The Grapes of Wrath examines the plight of the migrant workers by following the Joad family as they are evicted from their land in Oklahoma and travel to California to find work. Hardship gradually decimates the family and they join forces with other migrant workers, fighting for dignity and working wages. Review a timeline of Steinbeck's work.
For a glimpse of the Okies during these horrible times, view Grapes
of Wrath: The Dust Bowl, 1931-1939 by Peggy
Whitley (approx 5 1/2 min; requires Windows
Media Player. Note: this may take a few minutes to load.)
When the rain wouldn't come, and the crops couldn't grow,
the winds still blew. They were filled with the dry, infertile earth,
which they arranged and rearranged in the time known as the Dust Bowl.
Farmers such as the Joads lost their farms to the banks. Unable to figure
out what else to do, they packed up and headed for California, the bountiful
land with multiple growing seasons. Although it sounded like the Promised
Land, when they arrived, they found that they were part of a great migration
and there wasn't enough work for the multitudes.
Growers in California needed the migrant workers in spurts, and felt no compunction to help them survive the rest of the time. There were so many workers available that there was no need to give them a living wage. When workers would strike, there were others to take their place. If they were starving to death, the growers would rationalize that it was their own faults.
John Steinbeck grew up in California and witnessed the plight of the migrant workers, or Okies, as they were called because so many of them migrated from the dust bowl of Oklahoma. He worked beside them, visited their camps, and traveled to Oklahoma as he researched the background. The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940.
 Librarian talk . . . About Getting Started!As
you begin, narrow your topic to a size that you
can manage. Consider keywords that will help you find the information
you need. These can be names of people, literary works, events, or broader
identifying terms. Use keywords for locating information in the
library catalog, electronic databases, and on the internet.
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| Essential unity of man | Forces of the times | Importance of family |
| Oppression and hope | Westward migration | Poverty |
| Biblical parallels | The Promised Land | Hope and survival |
| Am I my brother's keeper | Bigotry | Women's strength |
Search the library catalog for criticism on Grapes of Wrath and for background information on Steinbeck, the Dust Bowl and Migrant Workers. Use the Subject or Keyword searches.
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Learn
to search NetLibrary for literary criticism.
Librarian Talk . . . About Finding Journal and Newspaper Articles!To find articles in newspapers and journals, letters, reference books, illustrations, photographs and more, use your Lone Star College System library card to login to the following databases. If you find an interesting article that is not full-text, please give the correct bibliographic information to our Reference Librarians and they will see that you get the article. They will need full bibliographic information - and your name and address. Send your phone number as well, so they can contact you if they need to. There is some overlap of articles in the following databases. However, we encourage you to use more than one. All are excellent sources for this topic. [Get a card] |
Librarian Talk . . . Evaluating the Internet!The Internet will be a wonderful source of original documents. Browse the sites we have suggested below. Remember, you do want to find reputable sites. Ones from .edu, .org, .gov may be best. Think about:
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Talk to a librarian. If no answer, please leave a message and we will e-mail a reply as soon as possible. |
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This page created 2/02 by Sue Goodwin, Reference Librarian. Revised 5/08 pwhitley
