John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” and the Great Depression

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Brief Summary
The Great Depression: A Brief Description
Grapes of Wrath and the Great Depression
Works Cited

Introduction

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a classic novel that was published in the year 1939. Though the novel was published at the time the Great Depression was coming to an end, it describes the conditions and experiences that existed during the Great Depression. The novel brings out the poor and distressing situations experienced by the American migrating families in the 1930s. It describes a family migrating to California during the Crisis.

Brief Summary

The Grapes of Wrath begins by describing an occurrence of soil erosion in Dust Bowl Oklahoma that led to the destruction of crops, a decline in farming and farm produce and the migration of farmers and families to other regions. The novel gives the experiences of one such family, the Joad family. After the erosion, the Joad family set on a journey towards California with the hope of acquiring a better livelihood. (Steinbeck, p 2-3).

A young man named Tom Joad who is barely thirty years old arrives home only to find out that his family has been evicted. He later finds them, his mother,

brothers Al and Noah, and his sister Rose of Sharon living with his uncle John whose wife had died several years earlier living him in a state of depression. Rose who had recently gotten married to Connie Rivers is by then pregnant. The family begins their journey to California after selling some of their assets. (Steinbeck, p 112).

Along with their journey Joad’s grandfather and family dog passed away. The family later gets into California where they face great police brutality and harassment. They then find temporary refuge in a government camp. It is during their stay at the camp that the family’s grandmother dies after a short illness. The camp then closes down forcing them to work at an orchard where Joad meets up with Jim Casy, a former minister from back home in Oklahoma.

The workers and laborers have been highly oppressed a factor that leads them into forming unions with an aim of fighting exploitation. Casy who was then a labor organizer gets killed in one of the union strikes and Joad in turn avenges his death by killing the person responsible for a crime that becomes the second as he had previously killed a man back in Oklahoma. Joad’s family struggles to keep Joad far from the law.

Joad’s mother asks him to leave for the wellbeing of the family a request that he obeys. Rose of Sharon whose husband had already left unfortunately experiences a stillbirth. The family remains strong despite all their difficult situations that include strong floods that destroy the campsite leaving them almost helpless.

The novel ends with a painful and distressing scene where Rose of Sharon is seen breastfeeding a starving dying man with the hope that he will gain back his strength.

The novel that is filled with trials and depressions depicts a strong act of determination, faith and hope for a better tomorrow.

The Great Depression: A Brief Description

The Great Depression (1929-1939) is a period in the American history that led into a great and severe crisis in the economy. The crisis was majorly as a result of the October 29, 1929 stock market crash marked in the United States a situation that enhanced the growth of a poor society faced with extreme calamities that included a high level of unemployment, hunger, and political instability.(Columbia electronic encyclopedia). About sixteen million people in the United States were unemployed between the year 1932 to 1933 during depression. There was a rapid unusual increase in the number of hoboes who traveled very long distances in search of work. Families migrated into the countryside and away from the cities with the hope of finding a sustainable source of livelihood. (Hall Thomas and J. David, p 137-138).

From the United States, the depression spread to other parts of the world and produced similar impacts to those of the U.S. that included a decline in international trade, revenues and even individual incomes.

Though the depression’s impact on the various economy sectors and parts of the country differed , every sector and region in America was marked by an unusual increase in unemployment levels as well as a huge decrease in productivity and output, the depression did not only affect the high but also the middle and low class groups in the society. Farmers were however the most affected.

They were for example forced to lay off some of their casual laborers as a result of the decline in the farm productivity that resulted into a low output. A large number of farmers also lost their farms mainly as a result of the recurrent instances of erosion and drought over the years leading to the formation of the “Dust Bowl” that destroyed all crops and rendered farming impossible.

This situation led to the migration of millions of farmers and the unemployed from the Mid West to California in search of work. Hundreds of people became homeless with some living in shanties. Steinbeck’s main reason for writing about farmers was the hope that their difficult situation would be recognized and that America would come up with corrective actions for the situation. (Rothermund D., p 94).

One major cause of the Great Depression was the unincreasing wages of the workers that prevented them from accessing factory made goods. The high production of more goods than could be sold by farmers was also another reason for the depression. This meant that farmers made very little or no profit such that they would not manage to purchase the necessary machinery for fast production. (Drewry and O’Connor, p 559).

Other causes of the depression included the unequal distribution of wealth and resources among the Americans, harsh tariff and trade policies that led to a decline in foreign trade and poor money policies that led to the fall of the stock market. (Hall Thomas and J. David, p 346).

Other than the direct impacts of the Great Depression on the society, various indirect impacts can be seen at the individual, cultural, regional and even in the international level. Psychological stress and depression, increased mental complications and a rise in family violence among the affected individuals are examples of such impacts. ( Kindleberger c., p 109).

The depression’s impacts were felt in many other parts of the world. In Europe for example, the crisis hit barely before the recovery from the First World War effects. The crisis led to the rise of the dictator Adolf Hitler in Germany mainly due to the huge economic disruption and societal disruption as well as the 1932 election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States. The invasion of China by Japan was also as a result of the depression.( Friedman, Milton, and Anna J. Schwartz p 132)

The Great Depression ended with the start of the World War II that increased the demand for materials to be used during the war hence an increase in production of these materials and industrial growth. The industrial growth created employment for many people that were struggling with the effects of the Great Depression. The results of this was an increase in the amount of money circulating hence the beginning of an economic growth.(Margo, p 53).

Generally the Great Depression is a period that was marked by extreme levels of unemployment and a decline in the number of business enterprises and transactions resulting into a high level of dependency both on the government and aid or charity.(Wecter Dixon, p 23).

Grapes of Wrath and the Great Depression

From the above two summaries, there is an evident relationship between the novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ and the period of the Great Depression. The novel clearly brings out the experiences of many farming families during the Great Depression. John Steinbeck who was brought up during the era of the depression tries to present the effects of this crisis to the population.

The novel was set at a time when America was experiencing an overwhelming level of unemployment of about 25% by the year 1933. It depicts the impacts of this crisis some of which included homelessness, increased number of deaths and a high migration rate as well as the harsh and oppressive conditions under which he migrants lived in once they got to their various destinations.

Joad’s family is a representative of other farm families during the depression that were oppressed by banks and other large enterprises that included farm owners. The family represents all other disintegrating migrant families that had to travel long distances for employment and survival.

The author, John Steinbeck partly blames the banks, institutions, companies, the state and other organizations that use bureaucratic bodies or organizations on the occurrence of the Great Depression. He crictizes the acts of self interest shown by the people running these institutions as well as their interests in maximizing outputs at the expense of the poor. Steinbeck points out an evidence of that self interest as that of planning and implementing policies that will only serve the interests of the high class but not the rest of the public. A clear gap can be seen between the small individualistic elite group controlling these bureaucratic institutions and those in the lower class as well as the farmers living in high poverty levels and facing starvation.

The novel not only expresses the oppression and suffering of the poor migrants during the Great Depression but also the role played by the high class members of the society in promoting this situation. The conflict between these two classes can be identified with the laborers unions and strikes organized by Jim Casy. Jim Casy seeks to fight for the communal achievement and action by the laborers against the high, wealthy and ruling class. Although Steinbeck condemns the oppression of the workers, he does not support their every action but is instead concerned with their moral behavior and actions. He is against any violation of the human rights and dignity. Steinbeck is of the view that workers need to first of all change for any concrete and sustainable change to occur.

The author further describes the economic, social and historical factors or situations that categorize people into classes or that define them as rich or poor. He terms the state as being made up of greedy squatters who owned land that belonged to the Mexicans simply because they worked on the land and made it produce. He talks of this as the major threat as perceived by the California land owners who were afraid that the increase in the number of farmers migrating into the region would see the same history repeating itself once more. It is for this reason that the landowners oppress the immigrants as a protective measure. The migrant farmers are made to work and live under extreme poor conditions and at a very low wage.

Steinbeck compares the tractor drivers evicting tenants from their homes, landlords and the banks to the capitalist markets and forces that are merciless and that difficult to identify. (Steinbeck, p 50)

The eviction of the Jaud family and all the others from their rented farms and homes in Oklahoma does not only highlight the increasing gap between the high and low classes or rich and poor but also the tenant system failure. The introduction of mechanization and the harsh weather condition served as major reasons for the land owners to evict tenant families. (Steinbeck, p 50).

The events in the novel also illustrate some of the indirect effects of the depression both to individuals and families. Family instability and breakup can be seen at the time when Joad’s family begins to disintegrate. As they begin their journey the family is closely knit together but this does not remain to be the case. The family begins to disintegrate with the death of Joad’s grandparents. Noah then decides to separate from the rest and moves to the woodlands. Joad’s uncle becomes a drunkard. Rose of Sharon’s husband Connie leaves her while she is still pregnant with the realization that California is not as he expected it to be. Joad on the other hand goes into hiding to escape from the law after killing a man to avenge the death of Jim Casy. Al marries into the Wainwright family with whom he decides to live with. This disintegration worsens the economic status within the family as it reduces the family income by half.

The need for work and family income during the Great Depression forced people to perform all kinds of jobs despite the negligible wages and harsh conditions within which they worked in. Farm families moved from place to place in search of work. This same desperation is seen in the novel the ‘Grapes of Wrath’. The migrants could do any kind of work for any wage. It was a matter of life or death (Steinbeck, p 110). The migrants also had to live in poorly built shelters using any kind of materials Steinbeck gives a description of the houses built by Joad’s family and others. He describes the walls as having been made of rusty iron sheets, a carpet filled with molds, strips of tattered canvas, roofing paper and old sacks. (Steinbeck, p 310-311).

The end of the novel with Rose of Sharon breastfeeding a starving man with the hope that he will regain his strenghth and general health signifies the hope felt by the people during the depression that the crisis would one day come to an end. John D. Rockefeller portrayed this same act of hope and faith when he said that the crisis would eventually come to an end and that prosperity would be seen again.

Conclusively the Grapes of Wrath is a story that reflects people’s lives and experiences during the Great Depression. It reflects actual happenings, struggles and situations observed by Steinbeck. The novel directly communicates not only to those who were present but also to the generations that followed hence a classic during the Great Depression and even today.

Works Cited

Drewry, Henry N. and Jr. O’Connor (1986). United States History: Beginnings through reconstruction. USA: Bell Howell.

Friedman, M. and Anna S. (1963). A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Hall, Thomas E., and J. David Ferguson. (1998). The Great Depression: An International Disaster of Perverse Economic Policies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Kindleberger Charles P. (1986). The world in Depression 1929-1939. Berkley: University of California press.

Margo, Robert A. “Employment and Unemployment in the 1930s.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 7, no. 2 (1993): 41–59.

Steinbeck, John. (1939). The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Viking press.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. (2007). Columbia University Press.

Wecter Dixon (1948). The age of the Great Depression, 1929-1941. New York: Macmillan Co.

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