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The Life of Migrant Farmers

The Life of Migrant Farmers. Worst drought in the nation’s history Low prices since 1920s 1933 Dust Bowl: huge dust storms had begun sweeping over the Great Plains, burying crops, livestock and farm buildings

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The Life of Migrant Farmers

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  1. The Life of Migrant Farmers • Worst drought in the nation’s history • Low prices since 1920s • 1933 Dust Bowl: huge dust storms had begun sweeping over the Great Plains, burying crops, livestock and farm buildings • 1933-1937: No rain fell and dust continued to batter the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle

  2. GOW as a Social Protest Novel • It raises readers’ awareness of a subject, but doesn’t offer solutions to the problem • Steinbeck points out the social injustices that existed for the migrants • He speaks out against capitalism and big business • GOW demonstrates how labor organizations or unions grow from the desperation of the workers

  3. Steinbeck Writes with Compassion • With his Heart: feeling for the migrants, our common plight (death, helplessness) • With his Head: his understanding of their hopes, fears • With his Voice: advocate and prophet fo the people in Casy • With his Soul: experiences the “oversoul,” suffers human division in exploitation

  4. The Structure of GOW Basic Structure: • Chapters 1-10 The Drought in OK • Chapters 11-18 The Journey to CA • Chapters 19-30 Migrant’s struggle to build a new life there

  5. Interchapters or Intercalary Chapters Usually odd chapters (16 out of the 30) Represent Steinbeck’s own voice • Make up around 100 pages of the book • Present social background (serves to amplify the pattern of action created by the Joad family • Present Historical Info: considers the development of land, ownership, development of migrant labor, economic aspects

  6. Narrative Structure • Reader must not only be shown the enormity of the widespread suffering, he/she must also identify with the migrants and feel what they feel • This is not about the suffering of one family. For the novel to be successful, we must recognize that the Joads are simply specimens amongst thousands who suffer their fate. The story is about tragedy on an epic scale • Interchapters allow the reader to pan back away from the intimate picture for a broad view of generalized experience

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