Book Review: Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath is a modern classic which has never been more important. The man made destruction of the earth which is detailed throughout the book gives clear warning to us in the age of climate change denial. The rape of the earth is but a literary vehicle to convey the true purpose of the book, which is to display the importance of human connection in coping with seemingly insurmountable challenges. The Joad family has their farm, all they have ever known away from them and are faced with the dangerous unknown. Throughout their journey the family has its trials but throughout it they stay strong, their family being the only thing which gets them through each day, with meagre rations and next to no money. The theme of the importance of family permeates the entire book from cover to cover, but this notion extends past family as the Joad’s meet others along the road and evolves in the importance of supporting the fellow human, no matter the adversity.
In the book there are three sects of society, the poor townspeople who always support their own, but also anyone else they meet along the way, no matter the circumstances. Then there is the banks who are always depicted as faceless entities with the sole intent of maximising profit, no matter the expense. The third and final group depicted in the book are the Californian townspeople who are fearful of change.
The bank is a recurring character and it would not be a stretch to say that it depicts the top 1% of the world who are typically ignorant of the true struggles of the people. Steinbeck consistently uses mechanistic imagery when describing the bank and its actions to exemplify the detached nature of the 1%, who have no concept of the daily life of their countrymen. As in the book, this disconnect inevitably leads to the countrymen being uprooted and having to change their ways in accordance with the wishes of 1%.
The scared Californian’s are perhaps the most ironic characters who resort to violence to prevent change to their livelihoods. I say irony because in today’s Trumpian age the Californians are among the most accepting of change, with the Texan country being most resistant. Steinbeck presents the two groups as fundamentally similar, both being scared for their livelihoods, painting the fictional Californians as brutes who are unreasonably resistant to the influx of the country people. This mirrors Trump’s republican anti-immigration policies and there brutality. This problem is not just in America, Steinbeck shows how this is happening all over the country, the banks searching for greater and greater profits, displacing more and more people, forcing them into foreign cities where they face native resistance. This same notion is displayed across the globe with xenophobia rife after wars in the middle east displacing millions, who inevitably face these draconian treatments on their road to relocation. Returning to the joad’s Journey on their road, they supported their fellow human being, and were better off for it. Steinbeck’s novel raises the question, where has our humanity gone, supporting our fellow man is a key tenet of what it means to be a good human, the people displaced from their homes by a faceless entity should be supported or they will be starved and ruined. Steinbeck paints the harrowing picture of what happens when the arms are not open and xenophobia prevails. We need to ensure that we do not re-enact the grapes of wrath
Harrison Hansford 