He effectively portrays how the struggle of the Joads reflects the hardships of the entire nation.

The Great Depression was the longest and most severe economic depression of the Western world. Many factors led up to this horrible event. Farmers of the nation had never recovered from the recession of the 1920s, and overproduction had driven food prices down. However, it was the Wall Street crash that historians mark as the beginning of this crisis. It started in September of 1929, when the stock market took a downward crash and continued to do so through the month of October. On October 29, 1929, now known as Black Tuesday, the bottom fell out of the stock market. There was so much panicked selling going on, as everyone watched millions of dollars just disappear before their eyes. By mid-November, thirty billion dollars had been lost. This amount was devastating. It was more mon

and a drought. This is exactly what brought many farmers to poverty during the Great

The Grapes of Wrath begins with the homecoming of Tom Joad, after being released from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, where he had served four years of a seven-year sentence for homicide. He sets out for his father’s little farm in the bottom lands near Sallisaw. He reaches the house to find that it is empty. Muley Graves, a neighbor, explains to him that all the tenant farmers have been evicted from their land. Most of the families are moving to California, on the rumor that they can find work there. When Tom finally meets up with the rest of his family, it is brought to his attention that they are already in the process of making preparations for their journey to California. (Ditski 6-9)

“In preparation for his novels, Steinbeck would often live, work, and be with the people whom he has to write. Thus, in preparation for writing The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck went to Oklahoma, joined some migrants and rode with them to California. Once in California, he stayed with these migrants, living with them in Hoovervilles, joining them in their search for work, and attempting as much as possible to come to terms with these people’s essential characteristics. Leaving them, he made several trips to various camps to observe first-hand the living and working conditions of these migrants.” (Ditski 56)

The Joads sell all their belongings, but only get eighteen dollars for them. Through-out their journey, two family members die, including Granma Joad and Granpa Joad. This is a major emotional setback in their level of confidence, but still they continue on until they arrive in a place where many other migrants are camping. However, it is very filthy and disorderly. Unfortunately, the men of the family are unable to f

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