The Dust Bowl Emerges ·The Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted about a decade. Its primary area of impact...

THE GRAPES OF WRATH

By John Steinbeck

Background on the Dust Bowl and the Depression

The Dust Bowl Emerges ·The Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted about a decade. Its

primary area of impact was on the southern Plains. The northern Plains were not so badly affected, but nonetheless, the drought, windblown dust and agricultural decline were no strangers to the north. In fact the agricultural devastation helped to lengthen the Depression whose effects were felt worldwide. The movement of people on the Plains was also profound.

Poor agricultural practices and years of sustained drought caused the Dust Bowl. Plains grasslands had been deeply plowed and planted to wheat. During the years when there was adequate rainfall, the land produced bountiful crops. But as the droughts of the early 1930s deepened, the farmers kept plowing and planting and nothing would grow.

Black Sunday On Sunday April 14, 1935, the sun came up in a clear sky.

The day was warm and pleasant, a gentle breeze whimpered out of the southwest. Suddenly a cloud appeared on the horizon. Birds flew swiftly ahead of it, but not swift enough for the cloud traveling at sixty miles per hour. This day, which many people of the area readily remember, was named "Black Sunday".

By May, it seemed like the wind and dirt had been blowing for an eternity. Rain was an event occurring only in dreams. It was a year of intensive dirt storms, gales, rollers and floods mixed with economic depression, sickness and disaster. It was a year of extreme hardship, but surprisingly the vast majority of the people stayed. By 1935, the unusual had become the usual, the extreme became the normal, and the routine become the exception.

The Great Depression The imbalance between the rich and the poor, with 0.1 percent of

society earning the same total income as 42 percent, combined with production of more and more goods and rising personal debt, could not be sustained. On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world. It spread from the United States to the rest of the world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s. With banks failing and businesses closing, more than 15 million Americans (one-quarter of the workforce) became unemployed.

The rate of unemployment skyrocketed at an unprecedented rate: in 1929: 3.2% in 1930: 8.9% in 1931: 16.3% in 1932: 24.1% in 1933: 24.9%

Tom Joad

Freed from prison, after seven year sentence for manslaughter. He was unrepentant for his crimes, would “do it again”.

Joad’s Suppressed Anger? Is he a likeable character in the beginning of the novel?

Description: Under 30, hard, strong hands. Calloused.

Jim Casy

Bony, skinny, delicate. Almost the opposite of Joad—where Joad is muscle and wear, Casy doesn’t seem to fit

·Former Preacher: Has probably been driven from preaching to some extent.

Became involved with women in the religious meetingsConnection between “The Spirit” and sex

Concept of Love. Doesn’t love Jesus—he doesn’t know anyone with that name. He loves the people so

much, to the point of bursting One soul. All people are connected with one oversoul. Sound

familiar? “Maybe all men got one big soul ever’body’s a part of. Now I sat

there thinkin’ it, an all of a suddent—I knew it. I knew it so deep down that it was true, and I still know it.”

Joad’s Practicality: People won’t go to church for that

Uncle John and Shoat

Uncle John was crazy because he didn’t save, wasn’t careful. Sets up the old rules—and shows how they can fail

Tom Joad (Sr.) would save a pig, and then it would die. Better to take something when you want it than to wait?

The Bank as a Monster The Bank is a machine, an inhuman monster that lives on

profits, not on meat and air› Can’t be controlled, even by those who created it› Must always have more profits, Economic Growth

“The bank—the monster has to have profits all the time. It can’t wait. It’ll die. No taxes, go on. When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can’t stay one size.”

·Tractor versus the People› The tractor driver feels no connection to the land-isolated› Rape metaphor

Formless Anger› The men want to do something, want to hurt someone. They

have no direction for their anger. No one to kill› Ownership of the land comes from working it, not from owning it.

“That’s what makes it ours—being born on it, working on it, dying on it. That makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it.”

The Turtle

Definition of progress? Is it progress to keep moving forward in the light of obstacles? Is that just fruitless?

Struggle to move forward in light of obstacles that are beyond our control.

The Grapes of Wrath uses an unconventional structure in which narrative chapters (the traditional story is interspersed with intercalary chapters of general comment and symbolism. Steinbeck scholar Peter Lisca says that Steinbeck “uses three specific literary devices to minimize disruption and bring together the two components of the novel: juxtaposition, dramatization, and a variety of prose styles.”

Chapters 6-7

Notes about John Steinbeck 1902-1968, born in Salinas, California Many of his works deal with California Steinbeck's novels can all be classified as social novels

dealing with the economic problems of rural plight of the oppressed

·One of the “Big Four” of early 20th Century American Authors-Steinbeck, Hemmingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald

Nobel Prize in 1962 ·In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, The

Winter of Our Discontent, Travels with Charley, Cannery Row Steinbeck Quotes

› “I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.”

› “In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable.”› “The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most

important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.

Muley Graves

Old farmer who refuses to leave the land, even though his family has already left.

“If on’y they didn’ tell me I got to get off, why I’d prob’y be in California right now…but them sons-a-bitches says I got to get off—an’, Jesus Christ, a man can’t, when he’s tol’ to!”

Wildness in Graves. Lost connection to people- lonesome or crazy? Even he

doesn’t seem to know. Connection to the earth, to the land. Can’t give it up “ They got Pa dyin’ on the ground, and Joe yellin’ his first

breath, an’ jerking like a Billy Goat under a bush in the light.” Hospitality. (A person is obligated to share his food

with someone who is hungry)

Jim Casey

· Renewed sense of “sperit” from the conversation with Graves

· Realizes he needs to travel, to move forward, to talk to the people.

o “Folks out lonely on the road, folks with no lan’, no home to go to. They got to have some kind of home. Maybe…an’ where folks are on the road , I’m gonna be there with them.”

Tom’s Nature

Physical Nature. He is worried about all of the talking and philosophy when there is good food to eat.› Focuses on physical needs, simplicity, but do the

words have meaning to him? Practicality.

› He questions the institution of prison because it didn’t make him not want to commit murder.

› “But when a bunch of men take an’ lock you up for four years, it ought to have some meaning. Men is supposed to think things out.” Human Reason. We should be able to understand

these things. Perhaps a faith in the government, for now.

Car Dealers Physical Nature. He is worried about all of

the talking and philosophy when there is good food to eat.› Focuses on physical needs, simplicity, but do

the words have meaning to him? Practicality.

› He questions the institution of prison because it didn’t make him not want to commit murder.

› “But when a bunch of men take an’ lock you up for four years, it ought to have some meaning. Men is supposed to think things out.” Human Reason. We should be able to

understand these things. Perhaps a faith in the government, for now.

Chapters 8-12

Uncle John

Tom considers him crazy, more crazy than Muley even

Drives himself to complete denial, then binges to excess

“Nearly all the time the barrier of loneliness cut Uncle John off from people and from appetites. He ate little, drank nothing, and was celibate. But underneath, his appetites swelled into pressures until they broke through.”

Death of his wife in childbirth. John’s guilt

Pa Joad

Powerful, strong for his age. Sense that he is in decline—his hair, his

eyes, his reliance on Tom and Ma.

Ma Joad

Combination of strength and gentleness in the same person. Center of the family, its strength “Her full face was not soft; it was controlled, kindly. Her hazel

eyes seemed to have experienced all possible tragedy and to have mounted pain and suffering like steps into a high calm and a superhuman understanding. She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken. And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt and fear, she had practiced denying them in herself.”

Judgment/wisdom Her Worry About Tom’s Anger Emergence of Anger/A New Edge to Ma

› "I never had my house pushed over," she said. "I never had my fambly stuck out on the road. I never had to sell- ever'thing”

Noah Joad

Oldest Child, Strange Pa’s Guilt About his birth—fear that he

“damaged” Noah; made him strange “He lived in a strange silent house and

looked out of it through calm eyes. He was a stranger to all the world, but he was not lonely.”

Al Joad

Youngest son, looks up to Tom “And randy Al, seeing he was being

noticed, threw back his shoulders, and he came into the yard with a swaying strut like that of a rooster about to crow.”

Rose of Sharon and Connie Rivers

18, newly married and pregnant Maturity from her pregnancy; her husband, Connie, is

afraid and in awe of her. “And the world was pregnant to her; she thought only

in terms of reproduction and of motherhood. Connie, her nineteen-year-old husband, who had married a plump, passionate hoyden, was still frightened and bewildered at the change in her; for there were no more cat fights in bed, biting and scratching with muffled giggles and final tears. There was a balanced, careful, wise creature who smiled shyly but very firmly at him. Connie was proud and fearful of Rose of Sharon.”

Grandma and Grandpa

Both have reverted to childishness—totally reliant on Ma Joad

They loved each other because of their fighting

Grandpa: lecherous, rude Grandma: Religious, but only as ritual—

no sense of understanding “They fought over everything, and

loved and needed the fighting.”

The Family’s Lack of Emotion

Parents reaction to Tom’s return Tom’s Role in the Family—it’s obvious that he

had a central role. “And then her fingers went up to his cheek as a

blind man's fingers might. And her joy was nearly like sorrow. Tom pulled his undelip between his teeth and bit it. Her eyes went wonderingly to his bitten lip, and she saw the little line of blood against his teeth and the trickle of blood down his lip. Then she knew, and her control came back, and her hand dropped.”

Casey Enters the Family Family takes him because generosity is necessary. Ma says they have had mean family members before,

but no one that mean. His Emerging Philosophy/Rationale for Traveling

› "I ain't gonna baptize. I'm gonna work in the fiel's, in the green fiel's, an' I'm gonna be near to folks. I ain't gonna try to teach 'emnothin'. I'm gonna try to learn. Gonna learn why the folks walks in the grass, gonna hear 'em talk, gonna hear 'em sing. Gonna listen to kids eatin' mush. Gonna hear husban' an' wife a-poundin' the mattress in the night. Gonna eat with 'em an‘ learn." His eyes were wet and shining. "Gonna lay in the grass, open an' honest with anybody that'll have me. Gonna cuss an' swear an' hear the poetry of folks talkin'. All that's holy, all that's what I didn't understan'. All them things is the good things."

The Family Dynamic

Men are paramount, with women and children outside the circle.

Age brings privilege—examples of Grampa and Al

Family Dynamic is more ritual than fact—Ma is the driving force of the family now

Loss of Memories

· Families have to lose their memories to make the journey.

· The small sentimental things we keep to hold our memories in

Only babies/children can start again-- not an adult. Why?

Ma’s Lost Treasures› How can we live without our lives? How will

we know it’s us without our past? No. Leave it. Burn it.

The Departure

Done in haste. Why? Grandpa’s Refusal to Leave. What does it

represent? Families view of the land as a whole—not

seeing the details as they leave · Hopefulness of the human spirit in light

of crisis/trouble

Chapters13-16

Transformation of the Family into Migrants

Lost connection to the land, recurring images of the work. The families move from focusing and working on the land to focusing on movement, travel› Thus they changed their social life- changed as in the whole universe only man can

change.

They were not farm men any more, but migrant men. And the thought, the planning, the long staring silence that had gone out to the fields, went now to the roads, to the distance, to the West.

Loss of security and certainty. Emerging sense that “home” is what they most desire› Ma’s small house with oranges› Pa’s small piece of land to work for himself› Connie and Rose of Sharon’s dreams

Death of Grandpa› Death caused by the move? Casy thinks Grandpa was dying as soon as they left.› "He was foolin', all the time. I think he knowed it. An' Grampa didn' die tonight. He

died the minute you took 'im off the place."› Burial as symbolic of the family’s transitory nature

No permanent marker, grave will sink in time Grandpa’s Death as something to get over quickly

Family Troubles

Ma’s Fear That The Family Won’t Stay Together› Connie and Rose of Sharon› Tom’s Plan to Separate› Ma's face softened, but her eyes were still fierce. "You done this

'thout thinkin' much," Ma said.What we got lef' in the worl'? Nothin' but us. Nothin' but the folks. We come out an' Grampa he reached for the shovel-shelf right off. An' now, right off, you wanna bust up the folks-"

Ma’s Challenge to Pa’s Authority› “ The whole group watched the revolt. They watched Pa, waiting for

him to break into fury. They watched his lax hands to see the fists form. And Pa's anger did not rise, and his hands hung limply at his sides. And in a moment the group knew that Ma had won. And Ma knew it too.”

› Ma’s strength and dominant role; the weakness of the father› Reversal of traditional roles that dominated all of the families—

demonstrates power of the transformation trip has caused

Law of the Road/Camaraderie of the Poor

Wilsons and the Joads—share tents, car, trip together Safety in physical and emotional sense—humanity

from ability to help each other› Sairy said, "You shouldn' talk like that. We're proud to help.

I ain't felt so- safe in a long time. People needs- to help." Laws of the Camps—responsibility and respect for

others. No right to violate the privacy of others. Migrants feel human when they are able to help one

another Communities emerge, leaders emerge Tom’s Guilt at Demeaning the Gas Station Attendant

Hypocrisy of Business/Life Unexamined

The parts attendant. (One-eyed man) He hates the job he has, the place he is, but refuses to leave.› He felt his way to the mattress on the floor, and he stretched out and cried

in his bed, and the cars whizzing by on the highway only strengthened the walls of his loneliness.

Importance of taking action—Tom/Steinbeck critical of those who just ask questions without taking action

Businessmen lie to themselves to justify their actions In their lapels the insignia of lodges and service clubs, places where

they can go and, by a weight of numbers of little worried men, reassure themselves that business is noble and not the curious ritualized thievery they know it is; that business men are intelligent in spite of the records of their stupidity; that they are kind and charitable in spite of the principles of sound business; that their lives are rich instead of the thin tiresome routines they know; and that a time is coming when they will not be afraid any more.

Concept of Solidarity/Social Cooperation/Socialism

Critics have argued what Steinbeck’s vision/intention was. Does the book advocate socialism/communism or a more general sense of social cooperation?› Biographer Jay Parini’s John Steinbeck: A Biography quotes Steinbeck

as saying socialism was “simply another form of religion, and thus delusional.” Yet after publication of “The Grapes of Wrath” he was treated by federal authorities and corporate interests as a dangerous revolutionary because of the book’s “whose side are you on?” challenge to the privileged.

› Yet, the novel also attacks the very assumptions about private property and class difference on which capitalism rests ideologically. it presents one of the most radical critiques of the social order in all of popular -- and canonical – literature. In fact, The Grapes of Wrath arguably became a site of confrontation between the thirties anti-capitalist consciousness between manifest destiny and manifest exploitation and dispossession. (Charles Cunningham)

› Author Intent Issue

• Emergence of a sense of collective, rather than individual suffering

› Revolutionary thinking?› Collectivist impulse vs. individualist tradition› “Here is the node, you who hate change and fear

revolution. Keep these two squatting men apart; make them hate, fear, suspect each other. Here is the anlage of the thing you fear. This is the zygote. For here "I lost my land" is changed; a cell is split and from its splitting grows the thing you hate- "We lost our land." The danger is here, for two men are not as lonely and perplexed as one. And from this first "we" there grows a still more dangerous thing: "I have a little food" plus "I have none." If from this problem the sum is "We have a little food," the thing is on its way, the movement has direction.”

• Focus on Root Causes› Marx/Debs argued that the key to resolving the

difficulties of capitalism was found in refocusing our energy on the causes, not the results. Why are men and women hungry? Why is there enough food to feed us all and still hunger?

› The great owners, striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new taxes, at plans; not knowing these things are results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes. The causes lie deep and simple- the causes are a hunger in a stomach, multiplied a million times; a hunger in a single soul, hunger for joy and some security, multiplied a million times; muscles and mind aching to grow, to work, to create, multiplied a million times.

Emerging Fear Unspoken Fear Among the Entire Family Buzzard Warning from Migrant Leaving California

Summarizer

And this you can know- fear the time when Manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of Manself, and this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.” --John Steinbeck

What do you think Steinbeck meant?

Land Ownership/Control as Theft

·Land was originally stolen by Americans from Mexican owners of the land. Steinbeck exposes the hypocrisy of the American value system—in popular mythology, Americans were pioneers. Steinbeck visualizes them as thieves.› “Once California belonged to Mexico and its land to

Mexicans; and a horde of tattered feverish Americans poured in. And such was their hunger for land that they took the land- stole Sutter's land, Guerrero's land, took the grants and broke them up and growled and quarreled over them, those frantic hungry men; and they guarded with guns the land they had stolen. They put up houses and barns, they turned the earth and planted crops. And these things were possession, and possession was ownership.”

Land is more fertile than anything the migrants are used to, but it has been “stolen already”. The land is fenced, guarded, and controlled—even land that lies fallow is closed off to them.

Children starve for the sake of the stolen land.› “And a homeless hungry man, driving the roads

with his wife beside him and his thin children in the back seat, could look at the fallow fields which might produce food but not profit, and that man could know how a fallow field is a sin and the unused land a crime against the thin children. And such a man drove along the roads and knew temptation at every field”

The Okies The migrants are seen as subhuman by all the people they encounter. They are defined this way, limited, and feared.› The owners fear their strength if they come together› The residents fear their willingness to work so cheaply

Ironically, the greatest hatred comes from fear of their strength› “…the owners hated them because the owners knew they were

soft and the Okies strong, that they were fed and the Okies hungry; and perhaps the owners had heard from their grandfathers how easy it is to steal land from a soft man if you are fierce and hungry and armed.”

› “Them goddamn Okies got no sense and no feeling. They ain't human. A human being wouldn‘t live like they do. A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable.”

Contrast with Steinbeck’s powerful portrayals of the family’s humanity.

The Nature of Sin

Uncle John cannot control his belief that he is responsible for the negative things happening to the family.

Casy: sin is your own perception, you own creation

Ma/Pa: It is wrong to burden others with your sins. Tell them to a hole in the ground.

Conditions in California

Working Conditions

The warnings continue- children without food, men talking of no work, sense that no one is able to make a living.

Dishonesty of Contractors- hiring many more men than are necessary for the job, and forcing them to take the prices that are created.

Hoovervilles

Disorganized, semi-permanent camps on the edges of towns. Shanty towns.

Named After President Herbert Hoover As many as 500,000 people lived in

these conditions in California The Hooverville that the Joads

encounter offers a stark warning about the conditions they are likely to encounter as they continue their journey.

The Law

The law was not an impartial tool- but one controlled by those with wealth ·Law combined with vigilante justice of local communities

› “An' if it gets around that you got reds out here if all you fellas moved on to Tulare. They isn't a thing to do aroun' here. That's jus' a friendly way a telling you. Be a bunch a guys down here, maybe with pick handles, if you ain't gone.“

Pervasive threat of violence against the› You'll see a lot of them little lines, 'Vagrant foun' dead.'"

· Law motivated by fear · Law used to do more than control the migrants, but take away their humanity. o They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way

a fella can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're workin' on our decency." 17- continue—children without Contractors—hiring many em California. tool—but one here- why, somebody might git hurt. Be a good idear migrants -20 Notes Engl


Book StatsJohn Steinbeck 1902 – 1968 Born in Salinas CaliforniaFirst Success Tortilla

Flat published in 1933

Started writing novels in 1929

3 novels focusing on migrant workers

Published – Viking Press 14th April 1939

Novel set in the late 1930s

Starts in Oklahoma going through to California


Plot


ThemesFamily People become a family with the other migrant workers and they unite

Man’s inhumanity to man

Dignity Keep it through suffering and devastation. Linked with anger

Injustice Not fair – kicked off land, then can’t find work

Selfishness – Land owners and businessmen selflessness – The migrant workers

False hope and trusting in something untrustworthy They think they’ll have a better life in California but it is worse


AO5 Context 1929 - New York Wall Street collapsed 1930s – severe droughts causing crop failure ‘Dust Bowl’ Unemployment and no profit in land Tenants unable to pay rent forced from homes ‘Great Depression’ Thousands travelled to California in hope of a

job Overcrowding Ended up in ‘Hoovervilles’ in worse condition

than before


Links to The Remains of

the Day

Blindness False Hope

Injustice

Loss - Literal and figurative With sorrow

comes Joy

Selfishness/selflessness


More links toThe Remains of

the Day

Regret

Journey

Biblical imagery

Scene setting

Unable toChange

Dignity

The Dust Bowl Emerges ·The Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted about a decade. Its primary area of impact...

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