John Steinbeck New Historicism Analysis

At the end of the book, “[Doc] wiped his eyes with the back of his back of his hand. And the white rats scampered and scrambled in their cages. And behind the glass the rattlesnakes lay still and stared into the space with their dusty frowning eyes” (185). In this particular scene, Steinbeck highlights the coexistence between man and animal; as Doc is overwhelmed with emotions, the rats scampers and the snakes stare into the empty space. This supports the argument that man is more than just an animal due to their ability to have emotions.

At the beginning of the chapter, Steinbeck writes in a matter-of-fact tone. This can be seen in the following line, “Bring 'em out. Pile 'em, up. Load 'em in the wagon”. There an emotional disconnect between the speaker and what is happening in their life, like the speaker is in a state of shock.

The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.

During the 1930’s thousands of Dust Bowl migrant workers made their way from the central plain into California seeking work. In their search for work and some form of income many of the migrants and their families ended up in Hoovervilles, which were makeshift roadside camps that were greatly impoverished. Steinbeck was able to travel through the labor camps and recorded the horrible living conditions of the migrant workers. The collection of these recordings was published as Harvest Gypsies. During the tours of the labor camps he saw the oppression of the workers first hand in addition to workers being demoralized by wealthy land owners.

In the series of articles written by John Steinbeck, Harvest Gypsies, Steinbeck describes the inhumane conditions and abuse enforced upon the new migrants composed of Dust Bowl refugees. Through detailed accounts of the squatter camps and recurring descriptions of the helpless migrants that live in them, Steinbeck conveys a powerful image of the migrants that invokes sympathy from the readers. Along with gaining sympathy for the migrants, he also shines a light on the oppressive Farmers Association and other large farm groups that controlled the labor in California. In doing so, he exposes the people and the government of California for their combined systemic attempt to keep the new migrants subjugated to poverty and unorganized in order

Ever heard of the Dust Bowl? “The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that really damaged the agriculture of the US and during the 1930s. The Dust Bowl was a severe drought that has started to ruin the agriculture. When this happened the states including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico were affected.” ( John Steinbeck ).

In the year during the Dust Bowl there was a huge lack of rain. Document E states that in order to run a farm effectively the farmer needs at minimum “20 inches of rain.” Although the numbers shows us that these farms were getting on average about 15 inches. They did get one great year of rain, receiving 33 inches of rain. Although that did little good when then next 11 years receiving very little.

The Black Blizzards sweeping the plains of the 1930’s, better known as the Dust Bowl contributed to the extreme economic downturn of its time. These giant dust storms were caused mainly by a combination of environmental factors and human actions. In turn, these oversized storms caused many people to suffer from loss of crop, and eventually, forced innovation of farming techniques. Back in the “dirty thirties”, years 1934 to 1937, an extreme drought and the lack of strong root systems in the soil, causing wind storms, and the loss of crops. Dirt swirled into dense dust clouds, so dark you couldn't see through them.

Simple necessities such as cooking, eating, bathing, and even walking to a neighborhood store became difficult. In the eight years of the dusty drought, the soils that farmers valued most were depleted and damaged. Here’s why. The Dust Bowl occurred in the Great Plains of America, specifically harming Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico. There were four waves of droughts, but often times the people did not have healing time to recover for their losses.

The Dust Bowl negatively affected people in an economic way. How Drought played a big role in The Dust Bowl “ Federal aid to the drought-affected states was first given in 1932, but the first funds marked specifically for drought relief were not released until the fall of 1933. In all, assistance may have reached $1 billion (in 1930s dollars) by the end of the drought (Warrick et al., 1980). “ ( Source - http://drought.unl.edu/DroughtBasics/DustBowl/EconomicsoftheDustBowl.aspx )

Instead, it was the monumental dust storms that terrorized the inhabitants of the Southern Plains. As a result from the drought and dust storms, farming was all but impossible, leaving many families to rely on the federal government and relief organizations just to stay alive. Also occurring

John Steinbeck has a style of writing unparalleled in history and in the modern world. In the same way, his philosophies are also unparalleled, with his focus in socialism not extending to communism or abnegation of spiritualism. His ideal world is utopian, holding the dust bowl migrant at the same level as the yeoman farmer was held in Jeffersonian times. In The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck Steinbeck, who posses impregnable technique, conveys his message of a group working tirelessly for the betterment of the community.

Farmers feared their financial status, and in order to make living, they left their farms and flee to westward region of the country as migrant laborers. “By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or most of the topsoil to the winds.” John Steinbeck’s book, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, described the effects of dust bowl on farming families: “They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless- restless as ants, scurrying to find work to do- to lift, to push, to pick, to cut-anything, any burden to bear, for food. The kids are hungry. We got no place to live.

The image that Dorothea Lange captured of a fearful and desperate weather-beaten woman, with her three children, has become the ideal representation of the desperation and hardships that many families have gone through during the Great Depression in America. In the article “ The Harvest Gypsies”, John Steinbeck portrays the desperation when he declares “ The father and mother now feel that paralyzed with numbness with which the mind protects itself against too much sorrow and too much pain” (Steinbeck n. pag.).When no food could be grown and no money could be made, entire families packed up everything they had and began the journey to California. Without even looking back at the past, many families left their hometown farms , only to end

The Dust Bowl, beginning in the 1930s, added to the struggle of American farmers as lands out west in states such as Oklahoma and Kansas were over-plowed, causing the topsoil to become uprooted, creating massive dust storms. These dust storms left the land unusable to farm, displacing many Americans in the agricultural industry. Steinbeck’s The Harvest Gypsies displays the struggles these farmers faced when moving west to California, hoping to find some sort of work. Many displaced farmers lived in squatters’ camps, temporary dwellings for those looking for work. Steinbeck described these camps as having awful living conditions, saying that “From a distance it looks like a city dump, and well it may, for the city dumps are the sources for the material of which it is built.”