Eat the Rich

Book Review: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

“If you're in trouble or hurt or need–go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help–the only ones.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Genre: Classics, Historical Fiction

My Rating: Five out of five stars

Set during the Great Depression, this novel follows the Joad family as they leave their drought-stricken Oklahoma farm behind and head to California in search of work. The poor family, lured by the promises of good work and bountiful harvests, road trip through treacherous mountains and deserts in a beat up jalopy overloaded with their meager possessions.

When they arrive, they are looked down upon and discriminated against. Work is not as plentiful as they’d been led to believe. The only ones who seem to be benefiting are the bankers and wealthy landowners who sent out these handbills to desperate and homeless families in the dustbowl, promising them work, but there wasn’t enough work for the amount of people that relocated their entire families out west. This created an overabundance of workers and not enough work, which allowed the landowners to pay as little as possible.

This novel is not too subtle in its critique of social injustice and inequality. Steinbeck’s prose is beautiful in its simplicity and its brutally honesty. You won’t find any happy endings here. The Grapes of Wrath is heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time. It’s an epic tale of survival, social unrest, and some very determined people trying to make a life in a world that’s clearly stacked against them. It’s historical fiction that reminds us that the inequalities we face today have been there for quite some time. Will it always be this way?

John Steinbeck

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