The Importance of Community and Transportation Represented in “The Grapes of Wrath”
Amid the grim conditions suffered by Americans during the Great Depression, such as unemployment and famine, some were forced to suffer an additional peril: the devastating effects of the Dust Bowl plaguing the midwest in the 1930’s. A disastrous combination of factors, including severe drought, inattention from the government, and improper farming techniques made the storms inevitable. The dust storms had the potential to cause unfathomable damage to property and crops, furthering the abuse that farmers experienced throughout the Great Depression. Whether it was the economic crisis afflicting the country that forced tenant farmers off of their land, or
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the personal financial struggles caused by the Dust Bowl, many farmers were convinced that migrating to another part of the country was the best option for their families.
A family’s journey through the obstacles of migration is exemplified by John Steinbeck’s creation of the Joad family in his novel The Grapes of Wrath. As the family makes their way from their home in Sallisaw, Oklahoma to the Hoovervilles in California, they must overcome the daily struggles and difficulties of migration with the perseverance of their family and their minimal resources. The Joads, like many migrant families during the 1930’s, relied on their automobile, the kindness of others, and the strength of their families to survive.
To begin, The Joads could never had made the trip to California if it weren’t for their worn down, yet still sufficient automobile. One of the biggest factors the family relied on during their journey was the endurance of their vehicle. While many other migrant’s vehicles may have not been able to make the full trip to California, the Joad family was able to ensure their trip by car would be less problematic. This was possible thanks to Al Joad, who had a passion for cars, and was therefore able to inspect the cars at the dealership and judge whether the automobile could wear the long journey. Al describes in a family meeting before the trip how he picked out the car, explaining how he “Stuck my finger in the
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differential an’ they wasn’t no sawdust… Test her clutch and rolled her wheels for line… Seen they was a cracked cell in her battery an’ made the fella put in a good one” (Steinbeck 100-101). The inner workings of the vehicle and their endurance throughout the migration to California and beyond immensely benefited the Joad family. To add onto this point, not only did the Joads rely on their automobile for the initial trip to California, but the vehicle became even more important when the Joads first settled into a run down Hooverville. An incident at the campsite consequently allowed law enforcement to take action, by burning the entire settlement to the ground. The events leading up to the destruction of the campsite convinced the Joad family to escape the Hooverville, and travel to a government owned settlement called Weedpatch. Without their automobile, the Joads would have been stranded at the Hooverville, and in turn would not have found work in the Weedpatch campsite. The family not only relied on their vehicle for their journey to California, but it became vital for survival afterwards. Finally, the Joads relied on their vehicle to store all of their food and possessions, as well as the family itself. The family could only store the items most essential to their survival on the road, and for after they reached their destination. Their dilapidated car was all the Joads had to secure the members of their family and what was left of their possessions. Without the Joad’s automobile, the family would not have had any means of transportation, or any means to carry their items vital for survival in the West. Additionally, the Joad family relied on the kindness of others and community to survive. An example of this can be seen when the Joads meet the Wilson family towards the beginning of their migration to California. When the Joads speak with Ivy Wilson, Mr. Wilson mentions that his jalopy has been breaking down more and more often, and he can no longer get the car to run. Al is proud to fix the Wilson’s car, and later he and his brother, Tom Joad, suggest a plan to divide the load of passengers and items onto the Wilson’s automobile after it is repaired. They do this because the Wilson family is smaller, and therefore carries less of a load. The Joads believe that less weight on their vehicle will lessen the risk of the car breaking springs, and will allow the Joad car to drive on hills. Without the Wilson’s help in providing another vehicle, the car’s parts could have broken under the pressure of the oversized load, possibly leaving the Joad family deserted later into their journey. Another example of the Joads relying on their community is noticed in the Hooverville campsite where a man named Floyd Knowles warns the family that there is no work in the area. He mentions to Tom that he and his family are planning to travel north, because he had heard there were fruit picking and cannery jobs available. This convinces the Joads that they would be better off traveling to find work than to stay at the Hooverville campsite. Without the warning of an absence of work from Floyd Knowles, it can be assumed that the Joads would have stayed in the area and would have unsuccessfully searched for jobs, meaning the family would sink deeper into poverty and possibly starve. A final representation of kindness from the community can be seen when the family arrives at the government campsite, Weedpatch. After the family’s first night spent at the campsite, Tom visits a family near his tent, who offer not only breakfast, but offer Tom a job. Tom immediately accepts, and is able to work the same day. His job laying down pipe allows both an income for the family, as well as hope to Ma Joad that the family is in a safe and stable condition in the government camp. It is clear that without acts of kindness from those around the Joad family during their journey, the family’s lives would have been afflicted more harshly by poverty and famine. Finally, the Joad family’s own members were vital for their survival while migrating to California. From the point in the story where Ma Joad is introduced, she is seen as the anchor of the family. It is even described in the novel how when her mood changes, it seems to disrupt the morale of the entire family. A more specific example of Ma Joad’s strength can be seen when the family arrives to Weedpatch, and she is told by a man at the campsite that her tent will be visited soon by a committee of women that will advise the family of how the sanitary unit should be used. Ma immediately rushes to clean the tent and ensure that every member of the family will look presentable for the committee. She orders Rose of Sharon to comb her hair and bathe, orders Pa to dress himself in clean clothes, washes the dishes, and prepares a meal and coffee for the committee. The way that Ma Joad efficiently cleans and prepares a meal, all while looking after every member of the family shows that without her, the family would be in shambles. Another example of strength in the family is Al Joad, Tom’s younger brother. Al is represented throughout the story as being passionate about cars, and this passion is particularly advantageous when the Joad’s car breaks down before they arrive to California. Al is able to understand that the oil was not able to make its way into the vehicle, and believes that a connecting rod will solve the issue. Because of Al’s talents in mechanics, he was able to get oil back into the car and meet up with the rest of the family without wasting any valuable time. If Al had not repaired the automobile as quickly as he did, the family could have been split up indefinitely. A third example of this same strength is prevalent in the novel when Pa Joad convinces Uncle John to look for work. When Uncle John first arrives at Weedpatch, he is weary from the loss of preacher Jim Casy, and from the guilt of his perceived sins throughout his life. Pa Joad takes no pity on Uncle John, because he knows that an income is vital for the family’s survival. He convinces John to join him in looking for work, by saying “don’ you go away. We’re droppin’ folks all the time… Le’s go back an’ talk, an’ find out where they’s some work. They ain’t no use burnin’ gas like this” (Steinbeck 319). Though Pa and Uncle John’s scavenge for jobs was to no avail, Pa’s dialogue with John shows the reader his determination to obtain what is best for the family. It is clear that the caring nature of Ma Joad, the essential strength from Al Joad, and the determination of Pa Joad all contributed to the family’s survival migrating to California. From examining the essential attributes of the Joad’s automobile, the people around them, and their own family leaders, it can be deduced that these factors were relied on for survival in the Joad’s trek to California.
Both the storage and the reliability of the inner workings of the vehicle offered an efficient mode of transportation vital for the Joad’s trip. Without the advice and aid from other migrants, the Joads might have never found work, causing poverty and famine. Finally, the perseverance from members of the family allowed the Joad’s to solve conflicts on their journey, and motivate other family members with unity as their best interest. Though the conditions of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression made migration difficult and at times hopeless for migrant families, the reliability of the Joad family’s automobile, the guidance of the fellow migrants, and the strength of the Joads themselves proved to overcome these challenges in John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of
Wrath.
John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath is one of the most influential books in American History, and is considered to be his best work by many. It tells the story of one family’s hardship during the Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. The Joads were a hard-working family with a strong sense of togetherness and morals; they farmed their land and went about their business without bothering anyone. When the big drought came it forced them to sell the land they had lived on since before anyone can remember. Their oldest son, Tom, has been in jail the past four years and returns to find his childhood home abandoned. He learns his family has moved in with his uncle John and decides to travel a short distance to see them. He arrives only to learn they are packing up their belongings and moving to California, someplace where there is a promise of work and food. This sets the Joad family off on a long and arduous journey with one goal: to survive.
Steinbeck meets his standard by celebrating the migrant workers’ drive and sense of community in the face of the Great Depression. The Joad family and many others, are dedicated to conquering all odds: “[t]hus they changed their social life–changed as in the whole universe only man can change” (Steinbeck 196). There are no other options available for these tenant families than to take the trek to California in hopes of finding work. The fears they once had about droughts and floods now lingered with
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 the 1930s, America’s Great Plains experienced a disastrous drought causing thousands of people to migrate west. As their land was devastated by the Dust Bowl, deprived farmers were left with few options but to leave. The Grapes of Wrath depicts the journey of the Joads, an Oklahoma based family which decides to move to California in search of better conditions. Coming together as thirteen people at the start, the Joads will undertake what represents both a challenge and their only hope. Among them are only four women embodying every ages: the Grandma, the Mother and her two daughters, the pregnant Rose of Sharon and the young Ruthie. Appearing in Chapter Eight the mother, who is referred to as “Ma”, holds a decisive role in Steinbeck’s novel. She is, along with her son Tom (the main character of the book), present from the early stage of the story until its very end. We will attempt to trace back her emotional journey (I) as well as to analyze its universal aspects and to deliver an overall impression on the book (II).
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,
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the Great Plains area in the 1930s. Much of the region was an agricultural area and relied on it for most of their economy. Combined with The Great Depression and the dust storms, farmers in the Great Plains area were severely hurt. These farmers were seeking opportunity elsewhere near the Pacific where they were mistreated by the others already there. The mistreatment is a form of disenfranchisement, by excluding and segregating a group of people from the rest of society. The disenfranchisement of the Oklahoma farmers during the 1930s was caused by a combination of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression which led to the farmers being forced to move west where they were mistreated because there were not enough jobs.
Steinbeck strikes at the fear in every man’s soul, with his portrayal of the poverty stricken life of the Joads as they travel from one stage of abandonment and what would seem like a helpless state to a journey of enduring perseverance. The Joads, Steinbeck’s creation in the Novel Grapes of Wrath is a large close-knit family living in Oklahoma during the “Dust Bowl” era. Steinbeck documents their journey beginning with their homelessness due to the crop failures to them surviving in a box car at the end of their journey. I think Steinbeck’ intention is to illustrate to the reader that being poor doesn’t always equate with being helpless. The Joads demonstrate this by their resilience to overcome homelessness, death, and prejudice.
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.
...t Bowl. Unfortunately the circumstances in the Great Plains all came to a head resulting in a horrific ten years for citizens of the Great Plains. The Dust Bowl caused government and people to look at farming practices and to evaluate their output. These policies resulted in overproduction of crops causing the prices to fall. The conclusion of World War I and countries that stopped importing foods added to the pain the farmers were already feeling. Yet with the establishment of government policies such as the Federal Relief Administration and the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act and with drought coming to an end, the Dust Bowl came to an end. The American people knew that they needed to do everything that was possible to end the Dust Bow. Tom Joad, the lead character in The Grapes Wrath best sums it up “ I know this... a man got to do what he got to do.”
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written by John Steinbeck, which focuses on an Oklahoman family that is evicted from their farm during an era of depression caused by the Dust Bowl. The Joad family alongside thousands of other refugees (also affected by the dirty thirties) migrates west towards California seeking employment and a new home. John Steinbeck’s purpose for writing this novel was to inform his audience of how many of their fellow Americans were being mistreated and of the tribulations they faced in order to attain regain what they once had. As a result, The Grapes of Wrath triggered its audience’s sympathy for the plight of the Dust Bowl farmers and their families.
The book The Worst Hard Time describes my experience on trying to get through this book but somehow almost made me grateful that even as difficult and exhausting as it was in actuality there was nothing worse, difficult or exhausting than living through the dust bowl storms in the 1930’s which luckily I did not do. If you ever feel ungrateful or depressed about something in your life just read this book and you will know that most problems now a days in the United States don’t compare to the hardships and loss of loved ones who died during the dust storms in the 1930s. The people who inhabited the dust bowl area which consisted of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas where sold an Idea of the American dream of owning property
Farming was the major growing production in the United States in the 1930's. Panhandle farming attached many people because it attracted many people searching for work. The best crop that was prospering around the country was wheat. The world needed it and the United States could supply it easily because of rich mineral soil. In the beginning of the 1930's it was dry but most farmers made a wheat crop. In 1931 everyone started farming wheat. The wheat crop forced the price down from sixty-eight cents/ bushels in July 1930 to twenty-five cents/ bushels July 1931. Many farmers went broke and others abandoned their fields. As the storms approached the farmers were getting ready. Farmers increased their milking cowherds. The cream from the cows was sold to make milk and the skim milk was fed to the chickens and pigs. When normal feed crops failed, thistles were harvested, and when thistles failed, hardy souls dug up soap weed, which was chopped in a feed mill or by hand and fed to the stock. This was a backbreaking, disheartening chore, which would have broken weaker people. But to the credit of the residents of the Dust Bowl, they shouldered their task and carried on. The people of the region made it because they knew how to take the everyday practical things, which had been used for years and adapt them to meet the crisis.
The drought caused a lot of unfavorable conditions for farmers in the southwest. In Worster’s book he says “Few of us want to live in the region now. There is too much wind, dirt, flatness, space, barbed wire, drought, uncertainty, hard work…” (Worster 105). The droughts caused many unfavorable condition throughout the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring sections of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. Thus, roughly one-third of Texas and Oklahoman farmers left their homes and headed to California in search of migrant work. The droughts during the 1930s are a drastically misrepresented factor of the Dust bowl considering “the 1930s droughts were, in the words of a Weather Bureau scientist, the worst in the climatological history of the country.” (Worster 232) Some of the direct effects of the droughts were that many of the farmers’ crops were damaged by deficient rainfall, high temperatures, and high winds, as well as insect infestations and dust storms that accompanied these conditions. What essentially happened was that the soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor, so the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “black blizzards.” The constant dry weather caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The effects of the drought happened so rapidly and progressively over time that
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.
To begin with the “Dust Bowl” was one of the causes of economic fallout which resulted in the Great Depression because the “Dust Bowl” destroyed crops which were used to sell and make profit and the government had to give up a lot of money in order to try and help the people and land affected by the “Dust Bowl”. The “Dust Bowl” is referring to a time during the 1930’s where the Great Plains region was drastically devastated by drought. All of the including areas (Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico) all had little to no rainfall, light soil, and high winds, which were not a very suitable combination. The drought lasted from 1934 to 1937, most of the soil during the drought lacked the better root system of grass. Therefore it was easy for the