The Pain of the Okies Exposed in The Grapes of Wrath Essay

The Pain of the Okies Exposed in The Grapes of Wrath The Dust bowl was an ecological and human disaster in the Southwestern Great Plains regions of the United States in the 1930s. The areas affected were Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. The poor handling of the land and years of drought caused this great disaster (Jones History). During this time the Okies--a name given to the migrants that traveled from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, or anywhere in the Southwest or the northern plains to California--encountered many hardships. These hardships are brilliantly shown in John Steinbecks The Grapes of Wrath. Scholars agree, The most important fact about the dust storms was not scientific but human: their tragic effect†¦show more content†¦While in grammar school John had a paper route that went through the Mexican neighborhoods. These trips helped inspire his later stories. As in grammar school, Steinbeck was picked on in high school. This time it was not just students, but the teachers also classified John as stupid based onl y on his physical features. In one account of Steinbecks life we are given evidence that teachers would often make fun of him in front of their classes. Regardless of his dramas in high school Steinbeck graduated in 1918 with the other twenty-four students in his class (Swisher 15). Steinbeck attended Standard on and off for six years, but never earned a degree. When Steinbeck was not attending school he was working as a laborer. He often worked with migrants and lived with them. The exposure Steinbeck received from migrants would later help shape the characters he wrote about (Swisher 15). Steinbeck never graduated Standard and it would take years before he was truly recognized. In 1935 Pascal Covici declared he wanted to be Steinbecks permanent publisher. When Covici published Tortilla Flat it soon became settled on the best-seller list, making Steinbeck famous (Swisher 17-19). Now Steinbeck was known and it helped him land good opportunities in the writing field. When the chef editor from the San Francisco News,Show MoreRelated Grapes Of Wrath Essay2416 Words   |  10 Pages John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath is one of the most influential books in American History, and is considered to be his best work by many. It tells the story of one family’s hardship during the Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. The Joads were a hard-working family with a strong sense of togetherness and morals; they farmed their land and went about their business without bothering anyone. When the big drought came it forced them to sell the land they had lived on since beforeRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagespurposes besides making a term more precise. Powerful political institutions can exert their power by defining terms their own way. An ordinance was once proposed to the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to outlaw all animal experimentation involving pain with inadequate anesthesia. It required adequate anesthesia for all experimentation on animals. However, it permitted inadequate anesthesia for rats and mice. Lest you think there is an inconsistency here, the ordinance noted that rats and mice