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Throughout history the human species has survived only with the help of their fellow human beings. Although there are people who believe in the idea of everyman for him self, there are many others who know the only way to survive is to give and receive help with their neighbors. In The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck clearly expresses this view of human unity as the key to survival. The first level of this unity for survival involves the bonds of family. Throughout the novel Steinbeck stresses the need for family to be united in order for them to live through their situation. In chapter sixteen, Ma Joads once again reiterates this idea of unity when she argues against the family splitting up, even for only a couple of hours.
She says, ? All we got is the family unbroken. Like a bunch of cows, when the lobos are ranging, stick all together. I ain?
t scared while we? re all here, all that? s alive, but I ain? t gonna see us bust up. The Wilsons here is with us, and the preacher is with us. I can?
t say nothing? if they want to go, but I? m a-goin? cat-wild with this here piece a bar-arn if my own folks bust up. ? (Chapter 16, Page 231) Here, Steinbeck clearly gets his point across that unity is the way to survive.
In the migrant lifestyle portrayed in the book, the unit of the biological family, lacking a home to define its boundaries, quickly becomes a thing of the past, as life on the road demands that new connections and new kinship's be formed. The reader witnesses this occurrence at work when the Joad's meet the Wilsons. In an extremely short time, the two groups merge into one, sharing one another's hardships and committing to one another's survival. Steinbeck again illustrates his theory of the saving power of family and fellowship involving the Joad's and other families? stay at the government camp, Weedpatch. It is here that readers can see that the collective body of migrant workers is uniting and becoming one large family.
The needs of the group supersede the needs of the individual. Twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the golden time in the West was one dream. Ma says, ? Use to be family was first.
It aint so now. Its anybody. Worse off we get, the more we got to do? (Steinbeck 569). There is also an expression of the need for human unity to survive on an even larger scale, that of uniting all of the migrant workers. Towards the end of the novel the idea begins to dawn on the farmers that strength lies in numbers. The unity of the migrants poses the greatest threat to landowners and the socio-economic system by which they thrive.
They start to realize the effect that they could have if they all banded together and fought for their rights as humans and Americans. The unity of the migrants poses the greatest threat to landowners and the socio-economic system by which they thrive. Tom Joads is one of the people who realize where the migrant farmers strength lies and attempts to organize the workers. As Tom eventually realizes, his people are all people. ? Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, Ill be here.
Wherever they's a cop begin up a guy, Ill be there. If Casey know, why, Ill be in the ways guys yell when theyre mad an Ill be in the way kids laugh when theyre hungry an they know suppers ready. An when our folks eat the stuff they raise an live in the houses they build why, Ill be there (Steinbeck 537).
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Research essay sample on Greatest Threat Migrant Workers
