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__An Individuals Role __

Humans are constantly faced with two difficult dilemmas that society brings about through experiences and situations. These two dilemmas are confronting injustice and judging what is right from wrong. In the novel //Grapes of Wrath//, John Steinbeck is constantly putting his characaters in situations were they must confront injustice and also make decisons based on their judgements of right from wrong. Outside refferences such as //Civil Disobedience and Homeless: Expose the Myths// also emphasize on how a certain individual can confront injustice and determine what the right thing to do would be.

In chapter 3 of //Grapes of Wrath//, a turtle crossing the road is purposely hit by a young man driving a truck. Although the turtle is hit with great magnitude, the blow holds little impact as the turtle's shell serves as a protection. When hit by the truck, each piece of the turtles shell evenly distributes the impact of the blow which serves to save the turtles life. Although in some ways this incident may just seem as a simple occurence in the novel, it can also serve as a symbolic refference to how an individual can confront injustice. The turtle shell in this chapter can be seen as a representation of a group of individuals coming together to confront and eventually overcome the injustice. Once a group of people can come together and fight for the same cause the injustice becomes a much smaller problem as it is evenly ditributed among all the members of the group. The Joad family working together throughout their harsh trip helps them confront the injustices that they are facing.

However, there are some instances in which it is impossible for a human to confront the injustice that is taking place. In chapter seven, a carsalesman is taking advantage of the farmers depserate need for a car. "Sure we sold it. Gurarantee? We gurrantee it to be an automobile(pg. 65)." the salesman unjust attitude is depicted in this quote because he is selling the farmers a car that is not gurranteed to work.

Another circumstance in which an individual cannot confront injustice is shown in the text //Homeless// by Anna Quindlen. This passage makes the reader question the role of the homeless when confronting injustice.

The salesman also has a different interpretation of what is right from what is wrong. Although his actions may seem wrong to the reader, the salesman views his actions as right because without the farmers money he would not be able to make a reasonable profit from the car.

Chapter eleven also shows an instance in which an individual is faced with determining right from wrong. In this chapter the truck driver is driving a tractor on the farmer's land. Although to the farmers it might seem that what the driver is doing is wrong, the tractor driver views it as the right thing to do in order to provide for his family. "He goes home and his home is not the land(pg.116)." The farmers might view the drivers actions as wrong because the driver does not hold the same sentiments towards the land as the farmers do.

There are some cases in which a human naturally knows right from wrong by observations that he or she has made of their society. In chapter seventeen, all the migrant families take breaks from their harsh journey and settle down during the night. All the families become one when they settle down into their own community. "And the families learned, although no one told them, what rights are monstrous and must be destroyed (pg.194)." in this quote it is apparent that people in the small community learned what is right from wrong not because they were taught, but because they observed the social behaviors of others. The human mind is able to adapt to an environment and behave in a manner that is "socially acceptable". Therefore, determining right from wrong can simply be based on the environment in which a human lives

In //Civil Disobedience// Henry Thoreau is confronting the governments injustice by standing up for what he believes. Thoreau leaves it up to the individual to decide wether he or she wants to confront the governments injustice or just live in a world of injustice.

Overall, and individuals role in confronting injustice might not even be to take individual actions against the injustice but to join with others that share the same ideas so that together the injustice may seem easier to overcome. Determining right from wrong can also be based on how a certain individual was raised and what they observed from the society that sorrounds them.

__ Works Cited __

"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.

Steinbeck, John. "The Grapes of Wrath." 09 Mar. 2009.

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