The Life of Migrant Farmers

1
(No Transcript)
2
(No Transcript)
3
(No Transcript)
4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
(No Transcript)
7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
The Life of Migrant Farmers

• Worst drought in the nations history
• Low prices since 1920s
• 1933 Dust Bowl huge dust storms had begun
  sweeping over the Great Plains, burying crops,
  livestock and farm buildings
• 1933-1937 No rain fell and dust continued to
  batter the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma,
  and the Texas Panhandle

12
GOW as a Social Protest Novel

• It raises readers awareness of a subject, but
  doesnt offer solutions to the problem
• Steinbeck points out the social injustices that
  existed for the migrants
• He speaks out against capitalism and big business
• GOW demonstrates how labor organizations or
  unions grow from the desperation of the workers

13
Steinbeck Writes with Compassion

• With his Heart feeling for the migrants, our
  common plight (death, helplessness)
• With his Head his understanding of their hopes,
  fears
• With his Voice advocate and prophet fo the
  people in Casy
• With his Soul experiences the oversoul,
  suffers human division in exploitation

14
The Structure of GOW

• Basic Structure
• Chapters 1-10 The Drought in OK
• Chapters 11-18 The Journey to CA
• Chapters 19-30 Migrants struggle to build a new
  life there

15
Interchapters or Intercalary Chapters

• Usually odd chapters (16 out of the 30)
• Represent Steinbecks own voice
• Make up around 100 pages of the book
• Present social background (serves to amplify the
  pattern of action created by the Joad family
• Present Historical Info considers the
  development of land, ownership, development of
  migrant labor, economic aspects

16
Narrative Structure

• Reader must not only be shown the enormity of the
  widespread suffering, he/she must also identify
  with the migrants and feel what they feel
• This is not about the suffering of one family.
  For the novel to be successful, we must recognize
  that the Joads are simply specimens amongst
  thousands who suffer their fate. The story is
  about tragedy on an epic scale
• Interchapters allow the reader to pan back away
  from the intimate picture for a broad view of
  generalized experience