In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck follows the journey of the Joads during the Great Recession, they were a fictional family who fell into poverty after losing their farm and they had no choice but to become migrant workers. I believe that Steinbeck takes a Marxist approach in writing this novel, creating a reaction against capitalism by using real life circumstances to represent this fictional tale and defend the way “Okie” people were treated. Steinbeck himself worked as a ranch hand and fruit picker before becoming a writer and traveled across California to gather information by talking to migrants, gaining a real sense of what they faced when they left their homes in the 1930s, so his life experiences help make this novel as accurate and realistic as possible. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Steinbeck adds an element of foreshadowing to his novel through the use of interlocking chapters. In chapter three he focuses on the story of a turtle who is struggling to cross the highway, barely surviving after a truck hits him and sends him off the road, but he survives and tries again. In the next chapter Tom Joad finds this turtle and brings it home, hoping to surprise his brother and keep it as a pet and when he meets Jim Casy the turtle tries to escape several times, but never quite succeeds. Finally, when Tom returns to his family's home and finds it empty, he gives up and releases the turtle, only to be attacked by one of the cats but once again he survives by hiding in his shell until the cat leaves, before start. on his journey once again. Lisca believes that "the indomitable life force that drives the turtle, drives the Joad"; the turtle is symbolic throughout as he faces a lot of opposition but shows determination to overcome his struggles, refusing to give up, just like the Joads family and in the end they both survive. Through the use of this symbol we as readers express our sympathy for this poor turtle along his difficult and challenging journey, so Steinbeck foreshadows this sympathy he wants us to have towards the Joads in their journey in the battle against capitalism. Steinbeck opens a scene in the novel by depicting a farmer standing next to a dilapidated house and describes how "the Bank... or the Company... needs... wants... insists... must have... as whether the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thoughts and feelings, that had chased them' to portray the Bank and large corporations as evil and intent on taking tenants and farmers. This is significant since many large landowners and corporations of the time evicted their tenants simply because they were no longer of use to them and were not profitable, and Steinbeck wanted to point out how wrong this is and what the cost is to these tenants. The government created a new policy with the intention of increasing the price of cotton and began offering grants to landowners that would reduce the amount of land they farmed on; this money was supposed to go to help tenant farmers, but instead many landowners used it for personal use, for example by purchasing new tractors . This drove small farm owners and tenant farmers into poverty, leaving them no choice but to leave their homeland and migrate to California. Steinbeck, therefore, from the beginning makes readers aware that the problem derives from the capitalism oflarge companies and banks of which the Okies are victims. The Joads are one of the families victimized by the new government policy as they are forced to leave their home and begin their journey to California to start a new life after drought leaves them unable to maintain their land. Steinbeck highlights the effects this had on them. The Joads had no choice whether to leave, as we learn from this exchange: "You have to get down. It's not my fault." Whose fault is it? I'm going to go and drive that man crazy." "It's the Shawnee Lan' an' Cattle Company. I just got some orders." "Who is the Shawnee Lan' an' Cattle Company?" "It's nobody. It's a company." Steinbeck points out how unfair it is that the Joads had no choice and, like many others, lived at the mercy of large corporations like the "Shawnee Lan' an' Cattle Company" and could do nothing about it, they had no one to defended them and they simply had to do what they were told, even at the cost of uprooting their entire home and family's livelihood. He points out that these capitalist companies don't care about the repercussions on small farmers, they only care about making more money and therefore their treatment of families like the Joads is wrong and inhumane In many situations, there is no one for people like Ai Joad to discuss matters with to possibly come to some sort of agreement, they are simply told what to do. and they have no other choice. In the fifth chapter, when the tractor comes to clear the land, the tenant threatens the worker driving the tractor with a gun, to which he replies: 'I will lose my job if I don't do it... suppose you kill me? They'll just hang you, but long before you get hanged there'll be another boy on the tractor," asks the tenant, "Who gave you the orders?" I'll follow him, and the worker says to him, "He got the orders. orders from the Bank.' Steinbeck paints the Bank as the monster and responsible for this man's misfortune as the worker is simply following his orders, the bank cares neither about the tenant nor the worker as long as the land is cleared and made profitable The tenant he says, "it's not like lightning or an earthquake", he knows it's caused by humans who should have the logic and ability to stop it, but he can't find anyone to actually talk to Steinbeck is alluding to the capitalists here, who come even to dehumanize not only the Okies, but their workers to carry out their dirty work, and the novel as a whole is based on the denunciation of these banks and large corporations Steinbeck shows how the mentality of farmers and entrepreneurs of each itself caused many problems in the lives of migrants. For example, a small farmer only needed three workers and paid them thirty cents an hour, but at the Farmers' Association meeting he was confronted and threatened: "You pay thirty cents. the time." You'd better reduce it to twenty-five... If you pay thirty, you'll only cause trouble. And anyway, next year you will need the usual amount of loan for the harvest.' Steinbeck pointed out that even when migrant workers managed to find a job with someone who wanted to pay them fairly, that person was then threatened and manipulated by those more powerful than him. The farmer realizes the injustice of what is happening to these people, but he can do nothing without having a negative impact on his own life. After the three men, including Tom, agree to work for less pay, he tells them, "I don't know how you men can feed a family with what you get now." Steinbeck explains how the treatment of Okies was even worse than that of foreign immigrants years earlier: "The Okies accepted lower wages –wages that the Mexicans, in effect, had rejected." Steinbeck addresses the ongoing issue by pointing out how wrong it is that capitalist corporations like the Farmers Association leave people with no choice but to do what they want, otherwise they themselves will be threatened , and in doing what they want they are often forced to give up their humanity. In another attempt to describe how unfairly the Okies are treated, Steinbeck describes how the Joad family takes a job picking peaches, where they are given a dollar in cash. credit for the company grocery store. When mom goes to the store, she realizes that one dollar doesn't buy much and all together they only earn a dollar and fifty a day. Here they can't afford food and they don't earn their own money, so they can't go to another store to buy what they need. The store clerk has no sympathy towards Mom, telling her that "Hooper Ranches Incorporated" sets the prices, not him. She asks him “Are you doing a dirty thing like this”. You're ashamed, aren't you?' but he simply responds with "a boy's gotta eat". Steinbeck points out how unacceptable it is for capitalists to abuse the system by treating Okies this way and feeling no remorse for any of their actions because they are only concerned with prospering themselves. It highlights how capitalists dehumanize others after gaining power and wealth. If the small farmer or shop assistant refused to do what they were ordered to do, which was to rob the Okies, they would be subject to a backlash. But Steinbeck wanted readers to realize that if all these small farmers and shop assistants stood together unanimously and refused to do what was morally wrong, then change would be possible. Casy states in the first chapter, “It's all part of the same thing.” And some of the things that people do are beautiful, some are not, but that's all a man has the right to say", underlining that in the current situation of the country, only the rich and powerful like the banks and the large corporations can express their opinions and everyone else is threatened. In contrast to this, towards the end of the novel Tom exclaims, "I wondered if all of our people got together and shouted." the reader is left with very little resolution of the conflict", but I think that Steinbeck's aim was to encourage his readers to unite to force a change in attitudes towards migrants and take a stand against capitalists. McElderry supports this view, stating that while writing the novel Steinbeck had "a motivation unconscious: to express his fundamental belief in the humanity, courage, resilience and kindness of people like the Joads, and to show their passionate desire for opportunity and opportunity." justice.'Many California communities were furious at Steinbeck's views in the book and it was banned in some counties, for example Kern, I believe this was due to the embarrassment Americans felt after reading how accurately it described their treatment of immigrants . Green states that the novel "was a social document that outraged leadership groups such as the Associated Farmers of California" [footnoteRef:19] and Shockley reports that "The Associated Farmers Group of Kern County described the book as "propaganda in its vilest". form.' Some argue that his portrayal was historically inaccurate and that it exaggerated the circumstances, but I do not hold this view due to the extensive research that Steinbeck conducted before writing the novel Professor OB Duncan, director of the Department of.