Grapes of Wrath- Values and attitudes

In the book, The Grapes of Wrath, the author uses his writing to reveal his own values and attitudes. In the book, he writes a lot about events in history. By doing this, the author shows that he values history and knowing about the past. The author makes reference to many events in history, for example, one of the main historical references made by the author in this book is to the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl is a huge drought that took place in the late nineteen thirties in many regions in America. Basically, the Dust Bowl ruined the lives of many farmers throughout America because all of their crops died and this forced them out of their homes. Without their crops, the farmers had no way to make money and no food to eat. Farmers make their money off the crops they sell. Crops that farmers grow is their only way of getting an income. Therefore, when the dust ruined all of the crops, the farmers had no income to rely on. Many of the farmers had to choose between packing up and leaving or staying and starving to death. This was a very hard time for a lot of people because they basically had no choice but to leave their homes and start their lives over. The author also writes about the Great Depression in this book. By writing about so many historical events, the author shows that he has a respect for history and the past. This book is written in a third person perspective, meaning that the story is narrated by some one who is not taking place in the action of the story. The positive part about books that are written in third person perspective is that the reader has the chance to form their own opinions about events and characters in the story instead of being influenced by the narration of a character in the story. The negative thing is that this kind of story, which contains historical events could have been very interesting if written in first person view. It would have given the reader a first hand account of what really went on.



Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print