The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a story about people’s struggle, failures, hope and strength. On December 10, 1962 John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize, during his banquet speech he talks about what a writer’s duty is. He calls this “The ancient commission of the writer”, a commission is an instruction, command or duty given to a person so this “ancient commission” is the writers original job or duty. To steinbeck the “ancient commission of the writer” is “... exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement.” as well as “... to declare and celebrate man’s proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit- for gallantry in defeat- for courage, compassion…show more content… He, although, does manage to fulfill the “ancient commission of the writer” in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath by showing the faults and failures of humans, along with man’s greatness of heart and spirit. In The Grapes of Wrath the author, John Steinbeck fulfills the ancient commission of the writer by exposing the faults and failures of people. A major way he shows this is by simply showing human nature. At the root of human nature there is what people would do to survive. In Grapes of Wrath the line ““Three dollars a day. I got damn sick of creeping for my dinner- and not getting it. … “That’s right,” the tenant said. “But for your three dollars a day fifteen or twenty families can’t eat at all.”(pg. 37) shows what people would do during this time just for three dollars. Any humans, no matter how kind, will always do what they have to to survive, even if it may hurt others, this is a major fault in humans. Another instance where Steinbeck exposes humans faults and failures is when the large gap between the rich and poor are explained. “Ruthie and Winfield saw it all, and it embarrassed them with its bigness and its strangeness, and it frightened then with the fine-clothed people they saw. … They saw the oil