Suffering In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

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Human suffering plagued the country in the 1930's and John Steinbeck perfectly portrayed the suffering within his classic book Grapes of Wrath. Although the Joads are fictional characters the plight hey faced was all too real. The Dust bowl pushed millions of people from their homes out into the unfriendly land of California.

Forced from their homes the families of laborers fought against each other for jobs. Before the savage war of finding work hit families the groups could rely on each other to provide help when needed. In chapter 10 of John Steinbeck’s written work the Grapes of Wrath the Joad family can be seen readying themselves for travel, they ask is a character Jim Casy would travel with them. Pa, the logical side of argument, …show more content…
One of Tom Collins reports provided was written on May 2, 1936. This passage explains how "Several families have checked out... rather than remain at camp unemployed," groups that settles in an area settled for work and when there was no work the family was forced to pack up yet again and move. If a family was to stay in an unemployed area they would surely starve from lack of money for food. The Joad family is faced with this same predicament in chapter (insert) while they are staying in the government camp. The family loves living in the government camp with food and amenities but because there is no employment they are forced to move somewhere with work. These government camps were controlled by laborers themselves and the counties they were in did not approve. In Collin's report on February 8, 1936 Mr. Palpmaris said, "Sheriffs [should] be able to go [in]to the camps any time." The sheriffs of California were unfriendly to the traveling families because they disliked the Oklahoma people flooding into their state and taking their jobs. Those families that would leave unemployed land and travel to better lands would travel far distances. This is also stated in Collin's report on May 2, 1936 when he states that, "Some of them believes it will be necessary to get as far north as Sacramento," even when the families would travel far north the employment would only last …show more content…
Collin’s report of January 18, 1936 states that the, “average farm labor wage in the state of Oklahoma is fifty cents…[and] Men engaged in this [in California] work have earned an average of sixty-five cents per day.” This statement implied that life for the travelers was better in California as they would make more money for their labor. As Steinbeck shows in the Grapes of Wrath life in California was no where near as easy as it was in Oklahoma. If a laborer held a job in California, also a rarity, the wages would be extremely low and a entire family would be happy to earn a quarter for a whole day’s work. Collin’s report from July 18, 1936 speaks once more about worker wages by saying, “workers would be very willing and quite happy to work for the 25 cents per hour.” A worker in California would be willing and quite happy to work for 25 cents per hour if they could get a job that offered that amount. Very little employers were hiring and if they were it was not for those wages. Laborers who came to California in search for work were willing to find good paying jobs but they would not have come to California in search for work if they were not forced form their homes in Oklahoma. Oklahoma laborers would not leave their land for only a slight possibility of work in a new distant land if they were not forced. Steinbeck proves this through the story of the Joads,
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