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  • Essay / The Injustices of the Dust Bowl Migration in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

    The novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is about the social injustices that took place during the Dust Bowl Migration in the western UNITED STATES. It is composed of a third-person view of a family, the Joads, who are evicted from their farm and forced to travel to California in search of work, and interior chapters which are a general view to the third person of the difficulties of the farmers during the period. period of time. Steinbeck uses the book's interior chapters to develop his political position on the plight of migrants. The story of the Joads alone is not enough to fully convey to the reader the extent of the misfortune and sorrow experienced by these migrants. The interior chapters help the reader understand the period and understand what is happening to the Joads and what happened to thousands of other migrants during this time. Without these chapters, the book would not have as strong a statement about the wrongdoings committed by Americans against other Americans during this period. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayThe story begins with the beginning of the dust bowl. Thick clouds of dust fill the sky and farmers tie handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths. At night, dust obscures the stars and infiltrates farms. During the day, farmers have nothing to do but watch their crops die, wondering how their families will survive. The injustices against farmers start with the banks. Crops were withering and farmers weren't making the money they needed to pay the bank or company they took loans from. Men representing the banks come to explain to the farmers that they are being thrown out. The men blame the bank, saying it is "as if the bank or the company is a monster, with thoughts and feelings." (page 31). Farmers are forced to leave and their labor force is replaced by men who drive a tractor in the fields for three dollars a day. Families have no choice but to travel west to California in search of work. The next injustice Steinbeck reveals comes from car salesmen. They exploit their desperation and sell families every broken down vehicle they find. Sellers fill engines with sawdust to mask noisy transmissions and replace good batteries with cracked ones before delivering the cars. Once the family has their car, they start selling their belongings. They have to get rid of everything before leaving on their trip. "How can we live without our lives? How will we know it's us without our past? No. Leave it. Burn it." (page 112). Their lives are sold along with their possessions as they begin their new lives. Long lines of cars creep slowly down Highway 66, full of sharecroppers heading to California. They discover their next injustices throughout their journey. When farmers stop to buy parts for their cars, sellers try to cheat them. Farmers find it difficult to move from gas station to gas station. At each stop, they encounter hostility and suspicion. People claim that the country is not big enough to support everyone and suggest they go back to where they came from. People who live in the West don't understand what happened in Oklahoma and the Midwest. Many migrant farmers were arriving westward. THE.