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Foreshadowing
Chapter 20
Explanation and Analysis:
The Grapes of Wrath is a classic example of literary realism. Like other writers working in the genre, Steinbeck attempts to depict life in a truthful and realistic fashion, without idealizing his subject matter. His focus throughout the novel is the actual experiences of tenant farmers who were forced out of their homes in Oklahoma during the Great Depression, a period of marked economic decline in the United States and many other parts of the world. Steinbeck is particularly attuned to the difficult social and political realities of these migrant workers, which he represents in his depiction of the Joad family. His realist treatment of the Great Depression is evident in a scene in which Tom speaks with a young man named Floyd Knowles:
The young man laughed. “They say they’s three hunderd thousan’ us folks here, an’ I bet ever’ dam’ fam’ly seen them han’bills.’’
“Yeah, but if they don’ need folks, what’d they go to the trouble puttin’ them things out for?’’
“Use your head, why don’cha?’’
“Yeah, but I wanta know.’’
“Look,’’ the young man said. “S’pose you got a job a work, an’ there’s jus’ one fella wants the job. You got to pay ’im what he asts. But s’pose they’s a hunderd men [...] Jus’ offer ’em a nickel—why, they’ll kill each other fightin’ for that nickel.
Tom meets Floyd when the Joads seek temporary refuge in a Hooverville, an informal, improvised settlement named for President Herbert Hoover, whom many Americans blamed for the economic downturn. When Tom notes that he and his family seek good work in California, as has been advertised in handbills that were distributed across Oklahoma, Floyd cynically dismisses Tom’s hopes. The farm owners in California, Floyd explains, have encouraged large numbers of people to migrate despite limited available jobs in order to drive up competition between laborers and keep employment costs low. Such practices were in fact common during the Great Depression, and many migrant laborers were forced into exploitative working conditions. Steinbeck’s unflinching portrayal of these difficult social realities places him squarely within the tradition of literary realism.
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