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Dystopia In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

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A Marxist Dystopia The Great Depression is infamous for being the largest economic crash in United States history. People declared bankrupcy, price jumps shocked Americans and companies laid off thousands. The Depression was a time of struggling for many Americans, but it had implications that were greater than simply the economic sense. Scarcity created by the Depression outlined the greater power structures at work in American society. The Great Depression not only harmed people economically, but fostered a situation where land and business owners had complete power over workers and the working class had little if any autonomy. Because there was such high demand for jobs, but such little supply, the lives of the middle and lower class began …show more content…

John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath explores this same idea saying, “And at last the owner men came to the point. The tenant system won't work anymore. One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families. Pay him a wage and take all the crop. We have to do it. We don't like to do it. But the monster's sick. Something's happened to the monster.”(Steinbeck 67) Steinback details that the owners completely decided the fate of the workers. This was a problem, however, because the owners were willing to lay off workers if it meant more profits. By saying “One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families” Steinbeck describes that owners operated on a “means meet the ends” paradigm where they didn’t give a second thought to putting several families in poverty if it was more financially viable. This created the perception that the owners had a sort of authoritarian power over workers. This drop in the authority of laborers created a movement for stressing autonomy. In fact, the president during the time period: Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt, felt as though that exact message was needed stating, “These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to

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