John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath has left much specifically untold about the authors true intentions on this book.
His epic chronicle has been described as being “Written with
passionate conviction” (Dorothy Parker). This passionate conviction
has led John Steinbeck into mastering bold dramatization. His skills
at the art of dramatization in literature was not solely used in The
Grapes of Wrath, but also used in another of his twisted and possibly
controversial works called Of Mice and Men.
One of John Steinbeck’s main and possibly most obvious themes, is
the hostility and frequent hatred between the migrant workers and the
already socially and financially established Californians. There are
many examples in the book that show not only that Steinbeck thought
that it was an issue to be concerned with, but also it showed his
thoughts and feelings towards the subject. Three examples of this
theme are shown during encounters with other people that have already
been there, in the corollary chap Along the way to California the
Joad’s encountered other people that had already been to California
and were now returning. These people, like the ragged man with the
sunburned face from the road-side camp described on page 242. He had
had children that died because wages were too low and work was too
scarce to afford food for his children and wife. His story was one of
pain and despair, also his story showed the cruelty and inhumane
treatment which the California land owners displayed towards the
migrant workers. This grim story of the broken man didn’t discourage
the Joad’s from parting from the set course. Later on inside the
Californian border the Joads stop by a river. Tom and his Father find
a spot to go swimming where they are promptly joined on page 263 by
two men, a man and his son, who asked if they may also partake in
swimming with Tom and his Father. The men start talking and it turns
out that the other two men have just come from California. They tell a
story not extremely unlike the other story which the man at the
road-side camp described. Their story describes the conditions as very
uncomfortable. Subsequently the Joads paid no head to this warning
either. Hence, they traveled on, only to meet up with (on page 274) a
very dispassionate police officer. This gave the Joads a first hand
sip of the general mood that Californians had for these migrant
workers. The policeman treated the migrants with little or no respect,
seemed to just as soon see them drop off the face of the earth than
see them come into California.
The Corollary chapter Nineteen deals with the history of
California. How it was settled by the feverish Americans. Through
these descriptions we can start to understand the Californians view on
why they dislike the migrant workers with such conviction. The chapter
describes the initial owners of the land, the Mexicans, as being “weak
and fed”. This description would suggest that the Mexican’s were well
fed and content to live freely on the land with little desire to need
more. Thus they were in little position to try and stop the onslaught
of American’s who wanted the land much more than the Mexicans did, and
were too weak to stop them from doing so. This lead to the turning
over of the land to the American’s in the California region. This same
land was kept by the same families and worked with much success. So
much success that they needed to work only part of it to stay
leisurably comfortable, financially. Therefore the burning desire for
the land diminished. This is where the migrant workers come in. The
Californians view of the workers are very much the same as the
Mexican’s must have thought of the Californians when there land was
taken over. Consequently the Californians, being afraid that history
might repeat itself and the workers may take over the land, the
Californians tried to discourage the growth in population of migrant
workers as much as possible. Any way that they could, legal or not.
The killing of Jim Casy is an example of the cruel behavior of the
Californians. They killed Jim Casy because he was a leader. Not just
any leader, but a leader that wanted justice and decency for migrant
workers. He stood up for the people because their wages were being cut
in half. They were being cut so harshly that you couldn’t even eat off
the money that you got in a day, much less feed any part of your
family. Jim Casy stood up for the integrity of the workers and for
that reason, was killed. John Steinbeck shed a dim light on the
attitudes that make up prejudices and hatreds of the world. This
light is showing us that if we could get along with one another
without attitudes that make us hate or want to harm other people only
because of certain unchangeable circumstances, than we can finally
truely began to have an understanding of what it’s like to live in a
world with peace and understanding towards our fellow human. The Joads
weren’t trying to cause trouble and turmoil within the landowners of
California. They were simply trying to look for a better future. It
is, the American dream.
The Grapes of Wrath
As the novel The Grapes of Wrath progresses, the Joads progress from a concern only for themselves and their own personal welfare to a concern for all the people in the world. This is accompanied by the disintergration of the smaller family unit which is replaced by the larger world family of the migrant people. This shift from individual thinking to wide spread thinking is most directly seen in the actions of Tom Joad. When we first see him at the beginning of the novel he is mainly concerned for his own welfare.
He wants to make up for all the things he missed when in prison. Later on in the novel he is more concerned with the welfare of the family. When we last see him he has shifted to trying to do what is best for all the migrant people by trying to organize them into striking That shift in thinking is also accompanied with the replacement of the individual family by the world family. The thing that started the breakup of the individual family was the loss of their land.
The family had lived there for many generations and had strong ties to the land. Getting thrown off the land was sort of like losing their family history. This is shown by the things that Ma Joad burns before they left. Next Grampa Joad died because he couldn’t take leaving his home. He is the first family member to leave the family. At the same time though, the joining with the Wilsons shows that the individual family is being replaced by the larger world family of the migrant society.
Chapter seventeen is one of the general chapters that shows the growth of the new migrant society that has it’s own laws and leaders. At the boarder of California, they loose Noah when he refuses to leave the river, and have to leave the Wilsons behind because of Sairy’s illness. Then Granma dies on the way across the desert. The Joads have to leave her for a pauper’s burial. This shows the disintergration of the families standards. Previous to this the Joads had always paid their own way and never asked for charity.
In chapter twenty the family looses both Connie and Casy. The growth of the world family is shown when Ma shares her food with the other people’s children. When they get to the government camp, there is a brief respite from the breakup of the family. They are finally getting treated like humans again. Towards the end of the novel the family disintergrates more with the loss of Tom and engagement of Al. Now Ma realizes that the family doesn’t come first anymore when she said to Mrs. Wainwright that the family used to come first but now it’s just anyone who needs help.
