The Grapes Of Wrath Essay: The Malice of Society -- John Steinbeck

MaliceIn Steinbecks novel, The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family represents the thousands of migrant families who came to the west with the fantasy of obtaining a peaceful life later on the frame Bowl. Conversely they atomic number 18 faced with something resembling the epitome of human cruelty. Business owners and Californians do what they can to keep the okey families from breaching the invisible line that divides the privileged and the poor. This line, which lone(prenominal) exists in the mind, causes people to loose their sense of humanity. The following quote describes the attitude of the sloshed And in the little towns pity for the sodden men changed to anger (Steinbeck 434).In the beginning of the novel, Steinbeck describes the devastating Dust bowl that settles on the corn, on roofs, and blankets the weeds and trees (Steinbeck 3). His use of imagery instantly installs the picture of destruction into the readers mind. The Dust Bowl is the beginning of the hardships that a re to come for the migrants. There is an anecdote of a turtle who struggles to add up to the other side of the road. The turtle struggles up the embankment like the families struggled to get to California. When he was trying to cross the highway he was nearly hit twice, which is similar to the business owners and Californians running over the Oklahoma people. This small chapter symbolizes the entire move around of the Joad family, in turn it symbolizes the journey of all the Oklahoma people. The grass isnt always greener on the other side. The crops eventually fell and the owners of the land came onto the land (Steinbeck 31). The Oklahoma families are forced to leave the land that they lived on for generations. There isnt any negotiating. It was either flee or die of ... ...ld be compared to the story of Moses and the Hebrews. The Californians and the wealthy business owners symbolize the Pharaohs while the migrants symbolize the enslaved Hebrews. However the happy ending to Mose s story doesnt correspond with the ending of the Joads or other families. In the end, they are still impoverished, homeless, and hungry. While Egypt suffered plagues, the Californians and business owners suffer none. There isnt any reason for the vindictiveness of the Californians and wealthy business owners to cease. Steinbeck uses the story of one family to ultimately let loose out to everyone that food must rot, must be forced to rot (Steinbeck 349). The ones forcing poverty upon the migrants are the same ones sitting comfortably in their chair learning The Grapes of Wrath.Works CitedSteinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York Penguin Books, 1978.