The Grapes of Wrath Final Project

When politics are involved in writing there is a lot of controversy on what point the author is trying to get across. Many times an author’s view on politics can be twisted into something totally opposite of what they believe in. In the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck the political views of the author are often questioned. I believe that Steinbeck was trying to advocate a blend of communism and socialism but at the same time criticizing capitalism.
Throughout the entire novel the migrant workers endure hardships wherever they go. While the people who run the banks and the farm owners don’t have anything to worry about the poor migrant workers are left in search for food every day. In the novel Steinbeck demonstrates how the upper-class farm owners are greedy and they rather be greedy than use their wealth to help the poor. In the California of Steinbeck’s novel we see an obvious example of capitalism in which the wealthy farm owners have all of the resources while the migrant workers are left with nothing but the hope of a mere fifteen cents. The migrant workers have to choose between dying of starvation or, falling into the world of capitalism. Steinbeck seems to be anti-capitalist but at times he shows no pity towards the migrant workers. Steinbeck portrays the migrant workers as uneducated and vulgar people at certain points in the novel and this basically shows us that they set themselves up for their misfortune. Another instance of Steinbeck criticizing the migrant workers is when he shows how they would use up the land until nothing else can come from it and then they would just move on. While Steinbeck doesn’t fully put the blame on the wealthy farm owners he also doesn’t let them off. Steinbeck shows the greed of these farm owners when they send out flyers to get thousands of people just to be able to pay lower wages. The farm owners along with the others that were in California before the migrant workers came all have a distinct attitude towards the migrant workers. They all feel like the migrant workers have no need to be there and they are just taking up space but, they are the ones who called them there. I think Steinbeck wanted to express that if we all came together and contributed to the mutual benefit of America then everyone would be better off.
The entire novel seems to bring out the real aspects of the time. We become aware that Steinbeck doesn’t have sympathy for the wealthy or the poor. One thing that Steinbeck does is he expresses how the poor will always stick together and help each other out; this is because they have nothing to lose. In the novel Steinbeck doesn’t seem to promote communism or socialism solely, rather he sort of suggests a blend of the two. Communism and socialism have a lot of similarities, but the main difference is that in communism there is no private ownership. I don’t believe that Steinbeck was pushing for abolishing private-ownership but instead a regulation on it. From Steinbeck’s writing I sense that he isn’t too upbeat about the government getting involved either. The novel conveys a strong message that if the entire group of people come together and create some sort of balance then there wouldn’t be all of that controversy. I think that one of the main things that Steinbeck was trying to put across was the idea of a stronger people equals a stronger nation. This is one of those novels where there can be a hundred different opinions on it and all of them can be right.
Overall The Grapes of Wrath promoted neither communism nor socialism. Steinbeck wanted to prove that if there was a balance in the economy then everyone would benefit. One of the main things that Steinbeck criticized in the novel was the unjust use of capitalism and he established his belief of the people of his time. I think that if Steinbeck was alive in today’s world, he probably would have had to of written a few more novels.