Grapes of Wrath 2

The Grapes of Wrath is mostly a story of hardships. There are definitely more losses than gains for the Joads. The conflict is that the Joads are looking for work and a place to settle down. Each individual member has their own plans, but their goal is to get steady work. From there they will take their own paths. The conflict seems to have started because of the banks. They are taking the land and”tractoring” the people off. Now they are forced to go someplace else that maybe was not affected by an extreme drought.
There are several losses in their voyage. There are deaths, fights, disappearances, and more. Fairly quickly on their journey Granpa dies. It does not seem to be a very significant event, but the family has lost an important member. At first the family seemed hopeful of California. They expect it to be perfect; they expect work instantly; and they expect hospitality. Then they hear stories of how they ask for more work than they need. They try to act like it will be alright, but they are starting to get upset on the inside. Then they lose Granma, Noah, and Connie. Granma dies, Noah leaves to live his own life, and Connie abandons them. Then a cop shows up at the Hooverville and Casy takes the blame for hurting him, and he goes to jail. Later Tom runs into him, and a cop kills him right in front of Tom’s eyes. Tom kills the cop, and has to live in the shadows.
The Joads do not get a lot of breaks. One gain they get is that they get into a government camp with no cops. It is the ideal place to live, and Tom gets work. They have dances and it is just a nice place to live. They soon realize that they cannot live there because they need work. Eventually they get jobs to pick peaches. This seems nice at first, but they find out the wage they were given was because of a strike going on, and it depletes after one day. From there they end up working cotton. This is a good job, but it does not last long. The fact of the matter is that the Joads work hard for everything, and it never really pays out for them.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.