The Grapes Of Wrath Summer Reading Assignment - 1894 Words

Sarah Currinder Honors US Studies Ms. Moore The Grapes of Wrath Summer Reading Assignment 1. The geographical setting of The Grapes of Wrath begins in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. The setting changes throughout the novel including Oklahoma, Route 66, Bakersfield, Hooverville, Weedpatch and Tulare. The setting changes because the migrant farmers are always on the move and looking for work. The time period of The Grapes of Wrath is set in the midst of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. The farmers experience drought, causing their crops to be ruined. In June, rain clouds appear, but the clouds disappear, leaving strong winds that lead to blankets of dust covering the ground. â€Å"It settled on the corn, piled up on the tops of the fence posts, piled up†¦show more content†¦There is a committee of elected leaders who run the camp at Weedpatch. The political context of this novel is the conflict between the two classes. There is a divide between the migrant farmers and the wealthy businessmen. Throughout the book, wealthy businessmen push the farmers off their land and cause the farmers to migrate west. Some of the historical points made by Steinbeck were, â€Å"Once California belonged to Mexico and its land to Mexicans† (Steinbeck 231). â€Å"They imported slaves, although they did not call them slaves: Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Filipinos† (Steinbeck 232). Farming became a very large and popular industry and the farmers needed more help with their own crops. Cultural attitudes changed drastically. The farmers fear the banks/companies and think they are monsters. The tractor was a new machine the farmers had never seen before, it was very scary to them. It can cut a dozen farms at a time and it is much easier, more proficient, faster to plow the crops and only one person is needed to drive the tractor. The less workers needed to farm, the more money the banks/companies get to keep. The Grapes of Wrath has made an impact on me because it helped me realize how hard the living conditions were during the Great Depression. Families lost their crops and houses and had to travel west to look for work. It showed the difficulty of finding a job and it was odd to think about times when jobs were scarce. Nowadays there are