Chris+Capistran

 =Grapes Of Wrath=

====It is human nature to strive to towards the standards set by society. These standards and differences tend to divide communities and individuals which ultimately lead to hateful and unjust actions. As a result, individuals are influenced with different sets of moral values dependent on their role in society. It is the role of the individual to first recognize the injustice of division and use their own best judgment determine the greater injustices and correct them through communal efforts. ====

====//The Grapes of Wrath// by John Steinbeck, the various "okies" demonstrate the futile efforts of individual confrontation, and emphasizes combined forces to correct the problematic infrastructure that left them in their plight. It is the communities duty to determine right from wrong and ultimately change it. ====


In "Homeless" by Anna Quindlen, separation of communities and the common mans neglect of injustice becomes apparent. "We turn an adjective into a noun, the poor people, the homeless, not the man who lives in the box or the woman who sleeps on the subway gate"(Quindlen) Quindlen demonstrates how people label others in order to become distant.

====As Ascher States in //On compassion//, "Raw humanity offends our sensibilities. We want to protect ourselves from an awareness of rags." the homeless are labeled as homeless, as a less than human group of people. Similar to how the salesmen in grapes of wrath and the local Californians would label the farmers looking for work "Okies". By taking away their humanity, it no longer affects their sensibilities, the Okies plight becomes a foreign language to the locals, something they can no longer comprehend as if it didn't exist. This allows them to take advantage of them without feeling any guild. "If only I could have one hundred Jalopies. I don't care if they run or not." In the Okie's poor subhuman form they hold no power of guilt over the locals and cannot influence them or work with them. The great injustice here is the wide segregation between social classes. Most of the locals live very poorly and are saved from being the lowest social class by the Okies. Instead of working with the Okies to fix the system they seem to be content in their lowly state as long as they aren't the bottom. ====


==== Ascher, Barbara L. "On compassion." 10 Mar. 2009 <[|http://wserver.scc.losrios.edu/~lewisa/English%20300/Essays/On%20Compassion.htm] ====

 Quindlen, Anna. "Homeless." 11 Mar 2009 <[]>.
==== Ericsson, Stephanie. "The Ways We Lie." 20 Mar. 09 <[] ====