Jessica+Avella

//The Grapes of Wrath// can be seen in very different views. It can be seen as a family's and migrants' struggle for survival in the Promised Land, and it call also be seen as the story of America. John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, is a moving account of the social plight migrant farmers suffered during the depression era. These unfortunate migrant farmers were often forced to face injustice, but were shunned away from society when attempting to take action. It is the individual’s role to work with others being exploited as well, to defend themselves from the corrupt systems. Once being able to confront injustice, it is their obligation to decide what is right from wrong.
 * __ Confronting Injustice __**

In chapter seven, injustice is depicted throughout the entire chapter. It exposes the exploitation of farmers’ meager amount of resources through the car dealers’ action. Many of the sold cars would result unusable, only because the farmers did not know better. The poor farmers were being taken advantage of. They did not have any other choice, but to accept what was being offered. When the individual attempted to confront the crooked salesman about this injustice his only response was, “…you just get tough, and I will call the cops.” (Page 65) His response was intimidating to the farmer only because he stands a higher authority position and is able to intervene on the side of the injustice. It is the role of the individual to defend themselves from the unfairness, and work together with others being exploited to battle the extreme injustice done onto them by the dealers.

In order to be able to move on with one’s life, one must leave behind their past experiences. In chapter nine, the Joad family was forced to sell their personal belongings to obtain money and begin their journey towards California. “How can we live without our lives? How will we know it’s us without our past? No. Leave it. Burn it.” (Page 88) Their loss of identity is clear with this being said by a member of the Joad family. Injustice is seen in this chapter, because they too, as many other families, lack the needed resources to adapt to a new country. To defeat this injustice made onto them, they must leave their hometown, and start a new life in a different country. Apart from having to leave their home, the Joad’s are faced with a difficult decision. Should they really sell their most treasured belongings, or stay in the position they are in facing injustice every day? The correct thing to do is sell every single item as possible to obtain money. “Maybe we can start again, in the new rich land- in California, where the fruit grows. We’ll start over.” (Page 87) At some point, the Joad’s become cognizant of their situation, and begin looking at some positive aspects of this trouble issue. This could possibly be a sign of the Joad’s having been able to confront injustice.

It is evident in chapter twelve, that car salesmen exploited the farmers by overpricing necessary car parts. In order for Okies to continue their journey to California, they were forced to pay whatever price they were told. “Go to, I guess. Let’s look her over. Open her up…” (Page 121) This injustice made by the dealers comes from the lack of support given to an individual in society to protect them from being taken advantage of. To be able to confront injustice, one must create a sense of an ideal worldly purpose in uniting people against injustice. These self-fish car salesmen act out of greed, rather than out of consideration or kindness. Like numerous farmers, they were forced to struggle to overcome prejudice of others. “There ain’t room enough for you…” (Page 126) The farmers were obligated to adapt into California’s society without losing their own personal identity.

Fear, hostility, injustice, and exploitation. An excellent example of this can be seen in chapter twenty-one, where an examination of the attitudes of the migrant farm workers and the Californian residents reveal the changing nature of land ownership. The workers are in California and the mild people of California find in the Okies what they have yet to experience- fear and desperation. A greater meaning is given to the fierce hostility that the Joad’s meet in California. This chapter explores the plight of the Okies, forced to leave their homes when industrial change complicates their life. “Their senses were still sharp to the ridiculousness of the industrial life and then suddenly the machines’ pushed them out, and they swarmed on the highways.” (Page 282) When the Okies first arrived to California, they were willing to accept tremendously low wages because they were in desperate need. Because business owners knew Okies would compete for low wages, they did not worry about paying the farmers as much money. Farmers became fierce because of the job competition, and ultimately led the farmers to form the Farmers’ Association. This association formed riots, and terrorized the poor Okies. To the farmers, this was an accurate way to confront injustice, in this case the job competition. Eventually, the farmers were forced off their own land to look elsewhere. "The little farmers moved into town for a while and exhausted their credit, exhausted their friends, their relatives. And then they too went to the highways. And the roads were crowded with men ravenous for work, murderous for work." (Page284) Injustice was accepted by the farmers by willing to work for very low wages.   Chapter twenty-five, gives the reader an explanation of why the book was titled //Grapes of Wrath.// “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.” (Page 349) It is evident that the individuals who are confronting injustices are represented by grapes. Each farm owner is constantly ensuring that their grapes are growing they way they are suppose to, and care out for them until they are fully ripen. In a society where corruption is the key to success, it is evident that it too will spread quickly in the community. “…growing heavy for the vintage…” represents the extremely hard work and dedication these poor farmers put into their farm. “The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed in order to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all.” (Page 348) The land farmers own in California is the root is the root for the vine. Many farmers were faced with the injustice that products were over priced for such low- income families. Not being able to purchase these products, farmers are forced to throw away the rotten crops. “Dumpster Diving,” by Lars Eighner, is a guide of how to correctly dumpster dive and how to find someone’s trash as your treasure. This guide will help you find a good dumpster and how to know what food is safe to eat. When dumpster diving, Eighner would find such interesting items in which he would imagine what type of person threw it away, and what they might have gone through. “I find from the experience of scavenging rather deep lessons. The first is to take what you can use and let the rest go by. I have come to think that there is no value in the abstract. A thing I cannot use or make useful, perhaps by trading, has no value however rare or fine it may be. I mean useful in a broad sense-some art I would find useful and some otherwise.” From these experiences, Lars learned to be grateful for the items he found. Injustice is seen is this text because society outcasts the homeless and offers little aid in improving their situation. The mass number of job losses in today’s society contributes to the epidemic of homelessness. With little amount of money to pay the essentials for everyday, the individual is forced to come up with a different way to approach this problem. In “Homeless: Expose the Myths,” by Joseph Perkins, an investigation was performed to see whether or not the economic policies were to be blame for the vast percentage of homeless in America. While the investigation was in process, Perkins discovered that the homelessness was not caused by the economic policies, but by self-destruction. These problems are most like to arise from the use of drugs, mental health, and abuse issues. It was concluded that the Government was releasing patients from mental institutions. These patients were not yet capable to wander the streets out on their own. Injustice is seen by those homeless being deprived from their right because of their mental health. Being in this situation, one hopes for the government to look out for them and provide special treatment for those in need. If the government does not make smart decisions, the homeless have no one to blame but the government. Barbara Lazear Ascher's writes, “On Compassion” to show the acts of compassion and the purpose behind them. Ascher has been a witness of situations in which an individual is confronted by a possible threat, and in return they treat the possible threat with courtesy. Throughout this text, the purpose is to inform the reader about the homeless situations, and about what true compassion really means. Ascher believes that the only way to approach injustice is with acts of good will. An excellent example of how to confront this situation can be shown by the mayor of New York City, moved homeless individuals into Bellevue Hospital. "Raw humanity offends our sensibilities. We want to protect ourselves from an awareness of rags..." Many could possible see this act of generosity as injustice and not of compassion. The reason behind this could have been that he wanted society to avoid confrontation with homeless. It is evident in //The Grapes of Wrath// that business owners did not care for the farmers living conditions. They showed a lack of compassion towards them. The Okies and homeless were not brought to this world to confront injustice, but were forced to adjust to such things.      John Steinbeck depicts a great number of families’ who were faced with fear, hostility, injustice, and exploitation everyday of their lives. An individual alone cannot overcome injustice, but if many come together to fight this plight, a difference can be made. If nothing is done to fight back against this, you can eventually lose everything you own. <span style="font-size: 80%; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

__**Work Cited:**

Perkins, Joseph. "Homeless: Expose the Myths." 30 Mar. 2009 <[]>.__

Steinbeck, John. Grapes of Wrath. New York: Pinguin Books, 1939.

Ascher, Barbara Lazear. “On Compassion” March 2009 < [] >.

Eighner, Lars. "On Dumpster Diving." On Dumpster Diving. 29 Mar. 2010 <www1.broward.edu/~nplakcy/docs/dumpster_diving.htm>.

J Avella