Grapes Of Wrath Research Paper

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The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath was written and published during the time of an America still healing from the devastating impact of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath to help heal this country. Creating a fictional family, the Joads, Steinbeck allows the nation to follow them on their journey from the drought-plagued state of Oklahoma to California, otherwise known as the Promised Land to the Joads. On their trip, they soon learn that they were not prepared for the multiple calamities of this horrendous voyage; from complicated money issues, to loss of family and friends. An estimated total of 2.5 million people left the plain states in order to have a happier, successful life. Steinbeck…show more content…
According to Tom, “a red is any son-of-a-bitch that wants thirty cents-an-hour when we’re paying twenty-five” (Steinbeck 267). They wanted all the farm workers to join together so that they could control them as a group. Many people were jobless and looking for a symbol to unite; communism was just that symbol. Steinbeck believed that he could change people’s perspective on economics and by doing so he could heal the nation. He thought of the banks as evil. “The banks—the monster—thought they needed the land that generations of families owned, they forced those families off their property, in the process, destroyed their homes with tractors” (Blooms Literature). Steinbeck wanted people themselves to have a greater impact on the economy than a profit one can make. By making the lower class oppose one other, Steinbeck created a competition so that there would always be people fighting for a job no matter what the pay. He puts capitalism in a cold light making it appear to be bad for the country. Not only does The Grapes of Wrath give capitalism a harsh rep, but it gives communism a spotlight saying how it can be used for the greater
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