Movie: The Grapes Of Wrath - The people and the Depression
In the movie The grapes of Wrath, the Joads undergo the hit of the
depression, they have to leave their farm. They go to California for jobs, but
find there are few jobs, and it pays little, or at least less then what they
were told. The government tried to start programs to house and employ people
like the Joads. Since the people who already lived in the cities in which these
developments were put didn't want them there anyway, they tried to start a riot
and have the police Arrest them. Although in the movie the plan was foiled, it
could have worked in many other places, or the towns folk could have just
created a lynch mob, and eventually the people living in the development would
leave.
I believe that the economic situation of the country has a great effect
on the fall, or succession of people like the Joads, but I don't believe
government programs will effect them at all. For example, the great depression
was a major economical event, and it greatly effected more then just people like
the Joads, but programs like the public works administration which employed
people for government construction projects. Another program, the Works
Progress Administration, later called the Works Projects Administration was
created to develop relief programs, and to keep a person's skills. From 1935-
1943, it employed 8 million people, and spent 11 billion dollars. But in 1939,
there were still 9.5 million still unemployed. Another program was the Civilian
Conservation Corps. Unemployed, unmarried young men were enlisted to work on
conservation and resource-development projects such as soil conservation, flood
control, and protection of forests and wildlife. These men were provided with
food, lodging, and other necessities, and were given a small monthly salary.
Another program was the CWA, the civil works administration. It employed more
then 4 million workers to build and repair roads, and teach in schools, were
just a couple of the jobs.
Some of these programs would work temporarily, but eventually there
would be no more work to do, or the government would run out of funds. All
these programs were hated by some, and loved by others, and some just didn't
care. The business men that were lucky enough not to lose everything, and the
other employees working in the cities who still had jobs during the depression
didn't like these new programs. In the movie, The Grapes Of Wrath, The towns
people didn't like the government funded version of a "Hooverville".
In the Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters to provide background for the various themes of the novel, as well to set the tone of the novel".
People show either fight or flight reaction when they meet obstacles. Which means people will either approach or avoid the issues which are given to them. The two main characters in Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin, represent those two reactions. Obstacles, such as conflicts between brothers and social structure which is not supportive to them, equally disturb the brothers. But the brothers’ way managing and reacting to obstacles illustrates a huge contrast between them. Sonny represents a group of people who approaches and fights against his obstacles. Sonny’s older brother, the narrator of the text, represents a group of people who avoids or runs away from his obstacles. Sonny is able to persuade his brother, who had an opposite tendency, in the end of the story. Based on the result of the story, it appears that Sonny is “more right” than his older brother.
Segregation – prejudice – persecution: slavery had ended, but African-Americans were still forced to carve out a grim existence beneath the dispassionate stare of narrow-minded bigots. Soon, the Civil Rights Movement would gain momentum and drastically alter such social exclusion, but James Baldwin writes his story “Sonny’s Blues” before this transformation has occurred. In the style of other Post-Modernist writers of his day, Baldwin invents two brothers, Sonny and the narrator, who seem to have given up on finding meaning in their lives: escape, not purpose, is the solution for suffering. Although marginalized by white society, these men are still influenced by external standards – most noticeably our narrator. Using these two brothers as voices for a broader purpose, Baldwin develops conflicts within the story to depict a battle between the expectations of society (our unnamed narrator) and a free, African-American spirit (Sonny) as they each try to understand how to live in a changing world. Baldwin forces them to grapple with such difficult concepts as escape and suffering in an attempt to guide his own race toward the soothing balm of reconciliation.
drop their life and move to a different state. When they arrived in California they were not
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, shows a whole family and their struggles. The grapes of Wrath is modeled after a biblical reference to the Israelites, god¹s chosen people. They also left their land, Egypt, and wandered into the desert for many years,searching in vain for a promised land, the land of milk and honey. A lot like the Israelites, many farmers in the middle of the country began migrating to California. The Joads I believe had no choice but to leave the dust bowl to find work. They also had to cross the desert and lost the life of Grandma Joad in the process.
During the Dustbowl and Great Depression, supplies were scarce and migrants began to work together toward a common goal of attaining a better life. In the 30s, many of the migrants saw Capitalism as corrupt, for they were not given reasons to like Capitalism. When Steinbeck lived in California, he noticed that the migrants were forming groups and camps, correlating with his views on Communism at the time. He saw that the migrants were trying to escape Capitalism. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses the symbol in intercalary chapter seventeen and the Joad chapters to show that the migrants attempt to escape Capitalism through the natural human instinct of Communism.
Of the 13 recessions that the American public has endured since the Great Depression of 1929-33, none has presented a more punishing combination of length, breadth,and depth than this one.(The Great Depression1). This quote stated how hard the Great Depression hit Americans at this time. Spending money on entertainment such as movies, books,comics,or magazines was out of the question for most people. That helped Americans escape from troubles for a while. This is called escapism or a mental diversion by means of entertainment or as an" escape" from the unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life.
James Baldwin, the author of “Sonny Blues,” is an African American novelist and storywriter. In one of his most famous stories, “Sonny’s Blues,” he writes about a young boy that has an addiction to heroin. The story shows the relationship between two brothers and the problems that they, and their family have to endure. The brothers do not have a close bond during the time that the story takes place. James Baldwin, while growing up also dealt with many family issues. He didn’t know his biological father and had trouble being accepted into society being a homosexual African American. The boy portrayed as Sonny in “Sonny’s Blues” very closely resembles the way Baldwin must have been treated growing up. They both were shunned from society, and both struggled with the way their families interacted with one another. Baldwin could have purposely done this to illustrate what his childhood was like and express it to the world through the story that he wrote.
More specifically speaking, Baldwin is assessing through the fictional story the difficulties in understanding and accepting those who do not comply with social norms. Throughout the entirety of the story it is clear that Sonny’s brother cannot understand his brother or his brother’s choices. This inability to identify with and comprehend his brother drives a wedge between the two, until finally, the narrator shows up to a performance put on by Sonny, opens his mind and his prejudices, and begins to finally understand his
John Steinbeck uses symbolism to enrich his writing. Several of these symbols can be found in his book, The Grapes of Wrath. The Joad’s, a family from Oklahoma, are in search of a better life. They leave their home in journey to California because of the dust bowl. The symbols in the book are the dust, the turtle, names of people, and the grapes. These symbols give the reader an additional perspective of the book. Dust represents life and death. Dust makes a mess of things and leaves possessions under a mucky film. The farming in Oklahoma becomes difficult because the heavy winds uplift the soil and carry it great distances. Then the farmers are left with no soil to grow their crops. The Joad’s livelihood depends on the soil. If the soil is rich, then it will feed hundreds. But if the soil is dry, it destroys crops and causes famine. The dust covers Oklahoma and leaves the Joad family with no other choice, but to move. The Joad’s journey to California is as slow as a turtle. Heat in the desert, car problems, and the death of the grandparents make the journey long and painful. A turtle shelters himself by pulling his head, legs, and tail inside his shell. The Joad’s gather together as a family to comfort and shelter themselves. A turtle feels safe when it enters his shell and the Joad’s feel safe when they gather as a family. There is symbolic significance in the names of characters throughout The Grapes of Wrath.
It can be seen through Dickens’s highly successful novel Great Expectations, that his early life events are reflected into the novel. Firstly the reader can relate to Dickens’s early experiences, as the novel’s protagonist Pip, lives in the marsh country, and hates his job. Pip also considers himself, to be too good for his ...
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens is a fascinating tale of love and fortune. The main character, Pip, is a dynamic character who undergoes many changes through the course of the book. Throughout this analysis the character, Pip will be identified and his gradual change through the story will be surveyed.
Shades of Dickens' childhood are repeatedly manifested throughout Great Expectations. According to Doris Alexander, Dickens "knew that early circumstances shape character and that character, in turn, shapes reactions to later circumstances" (3). Not coincidentally, then, the novel is initially set in Chatham and the action eventually moves to London, much like Dickens did himself. The "circumstances" that young Pip experiences a...
Great Expectations is essentially a novel of the education of a young man in the lesson of life. Pip is analyzing himself through his memories and from the point of view of maturity (“Charles Dickens” 1).
In conclusion, Dickens portrays the novels title, Great Expectations, through Pip’s desires and dreams and luck. Once he finds out his secret benefactor was Magwitch, he is surprised. Pip has had many great expectations which he was able to fulfill through the aid of Magwitch. Apart from Pip’s expectations of riches and importance of being a gentleman, the readers have expectations of the novel having many turning points due to Dickens ability to craft a consistent plot in which there is a fluency in all angles. Pip had high hopes, or Great Expectations, for everything which blindly seems right to him were not carried out.