Ask Question, Ask an Expert

+61-413 786 465

info@mywordsolution.com

Ask History Expert

Rural Poverty

For more on the radicalization of the American poor, let's return to The Grapes of Wrath. In this excerpt, Steinbeck sheds light on American poverty and the desperation it bred. Read it and proceed to the exercise.

The Grapes of Wrath

The moving, questing people were migrants now. Those families which had lived on a little piece of land, who had lived and died on forty acres, had eaten or starved on the produce of forty acres, had now the whole West to roam in. And they scampered about, looking for work; and the highways were streams of people, and the ditch banks were lines of people. Behind them more were coming. The great highways streamed with moving people. There in the Middle- and Southwest had lived a simple agrarian folk who had not changed with industry, who had not formed with machines or known the power and danger of machines in private hands. They had not grown up in the paradoxes of industry. Their senses were still sharp to the ridiculousness of industrial life.

And then suddenly the machines pushed them out and they swarmed on the highways. The movement changed them; the highways, the camps along the road, the fear of hunger and the hunger itself, changed them. The children without dinner changed them, the endless moving changed them. They were migrants. And the hostility changed them, welded them, united them-h ostility that made the little towns group and arm as though to repel an invader, squads with pick handles, clerks and storekeepers with shotguns, guarding the world against their own people.

In the West there was panic when the migrants multiplied on the highways. Men of property were terrified for their property. Men who had never been hungry saw the eyes of the hungry. Men who had never wanted anything much saw the flare of want in the eyes of the migrants. And the men of the towns and of the soft suburban country gathered to defend themselves; and they reassured themselves that they were good and the invaders bad, as a man must do before he fights. They said, These goddamned Okies are dirty and ignorant. They're degenerate, sexual maniacs. These goddamned Okies are thieves. They'll steal anything. They've got no sense of property rights.

And the latter was true, for how can a man without property know the ache of ownership? And the defending people said, they bring disease, they're filthy. We can't have them in our schools. They're strangers. How'd you like to have your sister go out with one of 'em?

The local people whipped themselves into a mold of cruelty. Then they formed units, squads, and armed them-armed them with clubs, with gas, with guns. We own the country. We can't let these Okies get out of hand. And the men who were armed did not own the land, but they thought they did. And the clerks who drilled at night owned nothing, and the little store keepers possessed only a drawerful of debts. But even a debt is something, even a job is something. The clerk thought, I get fifteen dollars a week. S'pose a goddamn Okie would work for twelve? And the little storekeeper thought, How could I compete with a debtless man?

And the migrants streamed in on the highways and their hunger was in their eyes, and their need was in their eyes. They had no argument, no system, nothing but their numbers and their needs. When there was work for a man, ten men fought for it-fought with a low wage. If that fella'll work for thirty cents, I'll work for twenty-five.

If he'll take twenty-five, I'll do it for twenty.

No, me, I'm hungry. I'll work for fifteen. I'll work for food. The kids. You ought to see them. Little boils, like, comin' out, an' they can't run aroun'. Give 'em some windfall fruit, an' they bloated up. Me. I'll work for a piece of meat.

And this was good, for wages went down and prices stayed up. The great owners were glad and they sent out more handbills to bring more people in. And wages went down and prices stayed up. And pretty soon now we'll have serfs again.

And now the great owners and the companies invented a new method. A great owner bought a cannery. And when the peaches and pears were ripe he cut the price of fruit below the cost of raising it. And as cannery owner he paid himself a low price for the fruit and kept the price of canned goods up and took his profit. And the little farmers who owned no canneries lost their farms, and they were taken by the great owners, the banks, and the companies who also owned the canneries. As time went on, there were fewer farms. The little farmers moved into town for a while and exhausted their credit, exhausted their friends, exhausted their relatives. And then they too went on the highways. And the roads were crowded with men ravenous for work, murderous for work.

Exercise #14  

  1. This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel won general acclaim and broad recognition but was also sharply criticized as radical and politically dangerous. Briefly explain why that might be.

History, Academics

  • Category:- History
  • Reference No.:- M92584928
  • Price:- $30

Priced at Now at $30, Verified Solution

Have any Question?


Related Questions in History

Please develop and write essay responses the questions

Please develop and write essay responses the questions below. You must work on your own and neither collaborate nor write with any other student. You will submit your answers, in the form of short essays (approx. 750 wor ...

The tobacco industry is a prime example to consider when

The tobacco industry is a prime example to consider when talking about price elasticity of demand. While nicotine use can be addictive for many users, it is not addictive for the so-called "social smokers". What can we s ...

1below compare and contrast the philosophies of the

1. Below, compare and contrast the philosophies of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists that emerged during the time period of the Constitutional Convention through the ratification of the U.S. Constitution (roughly ...

Subject renaissance women assigned topic lucrezia

Subject: Renaissance Women Assigned Topic: Lucrezia Borgia Abstract: Quick overview of the topic significance and its particulars, 75-100 words. Lucrezia Borgia (1480 - 1519) was one of the most notable women of the Ital ...

Please readview and compare these various accounts and

Please read/view and compare these various accounts and depictions of the Boston Massacre. In your analysis of these documents, address the following three (3) questions: 1. Which written account (Patriot or Loyalist) do ...

New paper 2 proposed title the society of the old

New Paper #2 PROPOSED TITLE: The Society of the Old South History Use the following listed; (3) articles & book( Northup's "Twelve Years A Slave" primarily): Twelve Years A Slave, by Solomon Northrup, (BOOK) Selected doc ...

The following is used to define an array of student names

The following is used to define an array of student names. var [ Sara, Ali, Lincoln, Jack] Develop a JavaScript function to sort above array and display the sorted array in an HTML element.

Question to what extent is the individual shaped by

Question : To what extent is the individual shaped by society? Is there such a thing as a social structure that constrains individual action, or is society nothing more than a figment of our imaginations?

Answer the questions to all three examples for full

Answer the questions to all three examples for full credit. Chapter 8 1. "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin is based on a riff. What is the song form and how does this dissection help analyze how the song is performed? W ...

Please choose one topic from below and write a 3-5 page

Please choose one topic from below and write a 3-5 page paper on it. Your essays should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins in a reasonable font. Page suggestions are guidelines only. More is certainly acceptab ...

  • 4,153,160 Questions Asked
  • 13,132 Experts
  • 2,558,936 Questions Answered

Ask Experts for help!!

Looking for Assignment Help?

Start excelling in your Courses, Get help with Assignment

Write us your full requirement for evaluation and you will receive response within 20 minutes turnaround time.

Ask Now Help with Problems, Get a Best Answer

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps even

Why might a bank avoid the use of interest rate swaps, even when the institution is exposed to significant interest rate

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and

Describe the difference between zero coupon bonds and coupon bonds. Under what conditions will a coupon bond sell at a p

Compute the present value of an annuity of 880 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 880 per year for 16 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As

Compute the present value of an 1150 payment made in ten

Compute the present value of an $1,150 payment made in ten years when the discount rate is 12 percent. (Do not round int

Compute the present value of an annuity of 699 per year

Compute the present value of an annuity of $ 699 per year for 19 years, given a discount rate of 6 percent per annum. As