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Example research essay topic: Small Business Owners Journey To California - 1,292 words

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The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck exists as one of the greatest novels ever written during the Great Depression. Steinbeck uses life experiences as a tool for gaining knowledge on how migrants from the middle of the United States suffered during these difficult times. For example, the author actually lived with a migrant family for a while during the 1930 s, and ultimately the family decided to move to California in hopes for a more suitable life (class notes, 10 / 18). These life experiences are what spurred Steinbeck to write this prominent novel. The main characters of The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads family along with Jim Casey, suffer through various hardships during their journey to California.

During the journey the Joads come across several individuals and groups, in which some obstruct the Joads goal of living an improved life in California while others To start with, small businesses definitely greet the Joads with respect and support throughout their journey to California. One example exists in chapter fifteen when Steinbeck talks of the many hamburger stands that line Route 66. One small business is owned by Al, who seems silent and really does not talk to the customers, and Mae, who comes in contact with the customers. A man and his two young children arrive at Al and Maes diner and begin to beg Mae for some bread, claiming that they only have ten cents. While Mae refuses at first, Al screams to just give the family some bread.

Mae also gives the boys two peppermint candies for a penny, knowing that it normally sells for five cents a piece. During this whole situation, two truckers watch the whole thing; knowing that Al and Mae generously helped the poor family, they perform a good deed and leave the diner some extra money to help pay for the costs of giving the bread away. Symbolism appears throughout this chapter and the whole book. Al and Mae surely are not rich; they actually barely get by each day with the money they make from the diner. This chapter symbolizes a group, the small businesses, helping out other people in need. Mae, at first, does not realize that individual survival is impossible.

Helping out another human by acting with respect and kindness must happen in order to survive the Great Depression. Chapter fifteen explains, in great detail, how small businesses help the migrating people survive the long journey to California, and throughout the novel the Joads receive the same sort of treatment from other small businesses. While small businesses help the Joads on their journey to California, larger businesses along with the local authorities seem as nothing but trouble for the Joads and other migrating families. Unlike small businesses who would sometimes discount food or other various supplies, larger businesses treat the migrants with disrespect, almost like they act as nuisances. As generous and loving as some small owners can appear, the larger business owners behave the opposite.

Steinbeck tells of stories in this novel of large gas station owners who would not let some migrant families receive gasoline at a discounted price, knowing that these people are extremely poor and cannot afford to pay the extremely high prices for gas. Small gas station owners, for example a local store instead of an Amoco or Exxon, seem more sympathetic towards the poor migrant families. In other words, larger scaled businesses do not understand that people must work In addition, the Joads encounter a discourteous camp proprietor on their way to California in chapter sixteen. After Tom and Jim Casey fix the broken connecting rod on the car, they meet back up with the rest of the family at a camp site. Tom refuses to stay at the camp due to the fifty cent fee to spend the night, so he sleeps outside on the road. Tom becomes angry at the camp owner for capitalizing on the ill fortunes of the migrant families; this scene explains Steinbeck's anger toward the bad deeds of profit seeking individuals during the Great Depression.

He believes people should be helping out each other instead of trying to take every penny a poor family has. Local authorities in California correspondingly treat the Joads and all other migrant families with similar rudeness as large and prosperous business owners. While at a camp, a nice looking car drives up and confronts the men about a job picking fruit in Tulare. A man responds that the owner must write down what the wage will be, sign it, and show the working men his contractors license before they will sign up for work. The contractor became enraged at Floyd, the man speaking for the migrants. The employer accuses Floyd of breaking into a used car lot; Floyd strikes the deputy who is with the contractor, and the cop shoots Floyd, also wounding a woman at the same time.

Tom ends up tripping the deputy, who continues to shoot until he is kicked in the neck by Casey, making him unconscious. This story, in chapter twenty, shows the deputy's disrespect for the migrant families who strive to protect themselves against the greedy contractors. Local authorities also call the migrants travelling to California okie's, which symbolizes a derogatory term for these migrants. The local authorities in California along with the selfish large business owners represent the opposite of Steinbeck's explanation of what needs to happen during hard times. Again, people should work together instead of worrying about pleasing themselves by maximizing their own profits. One communal that the Joads encounter are the camp communities, which certainly provide them with positive support.

Steinbeck illustrates the camps superbly in chapter seventeen. As the migrant families continue to move west on their journey, they begin to create their own communities, in which they make their own rules, laws, punishments, and social expectations. As the families come together, it becomes evident that each individual has his or her own rights, such as the right to food. In these camps, it becomes unacceptable to eat boisterously while another goes hungry. These rules exist as punishable by fighting or banishment. When morning comes around, all the families pack their bags and continue on their journey to California, travelling in one huge flock.

These camps illustrate the concept of community. There exists no more providing help for just an individual; people begin to think for the general welfare of the whole group. If the whole group adheres to following laws that originate from experience and respect for others, then these people can govern themselves. The camp communities, local authorities, small business owners, and large, wealthy business owners seem to dwell as the most significant groups in supporting the Joads or impeding them. The analysis given about these groups and their reactions to the Joads suggest that Steinbeck believes groups play an extensive role in solving the problems of the Great Depression. The greedy business owners could pay out more appropriate wages to the migrants, and they could behave a bit nicer and sympathetic to them.

By doing this, the large business owners could help stop the depression America faces. Small businesses understand that people must work together to improve the well- being of the United States as a whole; the small owners do what is needed to help out society. The large business owners could make a more notable impact than the small business owners because the ones who employ the migrants could pay them enough money to get by and raise a family. By doing so, the Great Depression would not exist, and maybe the camp communities would not be essential. If the landowners stop the greed, selfishness, and envy towards the migrants, the Great Depression would not exist as Bibliography:


Free research essays on topics related to: grapes of wrath, small businesses, journey to california, small business owners, jim casey

Research essay sample on Small Business Owners Journey To California

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