Christianity In John Steinbeck's Grapes Of Wrath

In the book Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses people and situations to represent and also criticize Christianity. From the people in this book to the immorality regarding certain situations. Throughout the book there are many examples of “sins” and immorality, but there are also examples of the need for no religion, the strengths of these people and their situations. Christianity is taken as many different things by people throughout this book.

Throughout Grapes of Wrath people do and say things that are not along the “guidelines” of Christianity. People murdering people, stealing, lying and betraying each other; however, in their eyes some of these things may be okay do to the situations they are in. People also look back and reflect on the things they have done, whether to feel bad or just to talk about it, sometimes people

Landowners and banks, however, aren’t so much in the same position as the poor families throughout the story. Although religion is helpful, the families don’t need it as much, because they still find ways to continue on in life with or without religion. The rich landowners and banks aren’t affected as much by the things that happen to these poor families but, they are still affected by it in ways. The banks and landowners are tied to the religious theme of the novel. This can be seen in hiring or not hiring of the poor folks. When farmers and owners of the lands that are worked choose to hire workers, they advertise a larger paying price than there really is, so when a worker arrives for work they are paid a lot less than what they were originally promised. This applies to religion because not only can it be argued that the landowners and farmers are sinning, but it can be argued that the farmers and landowners still have faith that the worker hired is still going to take the job simply because he is so in need of food and other things he desperately