” (Odinity.com). Another problem that led to lack of communication is that everyone is so busy working; they don’t feel they need to talk to their husband or wife. Some couples are often quiet even when they have problems with each other, but decided to not deal with it instead. As a consequence, little problems will begin to expand to become bigger problems, resulting in divorce. This does not happen in a happy marriage because the partners in a healthy relationship seem to have a more open way of talking with each other. They discuss everything to be sure that they are on the same page, so to speak. Divorce is commonly done because of this lack of being able to talk openly to each other, and express their feelings and emotions. Nevertheless, this is not the main problem as to why people are getting divorce. As the economy grows, so does the human’s intellectual. Couple therapy is a very popular solution to most marriages problem nowadays. If people feel like their marriage is at risk, many chooses the option of going to couple therapy. It not only is effective, many stated that it is satisfying. “Over 98 percent of those surveyed reported that they received good or excellent couples therapy, and over 97 percent of those surveyed said they got the help they needed.”