РефератыИностранный языкGrGrapes Of WrathDustbowl Disaster Essay Research Paper

Grapes Of WrathDustbowl Disaster Essay Research Paper

Grapes Of Wrath:Dustbowl Disaster Essay, Research Paper


In the 1930s, drought and horrific dust storms turned the


once-fertile agricultural lands of mid-America into virtual


dust bowls and wastelands. Thousands of destitute farmers


packed their families and belongings into and onto their cars


and left their homes in search of agricultural work in central


California. Their plight and the politics of that day are told in


the novel "The Grapes of Wrath." Published in 1939 by


California writer John Steinbeck, the book won the 1940


Pulitzer Prize. In his book, Steinbeck champions the


downtrodden migrants, as he follows the Joad family from


Oklahoma to California. Tom Joad, eldest son, is the book’s


protagonist and his efforts to save his family are the core of


the book’s story. As Steinbeck writes in his book, "The


moving, questing people were migrants now. Those families


which had lived on a little piece of land, who had lived and


died on forty acres, had now the whole West to rove in.


And they scampered about, looking for work; and the


highways were streams of people, and the ditch banks were


lines of people." Often known as "Okies," a derogatory


term, Dust Bowl immigrants like the fictional Joads did not


get a warm welcome from California’s farmers and


politicians. The newcomers were herded into slum-like


migrant camps, given low wages for back-breaking work,


and treated like criminals. Much of this was an effort by


local farmers to take advantage of a cheap labor pool and to


prevent labor organizing that would raise wages. Much of it


was the result of fear on the part of Californians who were


faced with a huge influx of ragged families. Whatever the


cause, the result wasn’t pretty. It shaped the development of


the Midwest, which lost thousands of people and farms, and


of California, which had to develop a new social order to


handle the transplants. The problems faced by those from


Oklahoma are not unlike those faced today by migrant


workers from Mexico.

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