The Great Depression had an immense impact on American life. Although the stock market crash was its immediate spark, there were many other contributing factors that stemmed from the uneven distribution of wealth in the United States during the 1920’s. In fact, the top 0.1 percent of American families had a total income equal to that of the bottom 42 percent . Socially, people began to buy more than what they could afford, especially on “credit”, which led to many problems at the onset of the Depression. Farmers, such as the fictional Joads that Steinbeck created, faced hardships before the Depression, with competition high and prices extremely low. Investment in stocks

The Dust Bowl was not only a place and the weather condition which plagued it, but it was also the home to many long-time residents, many of whom were firmly entrenched in their ways. When the Dust Bowl came around, they were uprooted; their soil as well as their whole lives were whirled around in a maelstrom of change. In the early 1930’s, droughts began and did not end until the late 30’s, but by then it was too late and most of the proclaimed “Okies” had left. The depletion of soil was in part due to poor agriculture practices, and had the sharecroppers not worked the land so hard in the drought it might not have blown away. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads lived in this particular region, in Oklahoma. When Tom returns home from jail, he meets Jim Casy, a fallen preacher. I believe Jim Casy truly encompasses the true Okie “sperit”, always trying to help and eventually taking the fall for Tom. The people living in the Dust Bowl had hard and strenuous lives, but that was their life and they loved it. For them to be removed was one of the most difficult things they ever had to face.

The role of the family in Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath is very apparent. Although not technically family, Lennie and George are like brothers. Lennie is the muscle, and George the brain, Lennie the child, and George the father. Lennie has a blind devotion to George, and above all he values their companionship, which resembles closely a familial relationship. There is no doubt in The Grapes of Wrath that the role of the family is one of the central themes. Even as they break up along the way, Ma’s “rise to power” and Rose of Sharon’s coming of age all show what an important part of migrant life the family is. When Connie runs away, Rose of Sharon is devastated, but she is supported by her family and stays strong. She is devastated yet again when her child is born stillborn, but at the end of the novel she feeds a dying man with her breastmilk. This is symbolism for the maturity she has achieved over the course of the book.

Racism and prejudice were also a large part of life in the 1930’s, whether you accepted it or not. Racism against blacks is especially evident in Of Mice and Men, in which Crooks, a black disfigured man, is forced to live in a different place than all the other white men. He admits his loneliness and need for company to Lennie and Candy, which symbolizes Steinbeck’s tolerance by equating his values to be the same as white men. That is not an excessively apparent stand against racism, but it shows that white and black men have some things in c

Some topics in this essay:
Grapes Wrath, Dust Bowl, Wrath Mice, Lennie George, Ma Joad, Joads Steinbeck, Jim Casy, Depression Mice, , Dorothea Lange, grapes wrath, lennie george, dust bowl, jim casy, john steinbeck, migrant workers, politically economically socially, course book, role family, onset depression, stock market crash, reflections 1930’s, economically socially depression, grapes wrath mice, grapes wrath joads,