In the short story, “Grapes of Wrath,” by John Steinbeck, he takes the time to dig deep into the life of a family in Oklahoma. As an immigrant who has recently settled in America, Steinbeck uses his knowledge as a writer to explore the struggles that immigrants face.
The setting of the story
The story takes place primarily in Oklahoma during the Great Depression, with flashbacks to the early years of the Dust Bowl. The story follows a poor sharecropper family, the Joads, from their eviction from California to their final destination in Oklahoma. The novel is narrated by Tom Joad and he tells about his life growing up on the road with his father and other family members who try to find work when they cannot make enough income from crop farming.
The setting of the story is during the Great Depression. It follows a family, the Joads, as they are forced from their Oklahoma farm and make their way to California in search of a better life.
What is a naturalization ceremony?
A naturalization ceremony is a formal process by which a foreign national may become a U.S. Citizen through the application of law, an oath of allegiance, and an examination of the applicant’s good moral character and attachment to the principles of American democracy.
Naturalization ceremonies are held to officially welcome new citizens as full members of the United States. A naturalization ceremony typically includes a citizenship oath, which new citizens recite at a naturalization court.
The protagonist’s feelings about America
The protagonist’s feelings about America are the same as those of many Americans during the Great Depression. They feel that it is their country and they don’t want to leave, even when they have little food or money.
Orrin E. Dorritt, the main character in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, is an aged cowboy who wanders the country with his horse trying to find a new place to settle down. He has seen many changes in his life and has come to see America as being like “a vineyard that was planted in sand.” The grapes are plentiful but tasteless and the wine is sour.
The protagonist’s attitude toward people who are not Americans
The protagonist of the Grapes of Wrath is a farmer who supports the American economy, but does not like how people are treated in America. One example is when he meets a man who tells him about a family who sent their daughter to school in China because it’s cheaper to educate her there. The protagonist replies that he would do anything for his children if they were starving in China, but asks the man what China will do with the money it saves. When the man responds that China spends it on weapons and colonies, the protagonist tells him “I think you’re a damned fool.”
The protagonist is fed up with people who are not American because they don’t know how to speak English, but he also sees them as “the enemy.”
The family’s financial stability
The Great Depression was a period of global economic decline that began in 1929 and lasted until 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world, sparking fundamental changes to social structures and political activities.
The main point of this point is that the family’s financial stability is declining over time.
Native relations in the story
This story is told through the eyes of Tom Joad, a migrant farmer who comes to California in search of a better life. Part of the appeal of this novel is that it shows the rise and fall of an entire culture and its people. The Joads migrate from Kansas during the depression to find work in California. There are many conflicts between different groups as they traverse through Indian Territory and try to settle there, ultimately leading to many deaths.
The novel tells about the Joad family who are struggling to survive. They left Oklahoma to California in search of a better life and the prosperity promised by the owning class, but soon realized that this was not going to be the case. The struggles they encountered along the way were seen through their relationships with White people and Native Americans.
Struggles within the family and reactions to them
At the beginning of the novel, Tom thinks he is doing a good job of being a father by going to work and earning money while leaving his family to fend for themselves. He eventually realizes that he is neglecting his family and they are suffering because of it. When he returns home with promises to change, he fails them again and is forced to watch as they struggle without him.
The struggles of the Joads are both familiar and alien to readers. The novel includes the loss of a farm, the destruction of land, and the many financial hardships that arise from these occurrences. I think that some people might be put off by this novel because it portrays a family that is so helpless and broken that no one can fix them even when really needed.