Unmasking Capitalism in Steinbeck´s The Grapes of Wrath

In the novel, Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, depicts the struggles between upper class, middle class, and poor, migrant workers which show how natural human greed and selfishness amongst those with sustainable income increases tension between the separate classes. Steinbeck also uses the empathetic views shared amongst those in the same situations and how it gives them a want to help each other survive. The rich are wasteful with things they are unable to profit from; they cannot stand the poor nor the thought of the stagnation of their company. They are unable to accept a large consistent profit; the business itself is not the monster that begins to die from a constant profit but the greedy humans behind it.

In addition, Steinbeck utilizes symbolism to help reveal his message to the audience. In this chapter, the putrefying crops that resulted from the system’s agricultural mismanagement represent the landowner’s greed, and how it is responsible for not only the

Throughout the book, Steinbeck discredits individualism by highlighting the adverse effects that he sees in it. Steinbeck, draws a specific line through the population - a division of the rich from the poor - and identifies the division as the primary cause for evil and suffering in the world. Much of the adversity experienced by the Joads and the other migrants stem directly from selfishness. Self-interest is what motivates the landowners and capitalists to use a system in which thousands of families sink deep into poverty.

Steinbeck provides this anecdote in order to foreshadow events in future chapters. In this chapter, Steinbeck describes a situation in which a group of people in Akron, Ohio formed a union and revolted against the authorities. While Steinbeck demonstrates the migrant workers as innocent people looking for peaceful solutions to their

Steinbeck utilizes the novel as a form of social protest by enunciating the brutal and inhumane way the wealthier class treat the migrant workers. For instance, in order to not loose any profit from the fields, the affluent bankers decide to forcefully drive the families off the fields using tractors to “bite into the house corner, crumble the wall, wrench the little houses from its foundation”(39). However, the working class does not have the opportunity to refuse this decision because of the desperate

In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck effectively uses the rhetorical strategy of pathos to illuminate the dehumanization of migrant workers during the Great Depression. His story revolves around the Joad family, as they travel from Oklahoma to California in search of work. Steinbeck appeals to the reader’s empathy

The abuse of power in order to make a profit is a prominent theme today in current events and throughout the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Today, people in positions of power use that power to take advantage of their workers and customers in order to benefit themselves. In The Grapes of Wrath, most of the Joads’ problems stem from people using the power they have to deceive them. Economic abuse of power is not only prevalent today, but is also prevalent in The Grapes of Wrath as shown through the bank owners, salesmen, brokers, and the landowners.

John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, takes place during the Great Depression, a time when troubled and distressed American men and women lived; a time of poverty and an economic crisis. When change is thought upon, it is to be thought of new life and new experiences. The Great Depression is the kind of change that replaces a part of American living with “ Somepin’s happening. I went up an’ I looked, an’ the houses is all empty, an’ the lan’ is empty, an’ this whole country is empty” ( Steinbeck 94). In his work, Steinbeck presents the hardships that Americans had to go through by being mindful of particular aspects which makes the reader understand the characters’ distress. For example, the landscape of the farm lands. Even though the land has its brutality, it grows to be the scenery for humans to be able to recognize and consider their troubles about work and life in general. With these concerns, there are differences between the people who are accustomed to the landscape and admire it, and those who do not agree with it. In the novel, Steinbeck uses attributes of class conflict and injustice as a way of presenting and socially commenting that the Great Depression brought attention to more problems beyond the idea of poverty.

    Steinbeck's political views are quite evident within The Grapes of Wrath. The subject of much controversy, The Grapes of Wrath serves as a social protest and commentary. Steinbeck's views as expressed through the novel tie directly into the Marxist ideals on communism.

Steinbeck describes how whenever there is a mass migration of people, there will be pity and fear from those

A few years later, Steinbeck returned to California to write “Grapes of Wrath” and to further research the flawed California labor. “He was not, however, merely researching materials for his next book, but passionately involved in the suffering and injustice” (Lisca 16). His fervor for the migrant cause almost lead him to abandon his recent writing and revise “Of Mice and Men” and sell it so he could donate to money to the migrant workers.

Stubborn and passionate about becoming part of the prosperous capitalist economy (which is the tone Steinbeck carries out throughout The Grapes of Wrath), they forget about humility, honesty, and selflessness. The tone, along with the repetition of the three dollars a day the aggressors earn, reflects their cold-hearted determination to risk all that ever mattered to them in order to savor the wealth. They become part of the meaningless crowd that, blinded by dollar signs, believes that affluence leads to happiness, making money their number one priority.

Empathy is vital to trust- but what if that understanding is absent, or if sympathy is not given as needed? Such is the case of The Grapes of Wrath, where class differences rule over a turbulent and aggressive rivalry. The novel follows the struggling lower class, oppressed by the corrupt upper class, who cannot understand their hardships. This lack of understanding and willingness to sympathize with the lower class boosts tensions and further emphasizes differences between the classes, leading to the primary conflicts of the story. Through the use of juxtaposition and point of view in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck shows that the upper class lacks the empathy to relate to the struggles of the lower class.

The unconventionally written intercalary chapters of Steinbeck's novel, “The Grapes of Wrath”, are designed to show the readers a view of economic depression and social aspects of America during this time period. Steinbeck tells the reader about the situation through a macroscopic point of view, when he writes the intercalary chapters. It is through these intercalary chapters that Steinbeck tells us about the struggle of many migrant farmers who are pushed out of their homes and start to live their lives on the road, while trying to find places for them to work. Between each of these intercalary chapters are narrative chapters where Steinbeck gives the readers a microscopic view of the situation, by giving us an example of one of the migrant

In the world there is grass that is eaten by grasshoppers, then the grasshoppers are eaten by frogs, who are then eaten by snakes. The snakes get the upper hand in this chain. This is how Tyler Ranch becomes with all the people and clashing personalities. Throughout the story who is prey and who is predator becomes evident. Steinbeck was an American author that was born on February, 27, 1902. He was born in California and died in New York. He enjoyed sports and worked on several ranches and saw many things he did not like. These things he saw in his life as a kid contributed to many of the books he wrote. His books dealt with economic and social issues. The ranch he worked on as a kid was very similar to the one he writes about in the book