Classics with a Message

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.

John Steinbeck had an interest in incidences and history overall. He wrote “The Grapes of Wrath”  after collecting notes from migrant workers.  In fact he travelled from Oklahoma to California working and living alongside migrant workers. The book was published in 1939 and one of the great  films  made from it soon after. The novel caused anger amongst the establishment as it was seen as an expose on capitalist excesses or at least an attack on the “American dream”. 

In the story Tom Joad, Jr is released from prison in Oklahoma, where he was sent for killing a man in self-defence. His family is moving to California since their living  has been ruined by land banks, weather, and machine farming. Returning migrants tell the Joads conditions are even worse in California. However they continue their journey to the west coast. In California the remain ing family, the grandparents died on the journey, go to a Hooterville, i.e. a camp for migrants. When they ask to see a work contractor’s licence he calls the police. Tom is involved in a fight and has to escape. The family eventually find work on a farm by breaking a picket line. Tom is again in trouble, and has to leave. He says he will help oppressed workers elsewhere. The family move on and the novel describes how the people, without money manage to survive.

The book is moving , thought-provoking and written in lyrical style. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and is Steinbeck’s most famous novel. However at almost 500 pages it is only for avid readers.