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Causes and effects of the dust bowl
Causes and effects of the dust bowl
The dust bowl explanatory essay the affect and how it developed
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John Steinbeck wrote his novel in 1939. During this time dust covered the Midwestern and Southern plains. This tragic decade was known as the Dust Bowl. The main point of this novel was to show how life was like for the people who were affected by this drought. The Grapes of Wrath also focuses on the Joads, a family who is forced out of their home, in Oklahoma, on a journey to California attempting to live the American Dream. In the beginning of the novel, Tom Joad returns home from Prison along with Jim Casy who he meets on the way. It takes them awhile to find Tom's family because they have been forced to leave their home. A family friend told them where to find the Joads. His family barely recognizes him. They tell Tom of their plans to …show more content…
The family then gathers food and the belongings they are able to take, loads them on the truck overnight, and leaves the next morning. They are faced with the struggles the moment they are ready to leave. Grandpa has to be drugged in order for them to get him into the truck. They stop at a service station and the man accuses them of wanting things for free. The family dog is killed by a car. As they move through towns they stop at night next to the Wilsons. The family begins to fall apart and Grandpa dies of a stroke. Since the family had limited money they just bury the body with the help of the Wilsons. They begin to travel with them. Their truck breaks down so the boys have to go find parts to fix it while Ma and the girls move on to a camp because grandma is starting to go crazy. The people at the camp laugh at the Joads when Pa tells them their plan. They tell him that they are fooling people, paying them low wages, and that families are starving but Pa doesn't believe it. The loads and Wilsons move on through Arizona as fast as they could because the border patrol tells them they can't stay for long. When they finally reach California they stop alongside a river at another camp. The men tell Pa again that they will suffer in California. They
The Grapes of Wrath explicates on the Dust Bowl era as the reader follows the story of the Joads in the narrative chapters, and the migrants in expository chapters. Steinbeck creates an urgent tone by using repetition many times throughout the book. He also tries to focus readers on how the Dust Bowl threatened migrant dreams using powerful imagery. As well as that, he creates symbols to teach the upper class how the Dust Bowl crushed the people’s goals. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck utilizes imagery, symbolism, and repetition to demonstrate how the Dust Bowl threatened the “American Dream.”
When times get tough, many people turn away from everyone and everything. It must be part of human nature to adopt an independent attitude when faced with troubles. It is understandable because most people do not want to trouble their loved ones when they are going through problems, so it is easier to turn away than stick together. Maybe their family is going through a rough patch and they reason they would be better off on their own. This path of independence and solitude may not always be the best option for them or their family, though. Often times it is more beneficial for everyone to work through the problem together. It is not always the easiest or most desirable option, but most times it is the most efficient and it will get results in the long run. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck makes this point very clear through several characters. Many characters throughout
Throughout the novel, The Grapes of Wrath there are intercalary chapters. The purpose of these chapters are to give the readers insight and background on the setting, time, place and even history of the novel. They help blend the themes, symbols, motifs of the novel, such as the saving power of family and fellowship, man’s inhumanity to man, and even the multiplying effects of selfishness. These chapters show the social and economic crisis flooding the nation at the time, and the plight of the American farmer becoming difficult. The contrast between these chapters helps readers look at not just the storyline of the Joad family, but farmers during the time and also the condition of America during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck uses these chapters to show that the story is not only limited to the Joad family,
According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, transition is defined as a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, style to another, or simply just change. The book Grapes of Wrath have displayed many transitions by the characters and the society that is portrayed in the novel. The two characters that made significant transitions in the book are Tom Joad and Ma Joad. Tom transitions over the course of the novel from an ex-convict that had killed a man, independent, stubborn, and lives his life day by day to exhibiting thoughtfulness, a person with high morals, and compassion. In the beginning of the novel, Ma Joad was just a mother figure and care giver in the family, but later on she slowly begins to become the center for strength and the decision maker in the family when Pa Joad was not effectively able to assume that role. Another significant transition in the novel is the changing in society that
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.
Throughout history, less fortunate people have been set apart or shunned from the general public. In the Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, this statement holds true. Throughout the whole book, all of the less fortunate people are treated like they aren’t even human. This is not much different than how our society is now. In the news article “Major Cities Get Tough With Homeless”, by Angie Cannon, Judy Appel said, “We are saying it is your fault that we have created a structure where there aren’t enough jobs and housing for you to lead a decent life.” (Cannon 1) Appel is saying the same thing Steinbeck was saying in his book. Many homeless people are homeless because they were forced to be that way, and the general public doesn’t realize it.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a novel that does not end with any sort of hope, but does end with the reader learning about how real this novel really was. You do not put this book down after you read it and smile and wish that you could have been living in this era. This is why he ended the novel the way that he does and not 40 pages earlier where he could have made it a happy ending. Steinbeck is just like his novel and he wants you to know what happened, and why it happened. All of this happened because people were forced out of their homes and the only place they had to go was west and almost all of the families ended up like the Jones; with no money, nowhere to go and nothing to look forward to. Even though this is not the way that you wanted the ending of this novel to go, there was no other way that it could have ended.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is considered a classic novel by many in the literary field. The trials and tribulations of the Joad family and other migrants is told throughout this novel. In order to gain a perspective into the lives of "Oakies", Steinbeck uses themes and language of the troubling times of the Great Depression. Some of these aspects are critiqued because of their vulgarity and adult nature. In some places, The Grapes of Wrath has been edited or banned. These challenges undermine Steinbeck's attempts to add reality to the novel and are unjustified.
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work.
They’re on their journey to California. Unfortunately, the family dog dies and the grandpa from a stroke. They end up picking up the wilson family to carry on with their journey. When they finally get to California, it wasn’t they expected.
There are different influential factors when you are comparing the personality and the relationship of the character in this book. This setting takes place during “The Great Depression” and “The Dust Bowl.” Lennie and George are both farm workers and they are not financially stable, especially after the stock market crash. In addition, the Unites States of America is filled with very cruel prejudice towards races and sexes. Lenny says, "I was only foolin', George. I don't want no ketchup. I wouldn't eat no ketchup if it was right here beside me." There are a lot of relationship types throughout the story because of the mood during it.
These elements includes appearance of the character, their actions, the characters thoughts, the speech of the character, and finally what others think of the character. Tom Joad has been in prison for four years. The great depression is taking a hit on the farmers. After Tom gets out of prison he tries to find his family at their family farm, just to find out that his family got removed from their house. Tom finds his family at his uncle’s house planning a journey west for a job opportunity. On this journey west Tom opens up, he undertakes the role of his friend Jim Casy. By using particular lines of dialogue and action the reader is able to inference Tom’s character using information that the author provided. As the protagonist of the story novel Tom is necessary for the plot of the novel to take
The plot of Steinbeck?s work of fiction is rooted in the historical and social events of 1930s America, specifically the environmental disaster in Oklahoma. Drought had been a serious problem for the Great Plains region of the United States for many decades prior to the 1930s. Meanwhile, poor farming techniques of numerous sharecroppers had decimated the agricultural capacity of the land, the harsh cotton crops robbing soil of its nutrients. These two conditions combined to make if difficult for farmers to make a profitable crop. With the stock market crash of 1929 and the following decline in the U.S. economy, banks became desperate for a way to get back losses. Maintaining that it was more lucrative to be cultivated by a corporation, land companies began removing families from their farms. In the novel The Grapes of Wrath, the subsequent events described as adventures of the main characters of the novel.
The dust bowl is a severe drought with dust-winds experienced by the United States during the 1930s(Schubert). Many families had fled to the west for better job opportunities and life style. John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath describes Joad’s family, similar to many others, suffered from the dust bowl and tries to get to the California, as well as how capitalist is the enemy and the society can be saved by socialism. He describes the Joad’s family to be in Oklahoma, causing them to lose their job and be dehumanized; uneducated, resulting them to have difficulties when finding jobs; and proletarian, making them to have less social right and wealth, to show how their identity is shaped by the bourgeoisie class, preventing