The Harvest Gypsies is a collection of articles written by John Steinbeck in 1936 about the migrant workers and the lifestyle they lived. Steinbeck starts off the book discussing the migrant workers, originating in California, and how they differ from the ‘old kind of laborers,’ immigrants. They come around when crops such as, peaches, grapes, apples, and lettuce, come into harvest and they move to wherever work is needed. “The migrants are needed, and they are hated” (Steinbeck, pg.20). They came across to outsiders as ignorant and dirty and a threat to the crops if they refused to work. Prior to migrating, they were farmers that ended up losing their land and homes due to the Dust Bowl; a series of dust storms in the United States caused
…show more content…
He talks about how the Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and Filipino laborers and how each group was treated. They were seen as cheap labor. Steinbeck says, “foreign labor is on the wane in California, and the future farm workers are to be white and American. This fact must be recognized and a rearrangement of the attitude toward and treatment of migrant labor must be achieved” (Steinbeck, pg.57). He suggests that since migrant workers are former farmers, they should be allowed to own leased land and small communities should be built. He also suggests that instead of having the entire family migrate, the men should migrate during the crop season and the women and families should be left at home to work on their land. He stresses the importance of the care for the people who are in that line of work are treated. “To attempt to force them into a peonage of starvation and intimidated despair will be unsuccessful” (Steinbeck, pg.62). The way they are treated by society will determine how they act toward …show more content…
Both events resulted in troubled times for people and workers. People lost their homes, suffered from malnourishment and seemed to be struggling to make it through the day. This book focuses on the problems and results of the Dust Bowl, “the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history”. The Dust Bowl followed The Great Plow-up, which “turned 5.2 million acres of thick native grassland into wheat fields”. Eventually, the United States began to enter into the time of the depression and prices for crops began to sink. Following the drop in prices, a drought began making the soils dry and once the soils dried up and the wind began to blow, the soil would create dust storms. These storms ruined homes and farms (PBS, 2012). Personally, I found that this book showed us another side to what we are learning in lecture. In our lectures, we focus on what is happening in the cities during the time of the Great Depression. We haven’t touched on the Dust Bowl and I think this reading was assigned to show us both sides of this time period. I also feel that the events of the Dust Bowl took the problems of the Great Depression and brought them a step further. Overall, I found this book to be very interesting and great read. It was eye opening to read about the problems during this time and to read about what people and families suffered
He talks about how the Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and Filipino laborers and how each group was treated. They were seen as cheap labor. Steinbeck says, “foreign labor is on the wane in California, and the future farm workers are to be white and American. This fact must be recognized and a rearrangement of the attitude toward and treatment of migrant labor must be achieved” (Steinbeck, pg.57). He suggests that since migrant workers are former farmers, they should be allowed to own leased land and small communities should be built. He also suggests that instead of having the entire family migrate, the men should migrate during the crop season and the women and families should be left at home to work on their land. He stresses the importance of the care for the people who are in that line of work are treated. “To attempt to force them into a peonage of starvation and intimidated despair will be unsuccessful” (Steinbeck, pg.62). The way they are treated by society will determine how they act toward …show more content…
Both events resulted in troubled times for people and workers. People lost their homes, suffered from malnourishment and seemed to be struggling to make it through the day. This book focuses on the problems and results of the Dust Bowl, “the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history”. The Dust Bowl followed The Great Plow-up, which “turned 5.2 million acres of thick native grassland into wheat fields”. Eventually, the United States began to enter into the time of the depression and prices for crops began to sink. Following the drop in prices, a drought began making the soils dry and once the soils dried up and the wind began to blow, the soil would create dust storms. These storms ruined homes and farms (PBS, 2012). Personally, I found that this book showed us another side to what we are learning in lecture. In our lectures, we focus on what is happening in the cities during the time of the Great Depression. We haven’t touched on the Dust Bowl and I think this reading was assigned to show us both sides of this time period. I also feel that the events of the Dust Bowl took the problems of the Great Depression and brought them a step further. Overall, I found this book to be very interesting and great read. It was eye opening to read about the problems during this time and to read about what people and families suffered