Miriam+Torres

 =Unity Can Conquer =

Injustice is an act of unfairness directed towards another person and when confronting it, people can take different actions. However, an individual’s main role in confronting injustice is to come together with other individuals undergoing the same injustice, so that together they can take the blow without it being so hard on just one person. The intercalary chapters 3, 7, 17, 21, and 25 of The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, describe the struggle of the Joad family and the many others who were suffering during the great depression. These chapters, as well as, The Ways We Lie, by Stephanie Ericsson, On Compassion, by Barbara Lazear Ascher, and On Dumpster Diving, by Lars Eighner, elucidate the role of an individual in confronting injustice.

Chapter three of The Grapes of Wrath begins with a turtle, difficultly making its way onto a gravel road. The turtle on its journey across the road symbolizes the Joads and their struggle across the country. The many obstacles that they face on their journey constantly delay the Joads, just like the turtle. In this chapter, a truck driver purposely hits the turtle with no motive at all and throws it of its course. “His front wheel struck the edge of the shell, flipped the turtle like a tiddly-wink, spun it like a coin and rolled it off the highway.”(Pg.15). The turtle comes out unharmed by the impact of the truck because of the structure of its shell. The turtle’s shell is composed of various plates that when hit the blow spreads evenly among the plates leaving the turtle unharmed because the impact was not just felt in one spot. The unity of the various plates is what protected the turtle from any harm. “Lying on its back, the turtle was tight in its shell for a long time.”(Pg. 15). The turtle is then able to get back on its course with some struggle. Just as the plates of the turtle were united, and divided the impact evenly among each other, the Joad family did this as well. When they faced an obstacle, they remained together and received support from one another, which helped them survive through the injustice that they faced. Spreading the blow evenly among family members helps them overcome that obstacle and continue on their path to survival. What holds them together throughout the many unjust acts is their bond as a family. The role of the individual is to remain united and together find ways to reduce the injustice, just like the various plates of the turtle shell help protect the turtle.

Chapter seven of The Grapes of Wrath is a chapter of manipulation and unfairness. The injustice seen in this chapter is that the car sales men take advantage of the farmers’ ignorance by selling them overpriced cars that are in bad conditions. “Salesmen, neat, deadly, small intent eyes watching for weakness.” (Pg.7). The salesmen give the farmers a sense of support by selling them the cars that are expected to work. The farmers already struggling due to other injustices fail to recognize that they are being ripped off and just accept to buy the cars without much inquiry. However, when one farmer tries to stand up for himself because he had been cheated into thinking that his car was in good condition, the salesman instantly threatens him and puts him back down. "Well you just get tough and I will call the cops… We’re runnin’ a business, not a charity ward."(Pg. 65). The farmer is unsuccessful in confronting injustice on his own because the salesman stood up for his own well being as well. He is only interested in the profit of selling the cars and does not allow himself to feel any pity nor consideration towards the poor farmer. This stresses the importance for the farmer to come together with the farmers who are also being taken advantage by the salesman, and stand up together for their own well-being.

Chapter 17 begins by illustrating the migrants’ tough journey out to the west in search of a better life for themselves and their families. During the day, the migrants would spend the time driving westward towards their dream life. However, at night, the migrants would stop to rest and be untied with the rest of the migrants on the same voyage. “Because they had all come from a place of sadness and worry and defeat, and because they were all going to a new mysterious place… they shared their lives, their food, and the things they hoped for in the new country.” (Pg.193). The migrants put aside their differences and instead focus on their similarities, which allow them to unite and work together towards attaining their goal. This new connection helps them ease the tension and loneliness and once again feel that they belong and are a part of something. They are able to confront the injustice that they are facing more easily, knowing that they have to support of their fellow migrants. “Twenty families became one family; the children were the children of all.” (pg.193). Together they were able to create a new community that provided for every ones needs putting aside all selfish interests. This chapter reveals the great value of having unity and support from others when confronting injustice.

In chapter twenty-one reveals two different forms of injustice, the injustice towards the farmers and the migrants. The chapter is mainly about how the people from California were angered by the vast majorities of migrants arriving to California. The locals felt that the migrants, which they called the “Okies”, were invading their homeland and taking away their jobs. By labeling the migrants, the locals were able to detach any form of compassion towards the migrants because they considered the migrants to be less than they were. The locals’ anger originated from the fear that they too could possibly fall to the level of the “Okies” if they allowed them to stay and take over their lands. “And the migrants streamed on the highways and their hunger was in their eyes, and their need was in their eyes” (Pg.283). In order to confront what the locals believed was injustice, they formed armed bands to terrorize the “Okies” and keep them in their place. The individuals, in this case the farmers and the “Okies”, should unite in order to reclaim justice. Although the way they dealt with injustice is incorrect, they were only doing it in order to survive through the injustice that they were facing due to the actions of the big businesses. “When there was work for a man, ten men fought for it- fought with a low wage… I’ll do it for twenty. No, me, I’m hungry. I’ll work for fifteen. I’ll work for food.”(Pg. 283) With the arrival of the desperate “Okies” looking for jobs, big businesses lowered the wages for the farmers and migrants. They also raised the price of their products making it harder for anyone, but the big business people, to survive through the depression. The businesses attained a great profit through this unjust act. However, if the farmers and the migrants had united, they would have been able to take matters into their own hands and reclaim justice.

In chapter 25, Steinbeck reveals the name of the novel and once again proves that the way that an individual should confront injustice is by uniting with others that are in the same situation. The chapter begins with the description of a fruitful and blooming country with a lot of life. “The centers of the blossoms swell and grow and color.”(Pg.346). Food is plentiful and everything seems nice. However, as the chapter unravels, life of the country begins to die out because of the injustice occurring in society. “Children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken form an orange… because the food must rot, must be forced to rot.” (Pg. 349). The big businesses commit injustice by not paying the people a decent wage and not allowing them to take the food that will go to waste either way because no one has the money to pay for it. The migrants and farmers try to do something to stand up for themselves and their families. They try to correct this by going to the river where the potatoes are thrown and sadly are stopped by the guards so that no one could get to the lost food. If the two groups of people had united and worked together to make a plan to salvage this waste of food, they would have been more successful in achieving justice.

An injustice that most people face probably on a daily basis is lying. In Stephanie Ericsson’s essay, The Ways We Lie, she fully describes all the different ways that most people lie. Ericsson admits to the fact that she lies as well as other people but she does not justify it on any level. Lying has become an everyday thing that it becomes harder for one to distinguish a lie from the truth ad have learned to accept them. “Our acceptance of lies becomes a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage becomes as invisible to us as water is to a fish.” With all the lying, society is become a society consumed by deception. Lies are seen as unjust for the reason that no matter how small the lie or with what intention they are told, “someone loses”. Ericsson believes that the way of confronting the injustice of telling lies, is by having each individual stop telling lies, so that one can become less tolerant of the lies told. “I discovered that telling the truth all the time is nearly impossible. It means living with some serious consequences.” It would take society to work as a whole in order to cease the injustice of lying and accept the consequences of telling the truth.

Barbara Lazear Ascher’s essay, On Compassion, questions the true reason behind kind actions. She believes that with true acts of compassion one can face the hardships of injustice. Throughout Ascher’s essay, two different women are confronted by the same injustice of society, the fact that homeless people are seen as less than humans are. Both of the women respond to the injustice they see with acts of compassion. However, the first woman seems respond more out of fear than actual well interest of the homeless man. “The mother grows impatient and pushes the stroller before her, bearing the dollar like a cross. Finally, a black hand rises and closes around green.” This woman, not knowing what else to do in order to protect herself and her baby, confronts the bad situation of the homeless man by giving him a dollar. An outsider can see this act as an act of compassion when it is noticeable that the woman did it out of fear and just wanted to avoid any confrontation. The second woman is the owner of a bread shop where Ascher has seen a homeless man, arrive there twice. Each time the owner went to the man with a piece of bread and a cup of coffee. “Twice I have witnessed this, and twice I have wondered, what compels this woman to feed this man? If expulsion were her motivation, she would not reward his arrival with gifts of food. Most proprietors do not. They chase the homeless from their midst with expletives and threats.” Ascher believes that this is truly an act of compassion for the woman could have easily scared him off by threatening him with calling the police. Instead, she chose to help the man confront injustice by giving him something to eat.

Injustices will continue being a constant dilemma that every individual will face, in a certain point in time. For that reason, it is of major importance that one learns to confront injustice. Confronting injustice as a group reduces the impact that each individual receives due to the blow of injustice. By setting aside one’s differences and learning to communicate with people undergoing the same injustice, one can come together with those in the same situation and united confront injustice.

M. Torres

Ascher, Barbara L. "On compassion." 10 Mar. 2009 <[]

Ericsson, Stephanie. "The Ways We Lie." 20 Mar. 09 <[]

Steinbeck, John. __The Grapes of Wrath__. New York: Penguin Group, 1939.