What universal theme does this book address?
Even though I found this book very dry and boring, there were many prominent themes throughout the story. Steinbeck really stressed the value of family. I know that sometimes, my family is unbearable. My parents, just like everyone's parents, can embarrass me beyond repair, but I know that I wouldn't be able to live with out them. The strength of Tom's family bonds helped the family through their rough times. The family was able to fight through the rough times during their travels. They were also there for each other when things did not go their way. They were like a mini support group, and the family would not have been able to survive without each other.
Another main theme in the story is based around lies. The family, just like many other families, set out west in search of a new life that would save them from the poor economy. All of the people, however, were lied to. Life out west really was not that much better than anywhere else. The Great Depression hit the entire United States, not just one part of it. The banks helped to spread the rumors so that many people would travel west and provide more workers for the farms in California. Also, the tenant farmers did the same thing for the same reasons, and that made the lie spread even further. The entire story was centered around that lie, and without it, the family would have never traveled west and there would be no story.
Throughout the story, it is obvious that the tenant farmers and banks are very greedy. They devised the plan to draw the poor people to the West so they could be used as cheap labor and would bring the banks a larger profit. However, the Joads are not interested in obtaining more wealth in the form of money, they seek wealth in the form of happiness. They search for a simple life in the west, and would be content living comfortably, not rich like the tenant farmers in the story.
Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
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