The Dust Bowl and Exodus from the Great Plains

As if things could not get any worse in the 1930s, drought and poor agricultural practices led to a phenomenon on the southern Great Plains that has been called the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl came in waves, but peaked during the middle of the decade. Its severe dust storms plagued Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, parts of Colorado, and other nearby states. These storms killed cattle and crops, disabled automobiles, and swept up large quantities of dust into people's homes--sometimes even burying them. The dust was so fine that it was almost impossible to escape from it. In some locations, the sky was blacked out for days. People developed a severe lung condition called ''dust pneumonia'' from inhaling the dust. Children were especially susceptible to this potentially deadly condition. Dust storms were occasionally observed as far east as Washington, D.C., although the Southern Plains were the hardest hit.

A large dust storms threatens a farm in Texas during the Dust Bowl.

The causes of these dust storms were complex, but most experts agree that to a large extent they resulted from agricultural practices. Too much grassland was converted to farmland too soon, and as a result of deep plowing techniques, too much land was turned over into lose topsoil. When drought and high winds came, the land literally just blew away.

The severe dust storms prompted many people to leave the Southern Plains. With their crops ruined and banks repossessing failed farms, many families packed their belongings into a Model A car or a truck and headed west. California was the destination for many families, because it was perceived by many as a sort of promised land where families could get a new start. Of course, the road trip there was not always easy. Sometimes automobiles broke down, leaving sojourners stranded in the desert. Those who made it safely to California were sometimes disappointed. For some, California was not the land of high wages and opportunity it was promised to be. The move away from the Southern Plains during the Dust Bowl was among the largest internal migrations in American history. Today many native Californians came from families who migrated there during the Dust Bowl.

During the Dust Bowl many Americans packed up their belongings into a single vehicle and moved west.

Lesson Summary

Now when you study Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, you should have a solid understanding of the historical context. Let's review our key terms and concepts.

• The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in American history. It lasted throughout the 1930s. During the Depression, more than a quarter of American workers found themselves unemployed.
• Prior to the Great Depression, the 1920s had been a very prosperous decade. Because of this, it is commonly called the ''Roaring Twenties.''
• The Stock Market Crash of 1929 is one of the events which marked the beginning of the Great Depression. On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the market completely collapsed.
• The Dust Bowl was a phenomenon in which severe dust storms plagued the Great Plains region during the mid-1930s, specifically Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Colorado and Nebraska. These storms destroyed homes and killed livestock, causing many people to move away.
• During the Dust Bowl many people chose to move to California, which was typically presented as an area that could offer new opportunities. Many families packed up their automobiles with their belongings and moved west.

In this lesson we will learn about the historical context of the famous John Steinbeck novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Specifically, we will look at the Dust Bowl -- what it was, how it started, and the ways in which it impacted American families.

What Was the Dust Bowl?

Imagine that you are unable to start your car because it's clogged with dust. Imagine sitting down to eat dinner and tasting dust in your food. Imagine having the sun blotted out for days by giant black clouds of dust overhead. This might sound like something from a science fiction movie, but it was reality for many families living in the American Midwest during the 1930s. During the second half of the 1930s, severe dust storms plagued the Midwest, killing off crops and livestock, burying homes, and wreaking havoc on the agriculture industry. This phenomenon is called the Dust Bowl.

The Dust Bowl whipped up severe dust storms that wreaked havoc on farms throughout the Great Plains region.

It's important to note the context in which the term is commonly used. In addition to describing a natural phenomenon, the term is also used to describe both a geographical location (centered in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, and other states) and a time-frame. For example, when people talk about the Progressive Era, they are referring to the early 1900s. Sometimes the Dust Bowl is actually used as a time-frame to refer to the second half of the 1930s. This period has also been called the '' Dirty Thirties. '' It is important to be aware of the different contexts in which the term Dust Bowl is used.

The Dust Bowl is the historical context for the classic John Steinbeck novel, The Grapes of Wrath. The book was published in 1939. It describes the suffering of an American family seeking to escape the Dust Bowl and the hardships of the Great Depression. In order to understand the book, we need to have a thorough grasp of its historical setting. Let's learn more about the Dust Bowl.

What Caused the Dust Bowl?

The Dust Bowl took place in three waves, more or less; it was particularly severe in 1934, 1936, and 1939-1940. But what caused it? There were many factors, but most experts agree that it probably could have been avoided by proper farming techniques. Severe drought played a major role, but in addition to that, in the years leading up to the Dust Bowl farmers of the Midwest abused the land. They turned over vast tracks of grassland into cropland, destroying trees and other plants that allowed the soil to be anchored to the earth. New farming methods, especially deep-mechanized plowing, turned over earth rapidly and left it exposed. When drought and winds came, the soil literally blew away, causing what we call the Dust Bowl.

Life During the Dust Bowl

What was it like to live through the Dust Bowl? More terrifying than you might think. The black dust was so fine that it literally blew through cracks into houses. Families would wake up in the morning covered in dust. It got into their food. People developed a lung condition called dust pneumonia from dust inhalation. Children were especially susceptible, and in some cases, this condition could be deadly. Dust killed off livestock and made farming impossible. With farms failing and families unable to pay their mortgage, banks commonly repossessed the land. Automobiles had difficulty running due to the amount of dust that blew into their parts -- and sometimes they were completely buried under it. A number of photographs exist showing automobiles covered in several feet of dust.

This Dust Bowl photographs shows an automobile halfway buried in dust.

In addition to being the setting for The Grapes of Wrath, the Dust Bowl is also where American photographer Dorothea Lange took several famous photographs. Lange's most well-known photograph, Migrant Mother, depicts a destitute woman and her two children suffering as a result of the Dust Bowl. Some of Lange's other work shows the hardships people endured during the Great Depression.

This well-known photograph taken by Dorothea Lange captures a migrant mother and her two children.

The Great Westward Exodus

The Dust Bowl prompted a massive exodus out of the Great Plains region. Many families packed up whatever belongings they could fit into their automobiles (often a Model A car or truck) and headed westward along Route 66 to California, where it was commonly believed that opportunities abounded. For many families fleeing the Dust Bowl, California was a sort of ''promised land'': a place where employment could be found, and where families could get a new start.

Of course, it did not always work out this way for everyone. Getting to California was difficult in and of itself. Weighed down with mattresses and other belongings, it was not uncommon for automobiles to break down, leaving families stranded in the desert. For some families, California was not everything they had hoped: Wages were not as high as they expected, and the hardships of the Great Depression could still be found, even in the promised land of California.

By the early 1940s the Dust Bowl had subsided. Government efforts to plant trees and teach better agricultural practices helped tame the dust. However, it would take years for the earth to fully recover. For many families, life would never be the same.

Lesson Summary

Let's review our key terms and concepts.

• The Dust Bowl was a series of severe dust storms that plagued the Midwest throughout the second half of the 1930s, killing off crops and livestock, burying homes, and wreaking havoc on the agriculture industry.
• The Dust Bowl, also called the '' Dirty Thirties,'' was the setting for John Steinbeck 's The Grapes of Wrath.
• During the Dust Bowl people developed a lung condition called dust pneumonia from dust inhalation. Children were especially susceptible to it, and in some cases the condition could be deadly.
• Dorothea Lange was a famous American photographer known for capturing images of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
• The Dust Bowl prompted a mass exodus away from the Great Plains. Many families packed up their belongings and moved westward to California, where they hoped to find better opportunities.

· In this lesson we learn how historical accuracy comes into play in 'The Grapes of Wrath' and how the intercalary chapters provide a larger context for the non intercalary chapters.

· Historical Accuracy in The Grapes of Wrath

· When considering the historical accuracy of The Grapes of Wrath, keep in mind that Steinbeck wrote a novel based on tenant farmers, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression--not a documentary work on these subjects. The Great Depression was a time of major economic crisis in the United States that lasted for a decade (1929-39). During this period, the Dust Bowl, a severe drought, plagued several mid and southwestern states. A novel, by its very nature, is an extended fictive work, and The Grapes of Wrath is not categorized as a historical novel but simply a novel. That said, it would be remiss to merely consider The Grapes of Wrath as a work of fiction with occasional references to the historical times in which it was written. Having seen tenant farmers' suffering firsthand, Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath with the intention of giving voice to thousands of real people who were homeless, hungry, and repeatedly taken advantage of by landowners and banks. Hence, the story of the Joads.

· The Joads

· Because the Joads are fictional characters who represent nameless thousands, the Grapes of Wrath is not a historical novel. Let's put this in perspective. Think of other historical novels of which you might have heard, for instance, The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. This is a historical novel because it's based on the actual historical figures of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, among others. Now that we grasp the difference between a historical novel and a novel based on historical events, it helps us understand that Steinbeck was well within his rights as a novelist to take creative license with The Grapes of Wrath. Given what we know about the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, we can surmise that Steinbeck was dedicated to presenting a realistic and accurate depiction of what these two subjects meant for people like the Joads.

· The Dust Bowl Landscape

Dust Bowl Storm

· While the Joad chapters could form a novel on their own, the intercalary chapters, chapters that break away from the main narrative arc, could not. So we must ask ourselves, why do they matter? A reasoned answer tells us that Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters in The Grapes of Wrath to provide a larger context to the Joad narrative. Without these chapters we would not have so thorough a picture of tenant farmers, land owners, banks, and the economy during the Great Depression, all of which affect the Joads. Consider the following excerpt from Chapter 1: '' A gentle wind followed the rain clouds, driving them on northward, a wind that softly clashed the drying corn. A day went by and the wind increased, steady, unbroken by gusts. The dust from the roads fluffed up and spread out and fell on the weeds beside the fields, and fell into the fields a little way.'' As we can see, this quote draws an accurate depiction of a dust storm and its aftermath.

· Let's compare this quote with one from a Joad chapter, Chapter 8: ''And the sun flashed on the windows of the house. The weathered boards were bright. Two red chickens on the ground flamed with reflected light. ''Don't yell,'' said Tom. ''Let's creep up on 'em, like,'' and he walked so fast that the dust rose as high as his waist. And then he came to the edge of the cotton field. Now they were in the yard proper, earth beaten hard, shiny hard, and a few dusty crawling weeds on the ground. And Joad slowed as though he feared to go on.''

· If we pay close attention to the details of the land and the dust, we can see how the intercalary chapter, the more historical chapter, informs the Joad chapter. Because Steinbeck painstakingly describes dust storms in the intercalary chapters, we don't question why the sun-beaten landscape and the dust is so prevalent as Tom enters the Joad farm in the above quote. The historical accuracy regarding the dust storms and drought in the intercalary chapters helps readers understand the descriptions of the land in the Joad chapters.

· The Great Depression

Just a few of the many affected by the Great Depression

· The Great Depression affected millions of people, not just those in the Dust Bowl. Remember, the Dust Bowl lasted from 1934 to 1937 and mainly affected Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and parts of New Mexico and Colorado. The Great Depression affected every state in the U.S. and lasted from 1929 to 1939. Even though Steinbeck writes about the rise and fall of banks, changing economic practices, and the ways in which the Great Depression hurt the working class the most, his primary focus is on the tenant farmers migrating to California. While the novel doesn't go into great detail about the Great Depression, Steinbeck did strive to present an accurate representation of the struggling tenant farmers.

· Lesson Summary

· In this lesson we get a refresher on the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, intercalary chapters, and the meaning of the novel. We learn what qualifies a novel as historical and why The Grapes of Wrath isn't included in this category. We also learn how Steinbeck accurately depicts the landscape of the Dust Bowl in the intercalary chapters, which provides some context for the Joad chapters. Finally, we learn that while Steinbeck set The Grapes of Wrath during the time of the Great Depression, he was most focused on how it affected the tenant farmers in the Dust Bowl.

 

 

In this lesson, we examine John Steinbeck's use of animals and insects as symbols in ''The Grapes of Wrath''; a story about the Joad family facing obstacles as they move from Oklahoma to California.

Definition

Think about some of our nation's symbols. We have a flag, a song, and even a national bird. Symbols are things that represent bigger ideas. The American flag is more than just a piece of cloth; it symbolizes freedom, loyalty, and unity. The Grapes of Wrath contains many animal and insect symbols. Let's examine some animal symbolism from the novel.

The Bee and the Grasshopper

After getting out of prison, Tom Joad manages to get a ride from a trucker to his parents' home. When a bee flies into the cab of the truck, ''the driver put out his hand and carefully drove the bee into an air stream that blew it out of the window.'' The bee symbolizes the times we find ourselves in trouble and someone gives us a hand to lead the way out.

When a grasshopper flies into the cab, Tom has a different response. The narrator says, ''Joad reached forward and crushed its hard skull-like head with his fingers, and he let it into the wind stream out the window.'' The grasshopper symbolizes being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong person. Some people (the trucker) will offer you a hand, while other people (Tom) will crush you.

The Cat

When Tom gets home, he finds his family farm empty except for the cat. As he approaches the cat, it refuses to come near him. It is apparent that the cat has been fending for itself for quite some time. At Tom tries to put the pieces together, he says, ''No, it's more'n jus' this place. Whyn't that cat jus' move in with some neighbors-- with the Rances.''

Tom realizes that something big has happened because there aren't any neighbors. Everyone is gone. After a former neighbor arrives to explain that Tom's family has lost their property, the neighbor offers to share a couple of rabbits he caught for dinner. The narrator explains, ''The gray cat came out of the barn shed and trotted miaowing toward the fire, but, nearly there, it turned and went directly to one of the little piles of rabbit entrails on the ground.''

The Joad family cat symbolizes the their displacement. It lived happily as the family pet until the bank drove them off of the property. Now, it scavenges for its food and doesn't trust anyone. Just like the Joads, it goes to desperate measures to survive.

Joad Family Dog

When Tom catches up with his family, they are days away from loading the truck and driving to California. There is only enough room to take one of the dogs on top of the truck, so the other two are given to their former neighbor. After stopping to get gas, the Joads pull the dog off the roof so he can drink from a muddy puddle of water. He tried to cross the road when, ''A big swift car whisked near, tires squealed. The dog dodged helplessly, and with a shriek, cut off in the middle, went under the wheels. The big car slowed for a moment and faces looked back, and then it gathered greater speed and disappeared. And the dog, a blot of blood and tangled, burst intestines, kicked slowly in the road.''

After the gruesome death, Tom drags the dog's body to the side of the road. Pa said, ''I don' know how we was gonna feed 'im anyways. Just as well, maybe.'' The poor dog is the first of many casualties along the way. On the farm, walking in the road isn't that dangerous, but on the highway, it's deadly. The Joad family dog symbolizes the unknown hazards the Joads will face.

The Pigs

While Pa usually favored saving pigs until Christmas, moving to California changed the way things are usually done. They slaughtered their pigs and salted them to provide meat for the long trip. Ruthie, the 12 year old, excitedly whispers, ''Killin' pigs and goin' to California. Killin' pigs and goin'--all the same time.'' Winfield, the 10 year old, stuck his finger to his throat and pretended to be a bloody, slaughtered pig.

Pa, Noah, and Tom went to the pig sty to make their kill. Once again, the narrator describes it with excruciating detail: ''They slaughtered quickly and efficiently. Tom struck twice with the blunt head of the ax; and Noah, leaning over the felled pigs, found the great artery with his curving knife and released the pulsing streams of blood.''

While the Joads are the good guys in this novel, the blood thirst of even their youngest goes beyond merely providing sustenance to the family. The slaughter is a horrifyingly exciting family activity. The pig slaughter symbolizes how easily those in power can lose their humanity.

Lesson Summary

Symbols are things that represent bigger ideas. In The Grapes of Wrath, insects fly into the cab of the truck giving Tom a ride from prison to his family farm. The driver scoops a bee to safety while Tom crushes a grasshopper. These insects symbolize that sometimes people help us and sometimes they hurt us.

The Joad family cat is left behind when the Joads are driven off the farm. It symbolizes how even the tame become wild and untrusting under dire circumstances. The tragic death of the Joad family dog on the highway symbolizes the dangers lurking in unknown situations. The children's excitement for the vicious slaughter of the pigs symbolizes the powerful's tendency to oppress the weak.

 

John Steinbeck used a great deal of religious imagery in ''The Grapes of Wrath'', often in the form of references to Biblical figures and stories. This lesson discusses and analyzes some critical examples of this type of imagery.

Backdrop

The Joads and the other migrant families suffer greatly throughout The Grapes of Wrath. To underscore the often tragic nature of their struggles, Steinbeck often uses Biblical imagery, or descriptions that are intended to bring to mind people or events from the Bible.