John Steinbeck was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his astounding work in The Grapes of Wrath in 1940.
Steinbeck worked as a migrant laborer and worker for sporadic periods during his lifetime. Due to this past lifestyle, Steinbeck was able to channel the experiences he went through as a laborer, as well as the experiences he saw others undergo, primarily westerners, into many of his novel.
The novel centers in on a family of Western origin moving to California to escape the Dust Bowl, in hopes of finding prosperous work. With the same aspiration of hundreds of other "Okie" families, the Joads endure countless heartaches and struggles as they journey to the heartless West coast.
In order to fully understand the trials and the journey families from the Midwest encountered on their expedition, Steinbeck packed up his own goods, traveled to Oklahoma, and migrated back to California with his designated family. The journey no doubt further opened the author's eyes as to the brutality of the situation. Often times, as noted in The Grapes of Wrath, families traveled thousands upon thousands of miles, only to come to the realization that jobs were not as plentiful as they were proclaimed to be, nor was the western coast welcoming to their kind. Many returned home, preferring to die in their homeland than be mistreated by foreigners, but even more remained in California "Hoovervilles" filled with despair, regret, and, ironically, emptiness.
Through Steinbeck's realistic dialogue and personal experience, the novel was able to capture the hearts of millions of Americans during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, creating a household name for his novel as well as title recognition in hundreds of high-schools and colleges across the nation.
Steinbeck worked as a migrant laborer and worker for sporadic periods during his lifetime. Due to this past lifestyle, Steinbeck was able to channel the experiences he went through as a laborer, as well as the experiences he saw others undergo, primarily westerners, into many of his novel. The novel centers in on a family of Western origin moving to California to escape the Dust Bowl, in hopes of finding prosperous work. With the same aspiration of hundreds of other "Okie" families, the Joads endure countless heartaches and struggles as they journey to the heartless West coast.
In order to fully understand the trials and the journey families from the Midwest encountered on their expedition, Steinbeck packed up his own goods, traveled to Oklahoma, and migrated back to California with his designated family. The journey no doubt further opened the author's eyes as to the brutality of the situation. Often times, as noted in The Grapes of Wrath, families traveled thousands upon thousands of miles, only to come to the realization that jobs were not as plentiful as they were proclaimed to be, nor was the western coast welcoming to their kind. Many returned home, preferring to die in their homeland than be mistreated by foreigners, but even more remained in California "Hoovervilles" filled with despair, regret, and, ironically, emptiness. Through Steinbeck's realistic dialogue and personal experience, the novel was able to capture the hearts of millions of Americans during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, creating a household name for his novel as well as title recognition in hundreds of high-schools and colleges across the nation.
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