Correlation between the Okies and Mexican Immigrants
The novel The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, tells the story of a family journeying to California with the goal of starting a new life. On the way, they experience turmoil and hardships. This novel takes place in the 1930’s, the same time the great depression and the dust bowl were occurring. These two events affected the United States dramatically, and aspects of this can be seen throughout the novel. Steinbeck added what seemed like real life examples through third person narrative in this novel, which helps us sympathize with the family. The Joad family and many other families were homeless and jobless, causing them to head west to California for new opportunities. As we learn in The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads and thousands of other families were not welcomed in California for many reasons. They are stereotyped as “Okies”, and are seen to be uncultured or brutish. We can see correlations of this occurring today, especially with the Mexican Immigrants attempting to live in the United States. Okies deserved to have been treated more humanly, and maybe we can learn from the past by treating Mexican immigrants with …show more content…
Without his contribution to the literary world, many would never truly know the extreme conditions and social injustice the Dust Bowl caused. Luckily, he did publish this great work of literature, and with it we can interpret the similarities with immigration today. Unjust stereotypes, below average living conditions, and hard manual labor lead the lives of Mexican immigrants today and of the Okies in the past. Why do we as Americans think treating people like this is right? What if you or I were in the same situation as these poor families, would we want to be treated the same way as them? I know I wouldn’t. The fact of the matter is that no one deserves this mistreatment, no matter where they are
The novel The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, tells the story of a family journeying to California with the goal of starting a new life. On the way, they experience turmoil and hardships. This novel takes place in the 1930’s, the same time the great depression and the dust bowl were occurring. These two events affected the United States dramatically, and aspects of this can be seen throughout the novel. Steinbeck added what seemed like real life examples through third person narrative in this novel, which helps us sympathize with the family. The Joad family and many other families were homeless and jobless, causing them to head west to California for new opportunities. As we learn in The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads and thousands of other families were not welcomed in California for many reasons. They are stereotyped as “Okies”, and are seen to be uncultured or brutish. We can see correlations of this occurring today, especially with the Mexican Immigrants attempting to live in the United States. Okies deserved to have been treated more humanly, and maybe we can learn from the past by treating Mexican immigrants with …show more content…
Without his contribution to the literary world, many would never truly know the extreme conditions and social injustice the Dust Bowl caused. Luckily, he did publish this great work of literature, and with it we can interpret the similarities with immigration today. Unjust stereotypes, below average living conditions, and hard manual labor lead the lives of Mexican immigrants today and of the Okies in the past. Why do we as Americans think treating people like this is right? What if you or I were in the same situation as these poor families, would we want to be treated the same way as them? I know I wouldn’t. The fact of the matter is that no one deserves this mistreatment, no matter where they are