The Grapes Of Wrath Report

The Grapes of Wrath, a novel written by John Steinbeck, is acute reaction to the social and economic situation of America during the 1930's. Summer 1937 brought severe drought and dust bowls, which caused the greatest damage to the crops and made thousands of broken farmers leave their lands in order to survive. The novel offers the chance to stand in the shoes of poor and desperate families, whose fertile lands went barren and were taken away by the bank agents. The shock comes with understanding that the Government is indifferent to the lives of this people and they don’t have another choice but to trust the bright adverts promising jobs and high salary.
The Joad family, as many of their neighbors, migrated to the Golden State, hoping to find a shelter and make their living better. The novel shows the history of the Joads’ three generations – the Grandfathers, the American pioneers, who chased the Indians from their lands; the children, who have to abandon the land because of bad harvest and lack of money to pay the loans; and the grandchildren, who turned into work-hands.
The plot touches not only relationships inside one family, but the tragedy of the Joads in connection with the most important events of nowadays. The author’s original design was to highlight the social problematic. He writes small chapters composed of monologues and dialogues made by one of the many faceless and nameless people, like a woman who had the chance to observe the rich men’s world firsthand, or the broken farmers. This technique enables Steinbeck to address the reader directly with the most burning issues, ask the questions about class distinction, poverty, unfair politics and policies, monopolies and trusts. Not only Steinbeck shows his disapproval and even hatred towards the rich and greedy, but he also predicts inevitable collapse of this system. The author also pays attention to the problem of individualism and community spirit, to the establishing of collective consciousness. We can see the people united by the shared mischief in their attitude to each other and the process of an “I” becoming “we”.
People, desperate to find means for living, saturate the roads. They can go to extremes to feed their children and see no other choice; gradually, their souls become flooded with rage. The harvest is rotting, while people are starving, as the food is being destroyed to gain extra profit. Unfortunately, the laws exist only on paper and not everyone sticks to it. How can they talk about the Great nation when people are on the brink of death? Nothing comes from violence and people are hopeless and desperate; they are forced to break these laws because no one wants to die.
The Grapes of Wrath shortly became nationally famous as a symbol of anticapitalistic moods of public opinion of America during the Great Depression.