Grapes of Wrath
by john steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, is a novel written in 1939. Set in the midst of the "Dust Bowl" during the Great Depression, the book depicts the story of immigrant farmers moving to California to escape the dark clutches of the agriculture-killing Dust Bowl. Although the Great Depression and the labor union movement of the 1800s are two very different time periods, Grapes of Wrath connects the main ideas of both: scarce jobs, little pay and poor working conditions.
Farmers that moved to California to avoid the Dust Bowl, although getting away from their dying fields, encountered a new set of problems. Jobs were far and few between, and wages were next to nothing with conditions no better than the ones farmers had left; not better, just different. Also, jobs were more likely to be offered to locals as the local California people were upset with farmers invading and moving west. They were crowding the land and taking jobs that would have been available had it not been for the sudden flood of farmers. A main focus of Grapes of Wrath is the difficulties of work and how often times, the problems aren't from nature, but from man itself.
Farmers that moved to California to avoid the Dust Bowl, although getting away from their dying fields, encountered a new set of problems. Jobs were far and few between, and wages were next to nothing with conditions no better than the ones farmers had left; not better, just different. Also, jobs were more likely to be offered to locals as the local California people were upset with farmers invading and moving west. They were crowding the land and taking jobs that would have been available had it not been for the sudden flood of farmers. A main focus of Grapes of Wrath is the difficulties of work and how often times, the problems aren't from nature, but from man itself.