Marisela+Espinoza

**Unjust Society** T he struggle against injustice must originate within each individual, but in order to be able to impact the injustice as an individual those people must unite in a common cause and become stronger together.  As adolescence we grow up with morals that help us establish what is right from wrong. The way in which an individual chooses to confront injustice is by choosing what they believe is right from wrong and being able to push away and fight off that injustice. John Steinbeck’s //The Grapes of Wrath// explains that when great change is presented without proper infrastructure, it is the individual’s role to unite with either family or society in order to be able to successfully deal with the change. Several ancillary texts including; //On Compassion// by Barbara Lazear Ascher, //Civil Disobedience// by Henry David Thoreau, and //The Ways We Lie// by Stephanie Ericsson, demonstrate different acts of injustice and the way those individuals choose to deal with it.  The role of an individual in confronting injustice in Chapter 3 from //The Grapes of Wrath// is the idea of bonding together, with either society or family, in order to distribute the injustice thus affecting each individual less. The turtle in this chapter is used to symbolize the farmers as well as the agricultural land. The truck, also presented in this chapter, is used to present the industrialized life in a faster paced society. Many of the farmers are faced with the injustice that society and they are unprepared to deal and mold themselves into the new life. The turtle is run over purposely by the truck driver as it is making its way across the highway. "Lying on its back, the turtle was tight in its shell for a long time. But at last its legs waved in the air, reaching for something to pull it over. Its front foot caught a pieve of quartz and little by little the shell pulled over and flopped upright"(15). The turtle was knocked over for moving to slow, but was able to gain its strength and pursue on his journey. The farmers are moving at a slower pace compared to the industrial society, like the turtle, and they are being pushed down by that injustice due to the lack of infrastructure. These individuals face the injustice by sticking together as a family and continuing their journey to California. Even though the turtle was run over by the truck it was not harmed. The reason being that the turtle’s shell contained several plates that when hit flexed and was able to distribute the pain equally to the whole shell causing the hit to be less painful. By the farmers sticking together as groups when traveling to California they are distributing the injustice that they face amongst each other making it feel the pain less. In chapter 12 of John Steinbeck’s //The Grapes of Wrath// it describes Route 66 and the several different obstacles in which the Okies faced while on that route. Several of those individuals where faced with the unjust conditions of having to buy things to fix their cars such as patches for their tire. “You didn’t see it, you son-of-a-bitch. You wanta charge us four bucks for a busted casing” (121). The items that were being sold to them to fix their cars needed fixing themselves. The way in which the individual is able to confront this injustice is by demanding just treatment and by choosing not to consume any of the damaged products that the salesmen were supplying. "I'll go on the rim before I'd give that son-of-a-bitch a dime" (121). Only so many individuals are able to refuse buying the damaged products which once again reinforces that in order for an individual to achieve success they must combine as a group in order to gain success. When combined together the group than becomes stronger increasing their higher authority. Working as an individual and not consuming the salesmen’s product does not impact the system as much as if a group of those individuals worked together and boycotted then the blow would be stronger on the salesmen impacting them greatly causing them to change their methods in order to have a stable business.  Steinbeck uses chapter 21 of //The Grapes of Wrath// to show the role of the individuals confronting injustice by uniting with other individuals in order to regain justice. The farmers in this chapter choose to unite to try and keep the Okies from coming into their, also non flourishing, land and taking the little jobs they have. “And the hostility changed them, welded them, united them-hostility that made the little towns group arm as though to repel an invader” (282). The farmers felt that they were helping themselves and that they were each facing injustice individually by working together. Yet they did not realize that they were uniting against the wrong people. “Clerks and storekeepers with shotguns, guarding the world against their own people”(282). There was fear from the level of competition the farmers didn’t want to be the lowest level which is why they looked down on Okies because they were the next level below them. Ultimately the farmers were kicked off of their land by the larger authority just as the Okies were. “ And then they too went to the highways. And the roads were crowded with men ravenous for work, murderous for work."(284). The cycle continued and now the farmers were Okies as well. The way in which the farmers choose to face there injustice did not end with success because they were not uniting against the larger structure of injustice.

The individual in Chapter 25 from //The Grapes of Wrath// has to face the injustice of the corrupt infrastructure within the society. Several individuals work to produce a land that flourishes and produces great fruit. “Men who can graft the trees and make the seed fertile and big can find no way to let the hungry people eat their produce”(348). Though they helped raise and grow such great crops they are unable to buy for themselves the produce because of the little wages they earn. “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage”(349). The farmers and all of the agricultural people are yearning for their old way of life. The industrial system is poisoned which is why even though the trees flourish they rot because societies underline system is also poisoned. In order for these individuals to face that injustice is by uniting and sticking up to the underline system that is poisoning society.

The big flood presented in chapter 29 from //The Grapes of Wrath// is used to present several injustices within society. The individuals in this chapter rely on one another to be strong and to face the injustice. "...the women sighed with relief, for they knew it was all right-- the break had not come”(592). The men within the family or the group were the ones that maintained the order and controlled the fear from the rest of the group. The injustice which these individuals faced was having fear towards other people of the same background as them. They faced this injustice as a whole because they stuck together and gained strength. “The break had not come; and the break would never come as long as fear could turn to wrath" (592). The group felt comfort knowing that the men who were the head of the group were still strong and not at the point of breaking. This set a sense of relief to the group making them stronger to continue facing the injustice.  Barbara Lazear Ascher’s //On Compassion// purpose was to reinforce what compassion was. Ascher believes that the role of an individual in confronting injustice is by performing several acts of compassion. “As winter approaches. The mayor of New York City is moving the homeless off the streets”. The mayor of New York shows his confrontation towards injustice by helping the homeless of the street an the cold winter. He is acting out of compassion as he does so when he faces this unjust situation. Ascher also believes that an individual is not born compassionate, she believes that as we grow we learn the compassion from the rest of society. “The others on the corner, five men and woman waiting for the cross town bus, look away”. When people view such acts of compassion they feel guilty because they know that those are good acts done and they don’t do much which is why they look away. Compassion can help impact injustice in some if used correctly.

Henry David Thoreau in //Civil Disobedience// tries to confront injustice as an individual. He does this by choosing not to pay his taxes. He felt very strongly about protesting against slavery though his choice of not paying his taxes caused him a night in jail. This didn’t affect him as much because he was imprisoned for something he felt strongly about. "But a government in which the majority rules in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it." Thoreau believed that if the government ruled by the majority then that government shouldn’t rule over anyone. This in a sense would just begin to create more injustice due to the lack of structure within the government. "When the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule, is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest." In the end Thoreau was overpowered and was not able to do much as a single person. The government had a great number of people creating the injustice and since there lacked a number in the people sticking up to that injustice little or no affect was done to stop it. Working as an individual does not make a big impact as if there was a greater number in group. Stephanie Ericsson’s //The Ways We Lie// explains not the reasons why we lie, but more so of how we lie. We lie to get out of a certain situation or to make us feel, in a sense, better about ourselves. “We lie. We all do. We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid confrontation, we conveniently forget.” Lying has become so ordinary in every bodies life that it just comes out so natural. This I all done because we grew up in a society built on lying. Ericsson does not advocate lying whatsoever she absolutely is against it. “How-much do we tolerate before we become sick and tired of being sick and tired? When will we stand up and declare our right to trust?” The way in which the individual chooses to confront injustice is by advocating that even though lies are in our everyday life it is wrong. When someone lies in the end someone always ends up losing.  Though several of the individuals may have not efficiently confronted injustice, by beginning the process of unity and choosing right from wrong, the movement for justice will be seen and begin to carry on by future generations.  In John Steinbeck’s, //The Grapes of Wrath,// the injustice of the people within the novel not being able to cope with the change of industrialization due to their unsubstantial infrastructure was faced by the unity of the individual and other individual. // On Compassion  // by Barbara Lazear Ascher, //Civil Disobedience// by Henry David Thoreau, and //The Ways We Lie// by Stephanie Ericsson, demonstrated the different acts of injustice and the way those individuals choose to deal with it. Whether it being by compassion or by advocating the injustice. Sticking up as a whole and uniting to fight against that injustice together will leave a greater impact.

**Works Cited**   
 * Ch. 3**-

"Injustice - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. 9 Mar. 2009 .

Ohio.com MM Server. 8 Mar. 2009 .

Pinellas County Schools & Teachers. 8 Mar. 2009 <http://it.pinellas.k12.fl.us/Teachers8/BeckertM/images/E70DE2DEA9FE4D0D8D3D77A14254F5C2.jpg>.

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

WGMD 92.7 The Talk of Delmarva | State, County, People, Police, Would. 7 Mar. 2009 <http://www.wgmd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/turtle_1.jpg>.


 * Ch. 12**-

"Family eating." 10 Mar. 2009. <http://gow-chapter12-hwy66.wikispaces.com/file/view/43.jpg>.

"Pushing car." 10 Mar. 2009. <http://gow-chapter12-hwy66.wikispaces.com/file/view/67.jpg>.

Steinbeck, John. Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 2002.

"The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Critical Commentaries." Yahoo! Education - Dictionary, Colleges, Scholarships, Homework Help, Schools, Reference, Thesaurus & more. 9 Mar. 2009 http://education.yahoo.com/homework_help/cliffsnotes/the_grapes_of_wrath/41.html.


 * Ch.21**-

Leaf, Marisa, and Roger Smith. __Justice__. __Google__. 11 Mar. 2009 <www.eurowarrant.net/.../intro.asp?ssc_nr=3>.

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


 * Ch.25**-

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. 1902-2002 ed. Penguin Group, 2002.

"Grapes of Wrath." __Bellefonte Area School District__. 11 Mar. 2009 <[]>.


 * Ch.29**-

__American Memory from the Library of Congress - Home Page__. 10 Mar. 2009 <[]>.

"Flood Preparedness Image." __Allen Neighborhood Center: Serving the Eastside of Lansing, MI__. 11 Mar. 2009 <[]>.

"Grapes of Wrath." __Bellefonte Area School District__. 11 Mar. 2009 <[]>.

"Realism in American Literature." __Washington State University - Pullman, Washington__. 10 Mar. 2009 <[]>.

Steinbeck, John. __Grapes of Wrath__. New York, N.Y: Penguin, 1992.

__The Blencathra Fellwalking Site__. 11 Mar. 2009 [].


 * On Compassion**-

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

Penni. "Sedona & Raw Compassion." Real Food Tulsa. 08 September 2008. 11 Mar 2009 [].

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

20 Mar. 09 <[]>.

Steinbeck, John. __The Grapes of Wrath__. New York: Penguin Group, 1989.

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 * Civil Disobedience**-

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