The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of WrathJohn Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath has left much specifically untold about the authors true intentions on this book.
His epic chronicle has been described as being "Written with
passionate conviction" (Dorothy Parker). This passionate conviction
has led John Steinbeck into mastering bold dramatization. His skills
at the art of dramatization in literature was not solely used in The
Grapes of Wrath, but also used in another of his twisted and possibly
controversial works called Of Mice and Men.
One of John Steinbeck's main and possibly most obvious themes, is
the hostility and frequent hatred between the migrant workers and the
already socially and financially established Californians. There are
many examples in the book that show not only that Steinbeck thought
that it was an issue to be concerned with, but also it showed his
thoughts and feelings towards the subject. Three examples of this
theme are shown during encounters with other people that have already
been there, in the corollary chap Along the way to California the
Joad's encountered other people that had already been to California
and were now returning. These people, like the ragged man with the
sunburned face from the road-side camp described on page 242. He had
had children that died because wages were too low and work was too
scarce to afford food for his children and wife. His story was one of
pain and despair, also his story showed the cruelty and inhumane
treatment which the California land owners displayed towards the
migrant workers. This grim story of the broken man didn't discourage
the Joad's from parting from the set course. Later on inside the
Californian border the Joads stop by a river. Tom and his Father find
a spot to go swimming where they are promptly joined on page 263 by
two men, a man and his son, who asked if they may also partake in
swimming with Tom and his Father. The men start talking and it turns
out that the other two men have just come from California. They tell a
story not extremely unlike the other story which the man at the
road-side camp described. Their story describes the conditions as very
uncomfortable. Subsequently the Joads paid no head to this warning
either. Hence, they traveled on, only to meet up with (on page 274) a
very dispassionate police officer. This gave the Joads a first hand
sip of the general mood that Californians had for these migrant
workers. The policeman treated the migrants with little or no respect,
seemed to just as soon see them drop off the face of the earth than
see them come into California....
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