The Grapes of Wrath: Question 6

When I heard about the basic story line of the book, a family that travels to California during the Dust Bowl, did not really make the book all that appealing, and I had no idea how it was going to be able to span four-hundred fifty-five pages. After reading the book though, it was more than just their troubles alone, it was about the whole time period and about the troubles of all of the other families going to California like the Joads. It was also about the different kind of people that started this migration of evicted farmers and ultimately every one of their deaths that could have been avoided, or put off I should say, if they were allowed to just stay in their houses.

I think the reason why we still read this book is because it’s themes are timeless and will still be relevant no matter how old the book is; humans will do anything it takes if it means their survival and the survival of their family, humans will always help other people that are in need even if they themselves are not in a good situation to help others, there will be people who lie and deceive and manipulate people so they can make money, and that people suffering the same losses will ban together to fight for the same cause. In the book it even talks about these timeless themes: “When property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed” (Steinbeck 238).

Another important reason, maybe even the reason why Steinbeck wrote this book, is because it gives a side to story of the migrant farm workers that was not taught in history class. I remember when we talked about the Dust Bowl, and the only thing about the migrant farm workers that was mentioned was that there were a lot of them that moved to California to work, and how working conditions were poor there, but that was about the extent of how much that was said about them. The author T.C. Boyle said “You can read (about the lives of migrant workers) in your textbook… but if you read it in Steinbeck’s version you get to live it, breathe it” (NPR 12)

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

"NPR : Grapes of Wrath, Present at the Creation." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. Web. 19 Aug. 2011.