Previous
Situational Irony
Chapter 14
Explanation and Analysis:
In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck employs a sweeping historical style that examines broad historical patterns through the personal experiences of the Joad family. Though the novel centers upon the Joads as they travel from Oklahoma to California in search of work, their story reflects the experiences of many real families who were displaced during the Great Depression. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck emphasizes the broader historical context of his story. In Chapter 14, for example, he reflects extensively on historical changes in the American West:
THE WESTERN LAND, nervous under the beginning change. The Western States, nervous as horses before a thunder storm. The great owners, nervous, sensing a change, knowing nothing of the nature of the change. The great owners, striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new taxes, at plans; not knowing these things are results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes. The causes lie deep and simply—the causes are a hunger in a stomach, multiplied a million times; a hunger in a single soul, hunger for joy and some security, multiplied a million times [...]
Here, as elsewhere in the novel, Steinbeck focuses on history, and more specifically, on the history of labor relations. “The great owners,” he writes, sensed that political change was coming but, unable to properly understand the nature of this change, they lashed out at the growing labor movement. He claims, however, that labor strikes were a “result,” not a “cause.” In other words, Steinbeck argues that workers did not begin to strike because of the unions, but rather, workers formed unions because of poor working conditions. The real cause, he suggests, of “growing labor unity" is “a hunger in a stomach, multiplied a million times.” Though the Joads are just one fictional family, here he notes that millions of people were, in reality, affected by the same historical conditions.
Related Themes:
