The Grapes of Wrath

A detailed Summary of The Grapes of Wrath


John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is in direct correlation with his view of the rich and the poor. Steinbeck vividly depicts the wealthy as being "monsters" and portrays the lower-class okies as being un-sung heroes. Steinbeck uses figurative language throughout the course of the novel in order to create these images. Steinbeck incorporates his views of social classes into his novel in order to forewarn society of the dangers of the separation of social classes.

In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck introduces lower class America as the gallant heroes, and upper class America as the evil influence behind social segregation. John Steinbeck is very fervent toward the manner in which the wealthy treat the poor because of the iniquities that manifest themselves in the upper class portion of our society.

The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing.


The Grapes of Wrath is such an involved novel because of the many themes that present themselves on so many different levels. The palpable reason for high-class society's iniquities is greed, but Steinbeck introduces many other ideas. One of the ideas that Steinbeck expresses through the novel is the idea that there is almost an innate malevolence that encompasses the wealthy. Aside from Steinbeck's malice view of the wealthy, he despises the men that work for the big corporations and believes that they are just as responsible for their actions.

John Berger and John Steinbeck have parallel minds when it comes to the manner in which the 20th century treats the destitute individual. The difficulty in this matter comes with the fact that there isn't a single individual to blame. Instead, society as a whole is to blame. Natural scarcity isn't even an issue when it comes to America's potential. If the price of food is too low we solve the problem by throwing out food that could have been used to feed the famished mouths of our ravenous society. Steinbeck depicts even a ravenous individual as a virtuous member of society.

Aid is one of the exceedingly important aspects of life that people tend to overlook. The poor are more inclined to give aid to each other than the wealthy are inclined to give aid to the

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Approximate Word count = 891
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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