John Steinbeck’s book titled The Grapes of Wrath is a story about the journey of an Oklahoma family on their way to California during the hardships of the Great Depression. The family had lost their crops due to a dust bowl, and set out to California after learning of potential work opportunities. The book is centered mostly around Tom Joad, who has recently been released from prison on parole after serving four years for a homicide crime.
Tom is unaware of the dust bowl, and comes home to find his family gone and neighboring farmers evicted by banks and landowners. Tom discovers that his family has moved in with his uncle John to pick cotton to save money in order to begin the journey to California. Once Tom arrives, he finds his family packing their car to begin driving to California. Throughout their journey, they meet others who are also on their way to newfound opportunities, family members are lost due to death and abandonment, and once they arrive in California, their hardships continue as they soon discover potential opportunities have faded.
This is a story of true hardship and a harsh reality of what it was like to be a farming family during the Great Depression. Steinbeck uses many themes throughout this novel to show how the Joad family, and others alike, were dehumanized and starved of opportunities, but they never lost hope and remained faithful throughout all of their challenges. As the question arises to whether or not this story will be read in 25, 50, and 100 years, the answer to all three is yes. The Wrath of Grapes helps to display the hardships farmers faced when they were treated unfairly and the choices they had to make in order to survive, and it shows the importance of why farmers should never be treated this way again.
John Steinbeck was born and raised in Salinas, California, an area rich in agriculture. Steinbeck grew up during the Great Depression and saw the hardships that farmers faced first hand. He attended Stanford University, but never graduated. The Nobel Prize classifies all of Steinbeck’s work as “social novels dealing with the economic problems of rural labour, but there is also a streak of worship of the soil in his books.” Steinbeck wrote to expose the issues he saw first hand in agriculture. He truly had a passion for agriculture and depicts that very well in this novel.
One incident that occurred in the novel that depicted the treatment that the farmers were receiving happened in chapter 3. Tom observes a turtle crossing the road and watches as one person swerves to miss the turtle and another go out of their way to run the turtle over. Tom then turns the turtle over and it continues on its way. This incident was used to show that farmers, just like the turtle, receive good and bad treatment from those around them.
When the turtle was on it’s back after being run over, it struggled to turn itself over and was helpless without Tom. In chapter 7, the story is told from the perspective of a used car salesman who uses psychological tactics to take advantage of farmers who need a car to travel west. This is another example of helplessness and kicking a farmer while he’s down. Everyone saw the disadvantages that the farmers were facing and used them to their own advantage. Farmers were beyond desperate, and would give anything they had in order to make it to California.
Almost every farmer had to leave behind their land and everything on it that they couldn’t sell. On page 88, an excerpt reads “to California or any place – every one a drum major leading a parade of hurts, marching with our bitterness.” It was difficult for farmers to remain optimistic and not let the feeling of hopelessness swallow them, but they knew they didn’t have a fighting chance. All throughout the novel, Steinbeck carries the same theme of hopelessness, but also preservereance. Despite all the challenges the Joads face, they remain confident that things will get better, and even with few things to give, they still give. Jim Casy, who is a former preacher that baptized Tom when he was a boy, reconnected with Tom after he arrived home from prison and had been by Tom’s side since. After Tom reconnected with his family and prepared to head west, Jim asked if he could come along and the family began to debate.
Ma Joad, Tom’s mother, made the final decision stating “It ain’t kin we? It’s will we? …As far as ‘kin,’ we can’t do nothin’, not go to California or nothin’; but as far as will, why, we’ll do what we will” (102). The Joads not only felt like they had an obligation to take Jim along, but also saw no reason why they should leave him behind. During their journey to California, they stop at a rundown gas station where their dog is struck and killed on the road by a vehicle that doesn’t even stop. This again adds to the theme of helplessness, but even after losing their dog and Grandpa Joad to a stroke, they still keep going.
As they arrive in California, they lose Grandma Joad to the elements, and quickly realize that it is not a land of opportunities that they had expected. What happened to their home land is also happening in California, and they struggle to find work. The Joads eventually find their way to migrant camp where new friends help the men find work. They aren’t paid fair wages, but at least they’ve found work. The following spring there is a fantastic harvest and an abundance of food, but to avoid a drop in prices, corporate farms decide to leave excess produce to spoil to maintain a need from consumers.
Despite the abundance, they do everything they can to keep the food out of the hands of the Joads and others alike. An excerpt from page 349 states “ The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by.” They helplessly watched as an abundance of food went to waste. In many situations, migrants like the Joads harvested the produce that was going to waste. They couldn’t eat the food they had already touched.
The Joads take shelter in a box car with the Wainwrights, a family they met along their journey to California, shortly before a torrential rain starts to flood the lands. They fear that the flooding will become dangerous, so they make plans to leave only to be halted by Tom’s sister, Rosasharn, who’s gone into labor. The baby is stillborn which they believe is due to the conditions they’ve been living in.
Tom’s uncle, John, wants to make a statement with the stillborn child and urges that the baby should be displayed in the nearby town. John states “Go down an’ tell ’em. Go down in the street an’ rot an’ tell ’em that way. That’s the way you can talk”(448). John sends the baby down the river in a crate, hoping that it will bring attention to the hardships that they’re facing. The family decided that they must move to avoid the floods, so they set out and eventually come across a barn. Inside the barn they find a dying father and his son. The dying father is unable to eat and as the novel ends, Rosasharn agrees to breastfeed the man to save his life. Just like before, even when the Joads have very little to give, they still give. Even though she had just lost her baby, she was able to give life to a dying father.
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written to truly depict what farmers faced during the Great Depression through the Joad family. This is a novel that can still be applicable in 25, 50, and 100 years. America’s farmers are strong and faithful, and this novel does a fantastic job portraying that. Although today’s farmers will most likely never face these kinds of hardships, the future is unpredictable and this novel should act as a reminder of how poorly America’s farmers were once treated.
Today’s farmers face hardships in different forms like trade wars, public perception, and low commodity prices, but still persevere and do everything in their power to continue to farm their land. Most of today’s farmers receive government aid due to low commodity prices and shrinking profit margins, but it’s still not enough. Farmers were treated unfairly during the great depression, and in many ways are still treated unfairly today. This novel will continue to be read for centuries to educate about the hardships farmers faced then, and help shed light on the hardships they face now.
Works Cited
- John Steinbeck – Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Sun. 5 Jan 2020.
- Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. Penguin Books, 2002.
Addressing Misconceptions About Birth Control
Stephanie Zojonc and Bethann Lavoie address the misconceptions about birth control. They use research methods and case studies that are 50 minutes long to follow the real life decisions of high school students. The instructor collects the students research formatively by case questions and presentations. They wanted to make sure the students knew all of their options when using birth control, practicing safe sex, and discussing methods of protection with their partner.
This was important, because the evidence shows that they found if students were educated on their available resources, they could fix any issues brought up when discussing birth control. This showed valuable evidence when conducting their research because it cleared those misconceptions. They used four mini case groups for each student in a class of 20 to 30 participants, all with different methods such as, fertility awareness, abstinence, withdrawal; pill, implant, shot; pill and vaginal ring; sponge, spermicide; and (fe)male condoms. They allowed each student to research the methods and discuss which protection was the best choice for them. Students were asked to complete an anonymous assignment after their findings.
A strength to this study was that the students tested the most effective ways to be sure they don’t get pregnant, so the best birth control option for most females is clear. Also, I found that allowing the students to purchase the contraception themselves, see the ease of use, and discuss with their partners about reproductive decisions, showed them real life circumstances. A weakness was that the answers to the information given by the instructor could be inaccurate due to embarrassment/shyness of the student. Also, it a very quick survey and there was little information to go off of for the entirety of the experiment. The study showed that the chart given from Planned Parenthood in 2011, was a guide to go off of. The female condom (not always used properly) was the highest failure rate.
The method used properly that failed was spermicide. This meant that the IUD, implant, patch, pill, shot, vaginal ring, vasectomy, and tubal ligation were all good choices because they had the least amount of failure rate when used properly. Ultimately, students gained a better understanding of what birth control method was best for them by discussing the options with their teacher and classmates. This method was shown to ease any misconceptions they had before accessing the information. The information offers factual research that gives each student the maximum amount of information with discussing their options, which is related to my topic of the various types of birth control. I found the contraception methods, costs, and side effects to be valuable to my knowledge for birth control due to my lack of understanding before reviewing this study.
Problem Of Identity Theft
While the advancement of technology has—for the most part—changed modern society for the better, it has also changed several aspects of it for the worse. How? Crime. Of particular note is identity theft, which has become significantly more rampant than it has ever been due to the advent of the Internet in the modern age.
Identity thieves, who once could only rely on tracing physical things such as paper trails and written legal documents, can now access the sensitive information of other individuals via the worldwide web. What is most unfortunate is that the Internet has made this issue even worse by virtue of making it easier to do and harder to track. Identity theft comes in many forms, and is a major global problem in today’s modern society.
The act of identity theft can occur very easily over the Internet, even if the user believes he or she is being cautious enough to avoid any possibility of it. As Justin Hyde notes in his article about preventing identity theft, this can happen so easily, in fact, that most victims of identity theft remain unaware of the crime for some time, sometimes “upwards of six months, if not more (7).”
Sharing personal information online over social media or some other digital format always puts one at risk of having his or her identity stolen (Kunick 25). A fraudster can gain access to a person’s PII—personally identifiable information—to commit fraud using various scams and invasive procedures, such as planting malware into someone’s computer or posing as a trusted organization and requesting an unaware consumer’s personal information over email (Moody 57).
There are several different methods of identity theft that may be employed by cybercriminals to obtain the sensitive information of an unsuspecting individual, such as phishing. Phishing is a cybercrime that occurs when identity thieves “send emails under the guise of legitimate financial institutions in an attempt to trick users into giving away their PII” (Kunick 25).
Kunick also goes on to mention another method known as malware. This is “malicious software that can attack one’s computer and reveal their sensitive information” (26). Additionally, criminals may try to trick people into giving them their personal information by telling them they have won a contest, and that to claim the prize, they need to provide credit card information.
Using the previously mentioned methods of obtaining sensitive information, identity theft may occur while shopping online. Mesch explains how this works in his article featured in a prominent science journal. He says that this can happen “when a criminal leverages stolen payment information or fraudulently acquired bank or credit card accounts, to attempt retail transactions without the account owner’s knowledge” (11). Another particularly prevalent form of identity theft is tax identity theft. This happens when “fraudsters acquire one’s name and social security number and file a tax return in his or her name before the victim does so” (Kunick 27).
With electronic tax filings becoming more wildly used, this has been a relatively easy crime to commit. As a result, this particular type of identity theft has grown substantially in recent years. Furthermore, another criminally attractive method of identity theft is child identity theft, because “there is usually no credit history established for the children who become victims, allowing scammers to use children’s social security numbers and other information to open new accounts, apply for government benefits, take out loans, and more” (Kunick 27).
One more type of identity theft—and one that is growing fast—is synthetic identity theft. This method comprises “80-to-85% of all current identity fraud” (Mesch 13). “Synthetic ID theft merges real and fake personal consumer data to create a new identity using information such as social security numbers, names, addresses, and birthdays” (Mesch 14). All of the aforementioned methods and more may be employed by identity thieves to create or acquire a phony identity. For the consumer, remaining vigilant while online can reduce the risk of becoming a victim.
In the unfortunate event that one’s identity has been stolen, there are certain steps that a person should take to resolve the issue as soon as possible, to avoid detrimental effects. “If a bank account has been affected, it should be shut down first and foremost” (Mesch 17). Doing this as soon as possible has the potential to save the victim a great deal of money. A fraud alert should also be requested from a credit reporting agency, as should a credit freeze.
As Mesch explains in his article, “a credit freeze will prevent the credit reporting agency from releasing the credit report to new [unauthorized] creditors” (17). Finally, the police should be alerted so that the crime may be reported. However, it should be noted “not all states have legislated that local law enforcement must take a police report on identity theft from consumers” (Mesch 15), so the police may not respond to a report such as this.
Identity theft has many negative effects on both the individuals that were victims of it and on the economy. For individuals, the financial toll of identity theft can be incredibly devastating. “Restoring good credit, closing affected bank accounts, and working with the Social Security Administration if a social security number was stolen could all be hurdles in the potentially lengthy recovery process” (Moody 59). For the economy, it can be just as bad. In 2003, “more than 9.9 million Americans learned they had been victims of identity theft, at a total cost of nearly $50 billion to the economy” (Mesch 22).
Identity theft continues to be a major global problem today. Not only is it incredibly damaging to both the individuals it affects and the economy, but it has become even more common due to the ways people can take advantage of technology, particularly the Internet. While the Internet—and technology in general—has mostly changed society for the better, this is one of many issues that has become worse as a result of it.