PROBLEM OF FARMERS REFLECTED IN THE NOVELS GRAPES OF WRATH BY JOHN STEINBECK

Аннотация

The struggle for existence is a universal topic that appears in Steinbeck’s writings as well. Steinbeck’s works are full of characters who struggle to make both ends meet as migrant farmers during the Great Depression. He admired those who worked hard and lived honourably. The characters were given Steinbeck’s voice and vibe. Their flaws, struggle for survival, and unwavering courage are not only theirs but also Steinbeck's. Even though the fact that he authored fiction, his characters are realistic in their portrayals of contemporary America. The Grapes of Wrath earned Steinbeck both praise and scorn. It’s based on the American Great Depression, which ran from 1929 to 1939. Keywords: Existence, Depression, Struggle, Suffering, Identity, Migration, Unemployment. Steinbeck’s social concern is evident on nearly every page of The Grapes of Wrath. It is his portrayal of the current socio-economic crisis through the disintegration of a single suffering family, the Joads, that elevates the work from a social document of limited relevance to one of the finest expressions of realistic art of our time. The destruction of the old value structure, which originally received its power from now-defunct landowning, an agrarian society that had previously functioned democratically, is microcosmically enacted by the progressive disintegration of family togetherness under economic hardship. Joad, on the other hand, is merely an archetype. Each Joad is distinct from the others and has enough personalization. In a broad sense, their disintegration as a family unit typifies a contemporary social crisis, but their trials play a critical role in keeping them together. Members of the family either die of old age and exhaustion or simply walk away, as the load's eldest son Noah does when they camp by a river. Noah's decision to leave cannot be justified solely in terms of economics as a sacrifice. His economics is as important as his symbolic oddity. But as Steinbeck distinguishes between the farmers' good character and the banks' corruption. He describes the bank as a monster that devours man's profits and hard labor. Instead of providing humans a new lease on life, the tractor kills their roots. “…as though the Bank or the Company were a monster, with thought and feeling, which had ensnared them. These last would take no responsibility for the banks or the companies because they were 89 men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all at the same time” (p 33). The tractor does not improve the farmer's life; rather, it destroys human activity. “It’s not me. There’s nothing I can do. I’ll lose my job if I don’t do it. And look-suppose you kill me? They’ll just hang you, but long before you’re hung there’ll be another guy on the tractor, and he’ll bump the house down. You’re not killing the right guy” (p 40). This is something he tells the pleading tenant of. The tractor driver is powerless to stop the bank or the system. He has a responsibility to follow the directions that have been provided to him. The Joads, like everyone else, leave their ancestral homes and relocate to 136 California, the land of color and vibrancy. As they prepare to move from a self-centered to a selfless worldview, the Joads lose their homes and assets. After being released from prison, Tom Joad returns home. He was sentenced to four years in prison for murdering a guy in self-defense. During the summer, a lady hit a turtle crossing the highway with her car, and a young guy attempted to drive it over with his truck. For a fleeting second, the turtle tries to flip the car over with its legs in the air, but finally falls to the ground and resumes its plodding journey. The turtle depicts the challenges the Joads will endure on their journeys, such as familial abandonment and technological failure. This serves as a premonition of the Joads’ adventures as they journey west. The turtle struggling to cross the road, as depicted by Steinbeck, is a metaphor for the farmers' misery as they make their way to the west. This reflects the fact that the cosmos is filled with stumbling blocks that make life difficult and dangerous. As Steinbeck asserts, the Joad family, like the turtle that trudges across the road, will be called upon to battle the malignant forces that seek to topple them, such as drought, industry, unemployment, poverty, human envy, and fear. Tom Joad encounters Jim Casy, a preacher, on his journey back to his family. Tom is depicted as a man of action, but Casy is depicted as a guy who is guided by his thoughts. The Joad home has been forced off its foundations, as Tom and Casy can witness. Tom and Casy see that the Joad house has been pushed off its foundations. “Joad stopped at the step, a twelve-by-twelve timber. Doorstep’s 91 here,” He said. “But they’re gone-or Ma’s dead.” (43) Tom and Casy try to find out if Tom has received any messages, but they are disappointed to find none. Although the house had been abandoned, it had not been ro