Communism In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

The U.S. farmers took priority over the immigrants that lead to repatriation during the 1930’s. The immigrant workers sought employment in the United States for the better wages and safer environments. The United States citizens sought work in California to earn wages and provide for their family. The repatriation was utilized because there were too many immigrants for each job available in California that kept the migrant farmer from being able to work; “the government deported more than 500,000 Mexican-Americans” during the 1930’s to help the migrant farmers have a better chance to gain employment in California agriculture

John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is an American classic which utilizes many different kinds of philosophies. One such philosophy is proletarianism. Proletarianism is the description of the injustices of the laboring classes. Put simply, it is when one social class is pitted against another. There are many examples of this philosophy throughout Steinbeck’s novel.

Families moved from town to town in hopes to find a good job, but that was very hard to do because most people could not afford to pay others, forcing some small businesses to close down. When work was found, it would be hard to keep that job for long because they would run out of money and close down, or someone would bargain to work at a lower cost. “The miserable failures of capitalist economies in the Great Depression were the root causes of worldwide social and political disasters.” (James Tobin). As the economy went down, people went to the banks for loans and to withdraw money, but the banks were unable to assist them.

During the great depression, the midwest underwent a long drought. Exposed dry earth swept away with the wind and caused huge dust storms that prolonged the dry weather. With the lowered selling prices and the lack of crops the farmers had some major economic trouble. In Black Blizzard and John Steinbeck 's Grapes of Wrath, the literature develops the ideas of the poor distribution of wealth within the populations and the social aspects of people of different economic class. Social differences arise in the wealthy, the employed, and the unemployed throughout this period of hardship.

Family Life in the Midst of the Great Depression The Great Depression has greatly changed the way the world works as a whole, but how did it affect family life? Numerous families were broken apart during this time because of the lack of money and resources, making it very hard to live. During the Great Depression, families were mainly affected by changes in family roles, differences in food and play, and issues with marriages and abandonment. From Bible times to the start of the Great Depression, men led the family by making money, while women kept the home tidy. This stereotype was greatly changed in 1929 when men lost their jobs and women stepped into a higher role, causing the number of married women to greatly increase.

Intercalary Chapter Literary Analysis During the Great Depression, the nation as a whole was stripped of financial security and forced into a survivalist way of living. This changed the ways that people interacted with one another and the overall mentality of society. In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family is torn from their land and find themselves with nothing, a common story for migrant farmers of that time, derogatorily called “Okies” by Californians. But this is not the only group that is struggling, the entire county was in a state of panic and bruteness, no matter how “well off” they seemed to be.

Families not only lost their saving as the banking system collapsed, but they were also unable to pay mortgages, rent and were deprived and evicted from their houses. The effects of the depression were

In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck follows the Joad family as they suffer the hardships caused by the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. The most important lesson people can learn from the novel is the value of a human life. Although the 1930’s was a low point in American society, the ill-treatment of human beings is still relevant today. Just like Jim Casy’s philosophy, it is important to fight for the rights of the people and their dignity. There are several examples of oppression in The Grapes of wrath.

The Grapes of Wrath, one of his most well-known works is exemplary of Steinbeck’s pursuit to bring attention to the lower class and their struggles during the Great Depression, and to hold those who caused the Depression accountable, as seen in his quote “I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this [the Great Depression and its effects]. I’ve done my damnedest to rip a reader’s nerves to rags” (“The Grapes of Wrath”]. Published in 1939, the novel follows a family of tenant farmers who are forced to turn their land over to the banks and journey across the Dust Bowl to the ‘promised land’ of California (“John Ernst Steinbeck”). The Grapes of Wrath became highly debated and criticized, and many accused Steinbeck of dramatizing the conditions portrayed in the novel to prove a point; however, he had actually underplayed the conditions, feeling that “exact descriptions would have gotten in the way of his story.” Though embraced by the working class, critics condemned the novel as a ‘pack of lies’ and ‘Communist propaganda,’ and the book was banned from 1939 to 1941.

John Steinbeck has been a pillar of American literature for decades. His work, especially Grapes of Wrath and The Harvest Gypsies, helped to shed light on some of the issues that plagued California, and the rest of the United States during the Great Depression. His works accentuate the theme of the importance of community, especially when those with the power to help don 't. These novels take place during the Great Depression, a time when there were very few jobs, little stability, widespread poverty, and diminished hopes for the future. This era sets the stage on which these stories take place. During these harsh times, many people turned to the government or banks for help, but they were turned down by the banks because they wanted a profit, or they bankrupted, and the government 's resources were stretched so low they could only help few people.

This story reveals all the difficulties and all of the suffering proceeding of many of the migrant laborers during the Great Depression and also the Dust Bowl. The novel by Steinbeck has been written to criticize many of the careless and self-interested people and overly important corporate and banking elites for trying to increase their profit policies that would ultimately force many of the farmers to suffer and go through major tribulations. Through these careless actions many of these farmers had to go through things such as starving. It is a very well written political piece, it describes the actions by the lower classes in a great way. As the Grape of Wrath begins, the Joad family is a very traditional family and the structure of the family is in which where the men make the decisions and the women do as they are told.

The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.

During the Great Depression, many people were desperate for a job, food, shelter, and security, all of which are standards expected in the modern world. However, in the midst of an economic crisis, the people who had stability despised those who could not achieve a steady way of life. Farmers who hoarded the food that could keep people alive would not help those in need. By selfishly withholding aid, the farmers failed humanity in a way, “that topples all our success,” showing that what they did was not right (Steinbeck 349). When faced with the injustice of people being too poor to afford what they need to survive, those who had resources were morally obligated to help feed those

Grapes of Wrath clearly illustrate the class struggle between workers and the upper class. Steinbeck displays the discrimination between the migrant people and landowners. Migrant workers are handled worse than animals, family’s or “Okies” are starving as food is wasted by the wealthy and the landowners maintain control through violence. “What do you want us to do? We can't take less share of the crop – we're half starved now.

In John Steinbeck’s movie and novel “The Grapes of Wrath,” he presented the ecological, sociological, and economic disaster that the United States suffered during the 1930s. The movie is set during the Great Depression, “Dust Bowl,” and it focuses on the Joad’s family. It is a poor family of farmers who resides in Oklahoma, a home fulfilled by scarcity, economic hardship, agricultural changes, and job losses. Unexpectedly, affected by their hopeless situation, as well as they are trapped in an ecological madness, the Joad’s decided to move out to California; Beside with other people whom were affected by the same conditions, those seeking for jobs, land, a better life, and dignity.