Amanda+Wilson

Wilson, Amanda Period 4

Individual As None, Together As One

In the novel Grapes of Wrath, the author John Steinbeck depicts the journey of various farming families as they make their way to the promise land of California. Facing multiple injustices, the Joad family fights for survival and eagerly arrives in California to start their lives anew. Steinbeck’s view of confronting injustice is to do so with multiple people confronting the obstacle. When an injustice is approached this way, the group will be more successful, with power in numbers. When a problem or injustice is spread among others, it is more efficiently conquered.

When an injustice is faced by a family, it is much easier to endure than by solely an individual. In chapter three, Steinbeck symbolizes various farming families with a turtle, and an injustice, a truck. The turtle embarked on a journey west, as the farmers had done as well. Through its hardships, the turtle was purposely hit by a truck. “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.”(22) The truck driver was careless as he hit the turtle out of the roadway, just as the government had no concern, towards the farmers as they were pushed off their land. Among these farmers was the Joad family, who had stuck together, united, as they trailed off to California. The turtle was able to survive being hit by the truck driver because of the infrastructure of its shell. The impact was spread among all of the individual tiles, thus making the blow less intense. The Joad family stayed united and was able to survive their eviction because of their concept of unity in a family.

When one may face injustice, is it not always easy; people are usually accompanied by a great deal of pain as well as fear. In chapter fourteen of Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck describes this fear. The source of this fear arises from the big businessmen that evict the various farmers from their homeland. With strength in numbers, many farming families could have bound together to fight for the common cause, but upon the arrival of the tractor, all hope was lost. “Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.”(150) United as one, the farmers may have been able to create change in their society, but the new industrialization made that nearly impossible for these farmers that had not yet been exposed to this kind of modern technology. But, if the farmers did unify, they could have became more than capable of reorganizing their society for their best interest.

Fighting an injustice is never a one-time-deal, nor is it completely eliminated upon first contact. In chapter nineteen of Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck portrays the repetition of history. In doing so, it is well known that injustice does repeat itself and takes new forms every day. The United States took over various territories from Mexico, just as the big businesses were taking the land away from farmers during the period of the 1930s. The land in both cases is seen as something of value and profit, and when claimed, it gave the owner a sense of achievement and pride. The businessmen saw the land as a source of income, just as the Americans had seen these southwest territories valuable. Although unjust to whom it was being taken from, the government felt no mercy for these poor, helpless farmers. When the farmers decided to challenge injustice, they took action by stealing what they needed to survive, such as the orange taken to feed a starving child. “…gaurds with shotguns patrolling the lines so a man might not pick an orange for a thin child, oranges to be dumped if the price was low.”(319) This act of confronting injustice shows that an individual will do whatever it takes to survive. The individual judges right from wrong from personal instances and measure the decision on the necessity of survival. The farmer realizes that what he does is wrong, and disregards his judgment. “But the cop was right.”(321) The farmer overlooks this because of his battle against injustice, which causes his judgment to become impaired.

The journey towards justice is a long and brave journey taken. Upon their journey to California, many famers faced various vigorous dilemmas while trying to reach this promise land. Chapter twelve describes this journey taken on Route 66 while in search for a better life. On this road, an injustice faced by the farmers was that of dealing with the car salesmen, and being overcharged for car parts, those necessary to continue their most anticipated arrival in California. The migrants must pay for the overpriced car parts in order to continue on their journey. The salesmen take advantage of the farmers, and this is seen as the injustice. “Got to I guess. Let’s look her over. Open her up, look a’ the casing—you son-a-bitch, you said the casing was good. She’s broke damn near through.”(121) An unjust infrastructure can result in rendered fate. Together, the farmers are able to work through this injustice and continue on their way to California.

The concept of unity and togetherness may result in success for some, but injustice for others. All in all, the farmers’ course taken across the Midwest is none-the-less successful once they reach their destination of California. The title of the book is depicted in chapter twenty-five and makes an emphasis on what unity represents. John Steinbeck uses grapes to represent the unity of the farming society. These grapes individually will not survive, and perish more quickly than if they were kept with the bunch. The grapes represent the many people who are “growing heavy with anger and growing heavy for vintage.”(477) These people are troubled with their current condition and hunger for change and a better life in California. This reference to grapes in the title for this novel reinforces Steinbeck’s theme of power in numbers, and strength in unity.

In a more modern light, injustice is still faced on an everyday basis. In The Ways We Lie by Stephanie Ericsson, lying is seen as a constant injustice which society deals with on a day-to-day basis. Although lying may be seen as permissible, like when it may be to “avoid confrontation…or to spare someone’s feelings.” In no way does this justify lying as morally acceptable. A person may judge between right and wrong based on individual circumstances and experiences. These lies are “destructive because they are used to seduce others into an illusion.” This injustice may only be conquered when society is able to control and assess its own personal power and use it for the greater good. Until then, the society will continue to live with this injustice and it will become so bad, we will never again be able to see the difference between right and wrong.

In Homeless: Expose the Myths, the author Joseph Perkins wanted to see for himself whether or not the blame was to be put on economic policies for the growing amount of homeless people on the streets of America. The individual confronts injustice by believing that the government is manipulative of its duties. The homeless felt the injustice of being without a home or health care, and the government does a poor or no job on confronting this injustice. The only thing the homeless can do to confront the injustice is to “tough it out” and continue to live like this, because of their own “self-destruction”. The government is left to blame for its ignorance and its lack of leadership and support in society. For the injustice to subside, individuals must bind together to address the situation to the rest of the public and make it known to the government that the injustice needs to stop.

On Compassion by Barbara Lazear Ascher is based on the act of compassion, and what the motives behind it are. This piece states that while dealing with injustice, it is best to confront the injustice with acts of kindness. The main injustice in our society is seen when the public strips the homeless of their humanity. This results in viewing the homeless as something less than humane, abnormal, and people to be feared. An individual can confront an injustice like this by responding through compassion, various people committing random acts of kindness to restore the humanity, thus defeating the issue.

While confronting injustice one is best to do so by joining together to fight for a common cause with strength in numbers. In the Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck portrays the ideal that together one may achieve more than individually, and those that stick together can more efficiently conquer the injustice. In a more modern light, one must use their personal resources to confront and fight injustice before the resources are no longer available to them. Injustice can be overcome with the right attitude, resources, and people by one’s side.

Work Cited

Ericsson, Stephanie. "The Ways We Lie." March 2009 .

Perkins, Joseph. "Homeless: Expose the Myths." March 2009 . Ascher, Barbara Lazear. “On Compassion” March 2009 < http://wserver.scc.losrios.edu/~lewisa/English%20300/Essays/On%20Compassion.htm >.

Steinbeck, John. Grapes of Wrath. New York, N.Y: Penguin, 1992.

 A.Wilson