Historical Overview & Setting
Display and gather information about the time period in which the text was written and the time period in which the text takes place (if different)
The Grapes of Wrath takes place and is written during the Great Depression. The Great Depression started in October 1929, with the stock market crash. It happened under the watch of President Herbert Hoover, who believed it was not the government's place to intervene in the economy. Due to this belief, many blamed Hoover for the poverty of millions, thus naming the multitude of homeless towns that sprouted during this time as “Hoovervilles”. By 1933, 13-15 million people were homeless and unable to find a job. Farmers were especially affected, having suffered before the crash even began, and were affected even more afterwards. Due to the poor economy, the inability to profit from crop sales, and the impending dust bowl, many farmers were unable to afford their farms and had to leave their land. All of America suffered immensely from the blows of the Great Depression.
The Grapes of Wrath addresses the Dust Bowl and its impact on society. Due to an extremely long drought and rigorous use of the land in improper ways, the soil was depleted of its necessary resources to be fertile. Therefore, the soil became incapable of growing crops properly. The nutrient-deprived soil instead became lightweight and blew away with the gusts of the wind, creating an eight year period of constant yellow haze appropriately named the Dust Bowl. This event prolonged the Great Depression and hurt many of the local farmers, causing them to move out of their homeland or die due to the poor environment. The Joads, like many other farming families, faced these terrible happenings in the book, The Grapes of Wrath, and lost their farm because of it.
The Grapes of Wrath displays how the Joad family lost their farm and encounters multiple difficulties on their subsequent trip and arrival to California. Their story was similar to millions of others during the time period. The Dust Bowl caused 2.5 million farmers to leave their residence, making it one of the largest migrations in history. Of those 2.5 million, 200,000 (very similar to the Joads) moved to California in search of work. However, when they arrived, all that they encountered was hostility. The California farms were corporate-owned, and therefore did not pay high wages. The average wage was between $0.75 to $1.25 per day. The Joads had to rent shacks and buy expensive food that completely depleted them of their already meager earnings. The authorities treated the migrants indecently due to the fear of an uprising and the amount of immense poverty spreading through the area.