Greed In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

In our society, political ignorance still today exists on a very large scale. Consequently, Even in highly developed capitalist countries like ours, a large amount of unemployment rate and instability of The economic system is often seen. Therefore, These issues and affairs have continued firmly despite rising education levels. In “what are people for?” Wendell Berry is attempting to persuade readers the government doesn’t know how to manage to the economy, and is the symbol of our ignorance of the fact that modern culture is destroying the agricultural culture. Berry uses a strong emotional appeal to prove his point.

The Industrial Revolution brought down the prices of crops produced by farmers, this meant that farmers were not making enough money to pay off their debts. This increasing problem was slowly digging farmers into a hole with what seemed to be no escape. To add on to their everlasting money problems, middlemen and railroad companies were price gouging the farmers. This meant, the companies were asking farmers to pay prices which had been far higher than the actual value of the products needed for the farmers to raise crops. Companies did this, because they knew that farmers could not buy their goods from other businesses due to the fact that there were not any others in sight.

“The Grapes of Wrath” takes place during the great depression: which was a substantial economic downside in United States history. At the same time, racism continues in the United States. The Okies are very talented farmers and most of them travel along route 66 to hope for a better life, but something was waiting for them that was unexpected to these people. They did not receive any governmental supports they were ignorant, and this makes native people easier to realize Okies as an outsider also they found menial and low paying jobs. Steinbeck implies that man turns against another human for the survival of the fittest; therefore, they do not mind to put another human in a situation that is challenging to survive.

It could be said that the man was trying to make it known to his neighbor that he purchased a new expensive car and wants to make sure that everyone knows what his social status is. People have lived many lies they have been told, and they never know. Source H, shows a father trying to explain to his kids that “they can become whatever they want, and this time it is true.” This reiterates the fact that many people think and try so hard to achieve something in hopes to live better socially, and they have to explain to their kids that they can be whatever they what they are told. This helps to extend the American dream. People try endlessly to achieve a dream of social prosperity throughout the American dream, but that is not what gives them that.

In Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, a main theme would be greed and selfishness brought on by cultural and economic pressures. The Grapes of Wrath is set in the dust bowl era and depicts a time period in which jobs were scarce and homelessness was prominent. The story is centered around the Joads family who are forced off their land due to the money hungry businessmen. In addition, one of the men driving a tractor for the land owners happens to be a former tenant farmer. When asked by the Joad’s family why one of their own is working for the banks the driver explains, “I got damn sick of creeping for my dinner- and not getting it.

Jaleel Louis Mrs. Kierez Period 2 December 14, 2017 Title: The Great Gatsby In the book, "The Great Gatsby", F. Scott Fitzgerald explains a story about money, love, and hollowness of the upper class. Corruption and carelessness is seen throughout the story, the cause of that is from money. Can money really change someone? The Great Gatsby has characters that express either wickedness or honesty, which are Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy. Money can lead to a life of selfishness and corruption.

According to Feason in his book, Kansas in the great depression, he said; “Price falls also had a destabilizing effect in the farm community. Farm income was suddenly reduced, and it became especially services for operators holding mortgages who feared the real burden of their debt dramatically increased. Farm closures and the desperate, even violent attempt to prevent them became increasingly common news”, (p.2). This statement is showing how difficult, it was for the farmers and other U.S. firms to export goods. And being that the farmers make up to 1/3 of the nation in the 1930’s, their decrease in export and lack of income had a big severe effect on the nation’s economy.

The people were in debt and and just dug themselves a deeper hole “,combined with production of more and more goods and rising personal debt,”(The Great Depressions) and had no way of making money to pay it all back without jobs. This all goes back to the roaring twenties when eh people bought and bought and dint think of the consequences. The biggest problem for the American was the stock market crash “the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world.”(The Great Depression) leading them into social mayhem. The people although causing this distress themselves sought out other things to blame while being completely helpless in their

In the early 1900’s the banks dictated the lifestyles of the people. This made the banks evil in the eyes of the people, because of the aspects of their control. This is evident in The Grapes of Wrath, the ones who work on the farms of being used by the bank. In the novel it can be seen that everyone is suffering because of the greed of the bank, it states, “The monster isn’t men, but it can make men do what it wants” (Steinbeck 34). The so-called “monster” is referring to the banks, While the only people that are being used are the people that work on the land.

Today, 564,708 people are homeless(Social Solutions). The Great Depression has helped shape the United States to become the way we are today. There are numerous reasons this economic catastrophe happened. The Great Depression lasted from 1929-1939(History.com) President Hoover is widely blamed for this. However, he may not be entirely at fault.