Daphnie Bradley
Mrs. Bybee
AP English III
27, August 2013
Deserted Lands How could a world with such beauty become a graveyard full of deserted dreams? In John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, families are run out by bankers because the crops die and the land is unable to be farmed. In the long journey to California, the Joads’ overcome many hardships such as death and the search for work. Families are forced to sell their belongings for broken-down cars and trucks sold by salesman only interested in the profit. Getting to California is only half the battle; once there, numerous can’t find work and look for places to live, but are often arrested or killed for starting strikes against the cheap landowners. I believe nature and the bankers are equally responsible for the Joads’ departure, as well as the other thousands of families that migrated too. In the first paragraph, Steinbeck illustrates nature as becoming pale, and the clouds “Giving up” and moving to different parts, after dropping rains that “Didn’t cut the scarred earth”. The land had become dried up, crusted, and dirt picked up easily. It is said in chapter 11 that a man would walk and a layer of dust would rise waist-high, and was worse when a vehicle buzzed along the old crusted road. Families began packing their belongings onto their cars and trucks, heading out towards California in hopes of finding better circumstances. Bankers were also a major role in the driving out of the farmers, using “Big Cats” if the landowners protested. Two of the protestors mentioned were Muley Graves and Grampa. Grampa is willing to leave his family in order to maintain his relationship with the land, unlike bankers and hired workers. Banks hired men to work the fields, and it didn’t result in their favor. The men were not raised on the land; they just wanted to get paid. The workers had little knowledge about farming, and didn’t care if the land was properly worked. They ran over it with a tractor, working recklessly and usually went home after. Muley Graves lives off the land by himself and scavenges leftover resources from houses that have been torn down or invaded by animals. After everything they’ve been through, the