Period 7
primary source
(H.I.P.P. Analysis)
Historical Content: This historical novel, by John Steinbeck, annotates the real-life struggles of people who left their hometowns in search of work in California. Specifically, Steinbeck writes about the struggles of the Joad family who left their hometown in Oklahoma. Many people during this time left for Route 66 because there were cotton-picking and fruit-picking jobs. The fertile valleys of California attracted many labor-working migrants. These migrant workers created “Hoovervilles” because of the large sums of people migrating into California. These “Hoovervilles” helped people survive with shelter, food, water, and access to toilets. During the Great Depression and the Great Migration, (elaborate more) the workers were in desperate need for money because of the stock market crash in 1929 and the need for work to make money to survive and feed their families. The Stock Market Crash was caused by an uneven distribution of income, a speculation that the stock market would be bought on margin, where buyers could buy most of the cost of the stock with low down payments. The investors could then repay the loan, but when the stock prices dropped, the market collapsed and everything that was either borrowed or invested was lost. There was also an overproduction in consumer goods where too much was produced and not enough people could buy the product since the stagnant wages gave people less money.
Intended Audience: This novel was written because John Steinbeck wanted to inform the people in America of the amount of struggles the migrants went through in order to survive and support their families. In this excerpt, John wrote that “Teresina procured food for her family” (Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath) and a whole afternoon of work would provide the family with many pounds of beans. Having hundreds of pounds of beans gave the migrants the security that they would not starve. For the migrants, the beans were a “warm cloak against economic cold” (Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath). The Dust Bowl of the 1930s, also known as the Dirty Thirties, destroyed the agriculture of the United States and parts of Canada because of wind erosion. Because of this natural disaster, there would be times when the laborers would not collect enough beans to not starve and would suffer and eat anything that came by them by luck.
Purpose: John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath because he wanted to give a first-hand experience of the hardships they faced during the Great Depression, the Stock Market Crash, and the Dust Bowl. The people went through poverty, ignored by the rich, abused by police, and abandoned by their own government just to take advantage of California's supposedly great weather, and many job openings for working in agriculture. Though farmers had new technology such as chemical fertilizers, and gasoline tractors, it did not help them because they had increased debts and surplus that produced falling prices.
Point of View: The point of view of The Grapes of Wrath is in the viewpoint of John Steinbeck because he describes the life of the people of California before the Depression, after the Depression, and during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck wrote that the “beans are a roof over your stomach” (Steinbeck), which many people, during this time, depended on every single bean to keep them alive. With John Steinbeck’s point of view, he imposes a sense of sympathy for the people who left everything just to get almost nothing in return.
Historical Content: This historical novel, by John Steinbeck, annotates the real-life struggles of people who left their hometowns in search of work in California. Specifically, Steinbeck writes about the struggles of the Joad family who left their hometown in Oklahoma. Many people during this time left for Route 66 because there were cotton-picking and fruit-picking jobs. The fertile valleys of California attracted many labor-working migrants. These migrant workers created “Hoovervilles” because of the large sums of people migrating into California. These “Hoovervilles” helped people survive with shelter, food, water, and access to toilets. During the Great Depression and the Great Migration, (elaborate more) the workers were in desperate need for money because of the stock market crash in 1929 and the need for work to make money to survive and feed their families. The Stock Market Crash was caused by an uneven distribution of income, a speculation that the stock market would be bought on margin, where buyers could buy most of the cost of the stock with low down payments. The investors could then repay the loan, but when the stock prices dropped, the market collapsed and everything that was either borrowed or invested was lost. There was also an overproduction in consumer goods where too much was produced and not enough people could buy the product since the stagnant wages gave people less money.
Intended Audience: This novel was written because John Steinbeck wanted to inform the people in America of the amount of struggles the migrants went through in order to survive and support their families. In this excerpt, John wrote that “Teresina procured food for her family” (Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath) and a whole afternoon of work would provide the family with many pounds of beans. Having hundreds of pounds of beans gave the migrants the security that they would not starve. For the migrants, the beans were a “warm cloak against economic cold” (Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath). The Dust Bowl of the 1930s, also known as the Dirty Thirties, destroyed the agriculture of the United States and parts of Canada because of wind erosion. Because of this natural disaster, there would be times when the laborers would not collect enough beans to not starve and would suffer and eat anything that came by them by luck.
Purpose: John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath because he wanted to give a first-hand experience of the hardships they faced during the Great Depression, the Stock Market Crash, and the Dust Bowl. The people went through poverty, ignored by the rich, abused by police, and abandoned by their own government just to take advantage of California's supposedly great weather, and many job openings for working in agriculture. Though farmers had new technology such as chemical fertilizers, and gasoline tractors, it did not help them because they had increased debts and surplus that produced falling prices.
Point of View: The point of view of The Grapes of Wrath is in the viewpoint of John Steinbeck because he describes the life of the people of California before the Depression, after the Depression, and during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck wrote that the “beans are a roof over your stomach” (Steinbeck), which many people, during this time, depended on every single bean to keep them alive. With John Steinbeck’s point of view, he imposes a sense of sympathy for the people who left everything just to get almost nothing in return.