During the 1930s, the Great Depression severely affected the economy of the United States as well as the majority of its citizens. This catastrophe, along with the Dust Bowl, resulted in people having their land and homes stripped away from them, their families becoming deathly ill, and having a huge lack of basic necessities for survival. In John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, he strategically structured his chapters in order to correctly portray what was going on during this period in American history. Steinbeck argued that the Great Depression was a widespread struggle, and through the unification of people, it would help ease the adversities brought about by this period, and he advanced these arguments through the use of interchapters. …show more content…
Steinbeck wanted to make his readers aware of the fact that this depression did not only impact the Joad family throughout this novel, but rather almost everybody living during the 1930s. He was able to convey this message by frequently switching between chapters relating to the Joad family, and interchapters, which switched the focus to a much wider perspective relating to the majority of the American population. Steinbeck clearly advances this argument in interchapter five saying, “And now the owner men grew angry. You'll have to go. But it’s ours, the tenant men cried. We-- No. The bank, the monster owns it. You'll have to go” (46). This instance depicts a point during this period when several families had their land taken away from them by the bank because they could no longer support themselves. By providing information regarding what was going on with the general population at this time, the reader is clearly able to see and understand Steinbeck’s argument. He later relates this instance to the fact the Joads were also a family suffering from this hardship, thus ultimately showing that this struggle was experienced by several families during this time …show more content…
As time progressed, it only further exacerbated the conditions of life at this time, and it is apparent that Steinbeck thought that in order to approach to solve this huge problem, people had to stop seeing themselves as individuals, but rather part of a group of people. In interchapter fourteen, Steinbeck states, “It was my mother’s blanket-- take it for the baby. This is the thing to bomb. This is the beginning-- from ‘I’ to ‘we’” (206). These particular sentences really show Steinbeck advancing his argument of trying to urge people to work together. The giving of the blanket at this point was significant because it showed that at this time, people stopped just worrying about their own family and they gave aid to other families suffering the same hard times as them. Likewise, the same thing was happening with the Joads when they united with other families such as the Wilsons and families from the Weedpatch. Furthermore, this shows that Steinbeck's use of the interchapters allows the reader to gain a broader perspective than just the lives of the Joads at this time to really comprehend the circumstances of the situation the majority of people were in at this
He takes this opportunity to impose his power and get his revenge by killing Lennie. Steinbeck uses this moment to criticize the American Capitalist Society by showing how it allowed the one who has power to exert it onto the weak and innocent in the society. Curely abuses his power and ignores the effect it could have on people. He uses that factor to diminish people and make him feel better about himself as he is
This desperation is painted throughout the repetition of “God”. The people that are being exploited by the Bank are desperate for survival during the extremely difficult times of the 1930s. The landowners knew that the land was poor and that they had “scrabbled at it long enough, God knows”(Steinbeck 32). Even the landowners were slaves to the Bank, no matter how much profit they made themselves. Their land was not profitable, with or without the tenants.
Steinbeck’s uses the intercalary chapters to describe the migrant’s meaningful struggle. “Fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe”(p.205). Steinbeck uses this chapter to describe how the farmers may be dying of starvation, but they are dying for a cause that defines them, and will dye to save those they care for, in order to get what they deserve in the future. Humanity would not improve or grow stronger against evil if they gave up on fighting for their cause. Steinbeck uses this chapter to show the struggle and fight of all the people, and shows how the Joads too, are fighting toward a goal that mankind dying
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.
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.
In what ways did the Great Depression affect the American people? After a decade of economic prosperity, what seemed like an era that defined the concept of the American dream, quickly came to an end when the stock market on Wall Street collapsed in 1929. The aftermath of the events that occurred on Wall Street would put its heavy mark on the years to follow among the citizens of the United States. Banks closed down, unemployment rose and homelessness increased. It was a widespread national catastrophe that had its impacts on both poor and rich.
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.
John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is a classic American novel that shows the difficulties migrant workers had to go through during the Great Depression. The novel’s intercalary chapters use setting, syntax and other literary elements to depict the hardships that migrant families went through and to create a tone of despair in the story. Body Paragraph 1: By using both syntax and diction, Steinbeck develops a tone of despair in the Intercalary Chapter 25 of the grapes of wrath.
The spirit of unity emerges as the one unfailing source of strength in Steinbeck’s novel. He tries and accomplishes in conveying it to the reader, through imagery. On multiple accounts,
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.
Community, so close to Steinbeck’s heart, is exaggerated in every possible way in this novel. In an eloquent way, he molds the reader’s hearts to believe that a communal soul (or oversoul) is best for the people as well. Truly, the language and rhetoric applied in order to encourage this philosophy is unlike any other writing by Steinbeck, or any other socialist writer for that
John Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men, is a compelling story that has captured and embodied the struggle and loneliness felt by many during the Great Depression. While desire for the American Dream is prominent in the novel, Steinbeck is able to demonstrate the wants from different social classes through the construction of characters such as George Milton and Curley’s wife. With these characters, Steinbeck successfully displays the difference in ideas, values and attitudes of certain social classes in the 1930’s and the illustrates the rarity of achieving the American Dream. Steinbeck wrote this novel during the Great Depression, when America was suffering greatly by the disastrous crash of the stock market. From this point in time, separation of the different classes became
Grapes of Wrath show the unfair working situations that migrants face when they arrive in California. Land Owners are the most wealthy and powerful having the ability to pay their workers a poor wage. In the Grapes of Wrath, many Americans lose their homes, jobs and life savings, forcing them to move and leave behind their land in hopes of finding a prosperous place to live. The Great Depression (1929-1939) was the worst, deepest and longest lasting economic collapses in the industrialized western world. The Joad family is planning to move to California, but some of them have doubts and attachments that make them contemplate whether or not it is the right choice.
In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the chapters alternate between two perspectives of a story. One chapter focuses on the tenants as a whole, while the other chapter focuses specifically of a family of tenants, the Joads, and their journey to California. Chapter 5 is the former and Steinbeck does an excellent job of omniscient third person point of view to describe the situation. Chapter 5’s main idea is to set the conflict and let the readers make connections between Steinbeck’s alternating chapters with foreshadowing. Steinbeck is effectual in letting readers make connections both to the world and the text itself with the use of exposition, and symbolism.