The Grapes of Wrath
An introduction
“The Harvest Gypsies”
► Seven
newspaper
articles on migrant
workers Steinbeck
observed in 1936.
► An eyewitness account
of the horrendous Dust
Bowl migration, a
major event in
California and U.S.
history.
“The Harvest Gypsies”
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Steinbeck toured the
squatters’ camps and
“Hoovervilles” of California.
Found once strong,
independent farmers so
reduced in dignity, beaten
in spirit, sick, sullen, and
defeated that they had
been “cast down to a kind
of sub-humanity.”
“The Harvest Gypsies”
► From
1935-’38,
between 300,000 and
500,000 “Okies”
(migrant farmers from
Oklahoma, Texas,
Arkansas, and
Missouri) arrived in
California.
► This provides the
factual foundation for
The Grapes of Wrath.
“The Grapes of Wrath”
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Traces the story of the
fictional Joad family:
typical farming family
forced off their land by
drought and foreclosure
during the Great
Depression.
It is a drama that is
“intensely human, yet
majestic in its scale and
moral vision…ultimately,
stirring in its insistence on
human dignity.”
Pre-reading
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There are 16 “inter-chapters” in the novel (generally, the odd-numbered
chapters, but not always).
They help create a total picture by establishing the entire social conditions of
which these characters are a part.
It would have been impossible to have the characters carry this entire load.
These characters must be real, credible, and believable.
So these inter-chapters fill in the larger picture to give some historical
perspective about the conditions that all of these migrants faced, not just the
Joads.
For example, chapter 1 gives background on the Dust Bowl. Chapter 5
describes the process by which mortgaged lands are taken over by the banks;
farmers are evicted; and lands are combined into vast holdings cultivated with
modern machinery.
However, everything included in the inter-chapters relates to the events of the
fictional story.
Pre-reading
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We don’t get names of new
characters in these chapters,
but we get “owners” and
“tenants” doing real, dramatic
things, rather than a
straightforward lecture on how
these things occurred.
These chapters also let
Steinbeck work in his own
statements, judgments, and
denunciations of what is
occurring.
Themes
The bond between land and people
Effects of technology
Casting off old ways
The “human family”
Government for the people and by the people
Endurance
“Grapes of Wrath”: Anger
Ten Values
An appreciation for our common humanity
2. Need to work together to achieve a
common goal
3. The need for compassion and justice for
the oppressed
4. Importance of avoiding stereotypes and
labels
5. The need to share what we have with
others, especially the poor
1.
Ten values
6. Importance of commitment to our beliefs
7. A respect for our spiritual heritage
8. The realization that change is part of the
human condition
9. The importance of caring about the earth
and environment
10. An understanding of the role of
technology in our lives
Purpose
► This
is a novel of social protest.
► Designed to inform the public of migrant workers’
plight.
► A plea for landowners of California and bankers in
Dust Bowl states to be more tolerant.
► Shows how migrant workers were used so bankers
and California land owners could turn a profit.
► Shows methods they used to cheat migrants and
keep them from organizing.
Title
► From
“The Battle
Hymn of the Republic”
► “Mine eyes have seen
the glory of the
coming of the Lord; he
is trampling out the
vintage where the
grapes of wrath are
stored.”
► Title is a reference to
justice and retribution.
The Dust Bowl: The Wrath of Nature
The Dust Bowl
► An
ecological and
human disaster in the
1930s
► Hit the Great Plains:
primarily Kansas,
Oklahoma, Texas, New
Mexico, Colorado
The Cause
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Years of misuse of land
Sustained drought
Millions of acres rendered useless
Native Americans’ warning to “leave the grass alone”
ignored
The Fallout
► As
land dried up, great
clouds of dust and
sand, carried by wind,
covered everything:
The “Dust Bowl” was
born.
► In 1937 alone, 134
dust storms recorded,
creating “Black
Blizzards.”
The human cost
► Hundreds
of
thousands of people
forced to flee
homes.
► Occurred during a
time of social and
economic upheaval:
The Depression.
The Legacy
► The
Dust Bowl lasted about a decade.
► Much was learned about cultivation in dry-land
ecosystems, which helped prevent another Dust
Bowl.