Marxist Ideals In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath
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In his classic American novel, John Steinbeck uses Marxist ideals to portray the arduous struggle experienced by working class families in the late 1930’s. His political views are quite evident within his works. The subject of much controversy, The Grapes of Wrath serves as a social protest and commentary. Steinbeck’s views as expressed through the novel link directly to the Marxist ideals on communism. In the beginning chapters of the novel, the narrator introduces the dust bowl setting, which can be inferred when the narrator states, “…where the wheels milled the ground and the hooves of the horses beat the ground, the dirt crust broke and the dust formed. Every moving thing lifted dust into the air…” (Steinbeck 2). This demonstrates the…show more content… It is revealed that the bank is “…something else than men. It happens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it. The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control it” (Steinbeck 45). Because the farmers cannot pay the landowners for the land, the bank is repossessing their homes to sustain a profit. It has become a monster led by the Bourgeoisies to exploit the Proletariats for their possessions and jobs, leaving them with close to nothing. In most cases, the landowners are forced to work with this monster in order to feed their own families, despite who gets hurt in the process. According to the Communist Manifesto, “The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexions everywhere” (Manifesto of the Communist Party). The bank must continue expanding to survive; it grows on