An Epic Tale Characters: The Grapes of Wrath, California Problems

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December 8, 2015
Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is an epic tale spawned with details and acerbic wit. John Steinbeck chronicles the struggles of Joad’s family as they depart from their matrimonial home in Sallisaw, Oklahoma hoping to find work and hopefully better life in California. Forced from the land that the family had inhabited for two generations the Joads together with elderly grandpa and grandma and escapee son, Tom ,are packed into a decrepit truck and are headed west via route 66(Wyatt,23). The family has high expectations of finding jobs in the fertile valley of California. Considered John Steinbeck's masterwork, The Grapes of Wrath is a tale of humanity united by turmoil and that bond of authentic love which overcomes all obstacles, rather than remaining single and individualistic, the characters unite in the face of adversity and they are able to prevail over challenges during hard times.
The tribulations and pain of the Joad’s family during the era of great depression is reflective of the impact that the Dust Bowl had on the dispossessed people in Oklahoma. The storyline is etched on both the social and historical events of 1930s in America. There was an historical environmental disaster known as the Dust Bowl which destroyed lives and property brutally. It is also during this timeline that a majority of the disposed people suffered abject poverty, because they were landless and did not have means to sustain their livelihoods. Most of them were compelled to move westwards and work in cotton and peach farms where they earned only meager income.
Peaking at the background of this tumult which began in late 18180s, the land began to be settled by sharecroppers for agricultural use. Most of them had borrowed from the banks and so in essence their property belonged to the banks. Later on, when great drought swept over the land and their crops were adversely affected a majority of the farmers relinquished their claim to land ownership (Benson, 204). It is during this time that reports came about dust clouds covering the land and suffocating livestock at the same time obstructing visibility. This was known as the Dust bowl which in essence annihilated livelihoods and scattered the people into different places as they sought for means to sustain their lives. In early 20th century however, great rainfall and the replacement of bare fields with sod played a major role in restoring agricultural productivity of the plains states (Wyatt, 78).
In this tale the Joads family has to move out of their home in Oklahoma because the bank had taken possession of their land and now they had to move away into another place and earn a living. Tom Joad returns home after being parole from the state penitentiar. On arrival, he finds that Joad farm has been abandoned and the neighbor explains that the family land had been possessed by the bank (Zirakzadeh, 605). The family had moved away after the atrocious treatment by the bank and they were now living with Uncle John planning to go to California in pursuit of work. After the family sells off their belongings they pack their ramshackle truck and they take off early in the morning.
In the first evening as the famil...