The Grapes of Wrath, chronicles the Joad’s family exodus from Oklahoma to

California in search for a brighter, economic future. The name Joad and the exodus to

California is parallel to the Biblical story of Exodus and the character Job, but at the time

was depicting the Okie Exodus. The Okies were farmers whose topsoil blew away due to

dust storms and were forced to migrate along Route 66 to California in search of work.

The Okies were resented for migrating in large numbers to areas in the West where work

was already hard to find and the sudden multitude of workers caused wages to be

lowered. The Joad’s reside in Oklahoma, referred to as the “Dust Bowl” of the U.S.

because of its lack of rain. The story takes place during the late 1930’s when the country

was in the midst of the Great Depression. The Joad family were sharecroppers evicted

from their homes because they failed to pay the bank their loan payments to the Shawnee

Land and Cattle Company.

     On their journey, the Joad’s ran into a returning migrant from California who tells

them that the handbill they have looking for 800 pickers is a bunch of hogwash. He’d

rather starve in Oklahoma then starve in California. The migrant scolds them on their

naivety saying “Now, how many of you all got them handbills?...(The men respond that

they all have them) There you are, same yellow handbill. 800 Pickers Wanted. All right,

the man wants 800 men, so he prints 5,000 handbills and maybe 20,000 people see 'em.

And maybe two or three thousand people start West on account of that handbill. Two or

three thousand people that are crazy with worry headin' out for 800 jobs. Now does that

make sense?” He tells them that the growers are exploiting them, causing a surplus of

workers to drive down labor costs according to supply and demand. The significance of

his role in the movie, is that he let’s the Joad’s know everything they are moving West

for is false. Their journey is based on a lie, and the grass isn’t greener on the other side.


     While stopping for gas, Mr. Joad heads into the diner to buy a loaf of bread. Mr.

Joad is a nickel short of the 15 cents that the bread cost, and against the waitresses

opinion the chef tells her to sell it to him for a dime. Not wanting charity, Mr. Joad tells

them to cut a nickel worth of bread off, but the chef refuses and makes him take it. The

Joad children stare in wonder at some of the candy in the diner, and the waitress out of

the goodness of your heart sold it to Mr. Joad for a penny rather then the dime it was

worth. Upon seeing the waitresses’ good will, two truckers eating at the diner leave the

waitress a generous tip. A little further up the road, the family is stopped at a checkpoint

by two policeman wanting to search their truck for any fruits or vegetables to prevent the

spread of rodents into the West. Though revealed later the grandmother was actually

dead at this point, Mrs. Joad tells the cops that her mother is ailing and must see a doctor.

The police immediately let them through and tell them where they can find a doctor.

Mrs. Joad knew that if the police saw the grandmother was dead that they would make

them turn around and head back to Oklahoma. These good deeds were symbolic of the

common good in people during the hard times of the depression. People helped those in

need, because they were most likely experiencing the same hard times. It also proved

how good thing would happen to those who did good.

     A little after grandmother died, the Joad’s stop at the next transient camp,

Hooverville.” Symbolically named after United State President Herbert Hoover of the

early 30’s, Hooverville was a chaotic migrant camp consisted of little grey tents and

shacks scattered randomly. Most residents dined on fried dough, and were solicited to

work for dirt cheap wagers by nearby growers. Most migrants would take the job,

despite it being illegally solicited for low wages because of the obstacles faced trying to

attain work. The first obstacle most faced was the misleading information on fliers.

Fliers were use to trick people searching for work to driving their wages down. A second

obstacle, was illegal contractors soliciting work with false wagers. The migrants would

go and then with no other choice but starvation, agree to work for less then they were

told. Perhaps, the most violent obstacle were angry mobs met along the way at road

blocks threatening the migrants to turn around or else.

     The Joad’s kept on moving along -refusing to give up on the American dream-

and came across an orchard that was hiring. Despite protesters outside, they go in and

register their names with the supervisor. The supervisor wanted to know how many men,

women, and children were part of the family. This is used to keep track of who is on the

orchard and preventing anyone from leaving and coming back as a new family because

new families get 5 cents on their first day; as noticed when the Joad’s tried to leave

without Tom. The workers at the orchard are treated inhumanely. They are not allowed

to leave, and are surrounded by a huge gate around the orchard that is guarded at all

times. They were lied to about wages, 5 cents was only the first day, every following day

was half that.

     During the Great Depresssion and World War II, women entered the labor force

in place of men who were off to war, and were the backbone of this country. The ending

of this film commensurates with the historical facts of that era in that Mrs. Joad was the

anchor of the family. She kept the family from sinking,; she was the backbone. She said

she wasn’t scared of what the future held, and was prepared to face it head on.