The book “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck describes pretty much what happened in the great depression. Even though some events were not exactly the same in the book as they were in real life, the book was based around what actually went on during the Great Depression. This all being stated; they are still two different worlds. The atmospheric conditions and Dust Bowl is the link between the book and what actually happened. In both worlds, the Farmers were forced off their land by some means, the atmosphere was harmful for people, and the Dust Bowl was the main reason for the start of the great depression. First off, in both the book and in the real world the farmers are forced off of their land by some means. As quoted in the book, “One cat’ takes and shoves ten families out. Cats all over hell now. Tear and shove croppers out” (13). Tom learned that tractors came and destroyed everyone’s farms. This caused every Farmer to move to somewhere where there was work. If you didn’t work, you didn’t survive. The
As quoted in the book, ““But for your three dollars a day, fifteen or twenty families can’t eat at all. Nearly a hundred people have to go out and wander on the roads for your three dollars a day” (50). Steinbeck showed the effect the Dust Bowl had on the farmers. Before the Dust Bowl came, everything was good; every farmer was able to grow crops with no problem. Then when the Dust Bowl came, farms dried out and left farmers with no income or food. This caused almost every farmer in the book to move to California. This mass migration caused problems that lead to the Great Depression. Same in the real world. Every farmer’s farm was torn apart by the damaging winds and the dry weather. The resulting agricultural depression contributed to the Great Depression’s bank closures, business losses, increased unemployment, and other physical and emotional
lied to an inspector telling him, "We got a sick ol' lady. We got to get her to
would be no more work to do, or the government would run out of funds. All
drop their life and move to a different state. When they arrived in California they were not
One of America’s most beloved books is John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The book portrays a family, the Joads, who leave Oklahoma and move to California in search of a more prosperous life. Steinbeck’s book garnered acclaim both from critics and from the American public. The story struck a chord with the American people because Steinbeck truly captured the angst and heartbreak of those directly impacted by the Dust Bowl disaster. To truly comprehend the havoc the Dust Bowl wreaked, one must first understand how and why the Dust Bowl took place and who it affected the most. The Dust Bowl was the result of a conglomeration of weather, falling crop prices, and government policies.
A major drought, over-cultivation, and a country suffering from one of the greatest depressions in history are all it took to displace hundreds of thousands of Midwesterners and send them, and everything they had, out west. The Dust Bowl ruined crops all across the Great Plains region, crops that people depended on for survival. When no food could be grown and no money could be made, entire families, sometimes up to 8 people or more, packed up everything they had and began the journey to California, where it was rumored that jobs were in full supply. Without even closing the door behind them in some cases, these families left farms that had been with them for generations, only to end up in a foreign place where they were neither welcomed nor needed in great quantity. This would cause immense problems for their futures. It is these problems that author John Steinbeck spent a great deal of his time studying and documenting so that Americans could better understand the plight of these migrant farmers, otherwise known as "Okies." From touring many of these "Hoovervilles" and "Little Oklahomas" (pg. v) Steinbeck was given a firsthand look at the issues and hardships these migrant workers faced on a daily basis. With the help of Tom Collins, manager of a federal migrant labor camp, Steinbeck began a "personal and literary journey" (pg. v), revealing to the world the painful truth of these "Okies" in his book Harvest Gypsies.
The Dust Bowl was a treacherous storm, which occurred in the 1930's, that affected the midwestern people, for example the farmers, and which taught us new technologies and methods of farming. As John Steinbeck wrote in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath: "And then the dispossessed were drawn west- from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out. Carloads, caravans, homeless and hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand. They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless - restless as ants, scurrying to find work to do - to lift, to push, to pull, to pick, to cut - anything, any burden to bear, for food. The kids are hungry. We got no place to live. Like ants scurrying for work, for food, and most of all for land." The early thirties opened with prosperity and growth. At the time the Midwest was full of agricultural growth. The Panhandle of the Oklahoma and Texas region was marked contrast to the long soup lines of the Eastern United States.
People had to live off of the possessions they owned and what little money they had or could earn. The determined families had to cling to their homes and way of life. Some of the things they had to endure were the drought, dust, disease and even death for almost a decade. For the families to survive free from dust storms they had to move to California, but only a quarter of the “ Dust Bowlers” did (The Drought n. pag.). People during the Great Depression didn’t really have much so most of the families from the Dust Bowl had to stay at their homes and survive the extreme dust storms.Some people think that it was the hardest to survive as a child.
The Great Depression and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath Though most Americans are aware of the Great Depression of 1929, which may well be "the most serious problem facing our free enterprise economic system", few know of the many Americans who lost their homes, life savings and jobs. This paper briefly states the causes of the depression and summarizes the vast problems Americans faced during the eleven years of its span. This paper primarily focuses on what life was like for farmers during the time of the Depression, as portrayed in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and tells what the government did to end the Depression. In the 1920's, after World War 1, danger signals were apparent that a great Depression was coming.
“Those who overcome great challenges will be changed, and often in unexpected ways. For our struggles enter our lives as unwelcome guests, but they bring valuable gifts. And once the pain subsides, the gifts remain. These gifts are life's true treasures, bought at great price, but cannot be acquired in any other way” (Steve Goodier, Author). The themes displayed in both John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle revolve around the idea of overcoming struggles to learn lessons and achieve goals. The Grapes of Wrath tells a story of the Joad family living during the Great Depression and having to travel to California to work and survive after losing their land in Oklahoma. On their journey they encounter various
The Great Depression is one of the worst time for America. Books, cartoons, and articles have been written about the people during the Depression and how they survived in that miserable period. For example, the book Bud not Buddy takes place in the time of the Great Depression. Bud is a ten year old orphan, who was on the run trying to find his dad. There are many feelings throughout the book like sadness and scarceness. There are many diverse tones in the book about what people were feeling at the time.
In the novels Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989) and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939), both authors explore the enduring strength of the human spirit, complex family dynamics, and the power of hope to create change in one’s world. The message of both texts is that people are both big and small; they can enact powerful change in the world around them, but even the most righteous change enacted by one person alone cannot affect great numbers.
For years, farmers had planted crops on the same land and neglected to use crop rotation (Wormser 32). Crop rotation is a method of planting crops in alternating areas to allow soil to regain nutrients and moisture. Farmers had chosen not to do this and instead overplanted their crops to gain a larger surplus. By destroying their land from over planting, farmers had a much harder time growing crops (Wormser 32). They no longer had the enriched soil that plants require. By then, it was too late to rotate the crops, because water evaporated so quickly and no nutrients were left. Reinhardt and Ganzel say that “it was constant work to put food on the table” (Reinhardt Ganzel). As a result of poor soil, farmers had a difficulty growing enough crops for a surplus, which meant they had a hard time selling produce. With little money, farmers had to be self-sustaining, although it was hard to even keep the family fed. farmers doomed themselves by not rotating crops, and the consequences were minimal crops and
“No one had any money. We were all in the same boat (Quoted in Reinhart, Gazel).” Everyone at the end of the 1920s, everyone was thrown into the same class of poverty and lower class. Farmers were hit especially hard because throughout the twenties they were already practically living in a depression of their own. In the thirties there was a man who went from farm to farm in the thirties named Pete Wettach, who would later become known for the photos he took. The Dust Bowl is mostly what people think of when farmers had to deal with in the Depression. They believed that was the only bad weather they had to deal with, however imagine living through not only that, but, blizzards, floods, drought, and many more things. After all, throughout the
In the book Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck a man, Tom Joad is released from an Oklahoma state prison after being there for four years for being convicted for manslaughter. A former preacher that he meets named Jim Casy, has come to the believe to give up his calling of being a preacher to believe that all life is holy. He helps Tom come back to his home only to see it is now deserted. Tom’s old neighbor names Muley Graves meets the men and tell them everybody has been “tractored,” or told to leave, the land. He tells them that most families went to California in look for a job.
Farmers couldn't afford to support their families or themselves, therefore they were struggling to live. An acre was sold for $5 during the dust bowl was then commanded to $50 an acre, farmers then knew they wouldn't have any chance to keep their farms and make profit. Dust storms were crucial to livestock, cattle were choked to death and their stomachs were full of dirt. Most had lost faith and moved on, while others stayed and hoped for the best. Farmers lost a large portion of money and ended up abandoning their