The Grapes Of Wrath And The Dust Bowl Essay

Improved Essays
The 20th century was a time for the United States of America to remember. It was the time, where the United States America have moved beyond gunfighters, mining and homesteading but an industrialized nation and a world superpower. It was the time of Industrialized and civilized nation where there was no more child labor and Prohibition era which was the banned of alcohol. However, the twentieth century also was a time that caused the United States of America in a shaky situation with the effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The Great Depression and the Dust bowl effects were shown in John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” and the social class.
In “The Grapes of Wrath”, the author has introduced us to the effects of the Dust bowl and the great depression era with the Joad
…show more content…
Even Though, Joad were blindly fighting for survival at the beginning with no experience but their suffering along the way eventually open their eyes to the world. Grandpa Joad died unwillingly separated from his homeland which was the first casualty of the family to fight to survive. Grandma died shortly after Grandpa’s death. Shortly after grandma, Rose of Sharon’s husband Connie and Sharon’s baby died with too much to. Rose of Sharon suffers the pain of losing her baby doubtlessly spent a long time waiting to care for but she learned to accept the duty of mankind and so did ma Joad who accepted her new duty to the collective good of mankind.

In historical context, the Progressive era was a period of industries and rapid urbanization. Were built and people were moving to cities to find jobs and the Joad family is moving to California to find a job after they have lost their land and hope to find jobs. This has happened because they lived in a farm that and it is because it is a city that has a lot of industries and people will be able to find jobs. It was the time of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Even Rosasharn, who is pregnant, works in the field to help earn money. Near the end of the third stage, the Joads are in a boxcar which has flooded. Rosasharn has given birth, but Steinbeck didn’t want to end it like this. Rosasharn's baby was a stillbirth. Tom Joad has to go away, and the women, Rosasharn and Ma, and the two children and Pa go to a barn.…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Grapes Of Wrath Analysis

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages

    THe outcome of these confrontation both end in a victory for ma and that much more respect earned. some may say that men are the rock of the family but in this case the mother is the anchor upon this navigating ship. Ma's will and love for her family shall lead the joads to a life they never knew existed but they will always have eachother. In the Joad's lowest point in the novel, Ma emerges as their leader of an almost broken family.…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Grapes of Wrath, the motivations of Preacher Casey, Tom Joad, Pa, and Ma change throughout the movie and represent the sentiments of Americans during the 1930s. During this time period the economy was on the verge of collapse for a series of years and after the stock market crash in 1929, the nation officially entered an economic depression leaving many workers jobless and hundreds of families penniless. Previously, many inexperienced farmers had travelled west looking to make a profit off of their own labor. The great migration movement was partially caused by the idealization of the west fueled by Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis and the devastating conditions and economic status of many eastern workers. However, most of the families that migrated west were inexperienced so farm land was not treated correctly.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Progressive Era was a time period in American history lasting from the 1890s through the 1920s. At the turn of the century, America was experiencing rapid urbanization and industrialization. Waves of immigrants were arriving, many from southeastern Europe. As a result of these processes, countless city dwellers were crowded into tenement slums, with high rates of disease and infant mortality. In urban areas, party bosses controlled power through political machines.…

    • 89 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These occurrences, which were chronicled in John Steinbeck’s, “The Grapes of Wrath”, showed a considerably altered outcome of this decision than found in his earlier work, “Of Mice and Men”. While “Of Mice and Men”, demonstrated a result in which George and Lennie were able to move around and find work, “The Grapes of Wrath”, told a different story. “The Dust Bowl had drawn more than 300,000 refugees to California during the 1930s. Although California farming required more labor, and therefore more people, there simply were not enough jobs available for the number of people migrating into the state. The Joads arrived in California to find that jobs were not plentiful and that opportunity was scarce.…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Progressive Era changed the face of America tremendously in a variety of positive ways. The era was a time period from 1900-1920, in which the issues created due to industrialization where addressed, after the Gilded Age. If it wasn't for that era then all women wouldn't have some of the same oppourtunities that they have now. As a result of these movements, today's society has been changed in a more efficient way. During this time, there were many problems that arised.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel Grapes of Wrath, the author, John Steinbeck, explores the idea of civilization and government as migrant families move westward to settle. Along with that, the essay “Civil Disobedience,” by Henry David Thoreau, discusses about government’s role and function. Both the novel and the essay reveal authors’ beliefs about government, although they do not always share same beliefs in the idea of government. Through their works, it is apparent that Steinbeck and Thoreau have both similar and different point of views on government.…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As specified by Donald Worster, the writer of his book, "The Dust Bowl", The Dust Bowl was the darkest crossroads in every last one of US History, especially in the twentieth-century life of the southern fields," (pg. 4). It was a day and age where extreme starvations, dry seasons, destitution and collapses that have existed back in the 1930's. This period was additionally America's "Crash Course" as a result of the bedlam that have happened. As Worster states this in an extremely exhaustive way, the components that have caused this in the midst of occasion were an association of occasions that was sustained by the fundamental free enterprise society's "need" for both extension and utilization. It influenced everybody, agriculturists and purchasers…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Progressive Era Dbq

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The progressive era is an era of improvement and social reforms set in place to make things in life more easier and more fair to the citizens in the United States. In the progressive era there were problems such as living conditions, woman suffrage, and working conditions were very apparent. First, one problem in the Progressive Era was living conditions. For example in a DBQ text it says “ Be a little careful, please. The hall is dark and you might stumble over the children pitching pennies back there.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck uses the unconventional, intercalary chapters in the structure of this novel. These intercalary chapters are a narrative technique in which Steinbeck informs the reader about the economic impact of the Great Depression upon the common farmers in the U.S. during that time. In chapter 11, Steinbeck uses the intercalary chapter technique to describe the incoming of the modern tractors and the effect this modernization had on the land the farmers had occupied. Steinbeck’s masterful use of syntax, diction and parallelism to create depressed, degenerating tone of human loss.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Progressive era was an era of our nation where people wanted to help our nation to be better in order to make society better. This period lasted from 1898-1945. The Progressives were reformers and muckrakers who decided to make society better. The reformers disliked the political machines, which brought about the reform the Progressives made of initiative, Referendum, and Recall. The Progressive Era really starts with the inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt, and ends in 1917 with the start of World War 1.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Progressive Era was a period in American history that lasted from 1890s-1920s. The Progressive Era was a time where America was experiencing urbanization and industrialization. It was also a period where many immigrants were migrating from the south. This caused crowded areas and high disease and death rates. Women made much progress between the Progressive Era to the 1920s.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Their journey tests the Joads as a whole, but they stick together because their family is what matters the most to them. Even when the people around them are breaking form the pressure of the economy and changing society, the Joads maintain their integrity and help those who need it the most. Survival during such tough times is the most prominent theme in Steinbeck’s novel because it is the family’s journey begins so that they can survive. The novel also ends with survival, Tom running away and Rose of Sharon saving a starving man. Steinbeck depicts life during the Great Depression through the Joad family, and themes that follow them are family, integrity, and…

    • 1049 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sacrifice John Ford’s inspiring film, Grapes of Wrath, pulls at the heartstrings of viewers. The film tells the story of the Joad family and their struggle to find work during the depression. The story begins with Tom Joad, the eldest son of the Joad family, finding that his family has been evicted from their home during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and set out for California along with thousands of others in search of jobs, land, and hopes for a brighter future. Ford uses the story of the Joad family to convey the theme that the need of the many outweighs the needs of one. Ford uses Ma Joad, Tom Joad and Jim Casey to exemplify the need for supportive rather than individualistic ideals during rough times.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Prior to reading John Steinbeck’s, The Grapes of Wrath, the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s was nothing of importance to me, archived as another historical event that had occurred decades before my existence. I trudged through the first couple chapters of the book constantly having the urge to put it down, tired of the overwhelming details of Oklahoma’s corn that “fought the wind with its weakened leaves” (Steinbeck 2) and Tom Joad’s journey back home after four years in prison. The point where I met each member of the Joad family was where I began to give the book my full attention. The way Steinbeck introduces the characters with the descriptive power he demonstrates in the novel, made it easier for me to become more emotionally involved with each individual: Grampa’s indifference towards buttoning his clothes correctly, Noah’s “calm and puzzled” (Steinbeck 78) face, and Ruthie and Winfield, “grime-faced and wild” (Steinbeck 95).…

    • 1485 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays