If you think everyone works in Silicon Valley in the 1930s, that’s absolutely incorrect. People underwent tremendous pain under the Dust Bowl. In the book The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck closely depicted the scene of California farm workers as a part of the immigrant family.
In Chapter 17 and 19, the quote of “They were not farm men any more, but migrant men” and “They were hungry and they were fierce. And they had hoped to find a home, and they found only hatred,” both quotes revealed the social status of the farm workers, they’re excluded, abandoned from the local life. They had hoped to find regular work even if only paid with the minimum wage, rent a house to live, and continue the good life. Instead, they perceived that all the Californians hated them because they were labeled as the “stealer” of their job, in which once they get hired, the owners will lose the job and may end up with homeless. The migrant workers were tentatively “moved” from the Great Plains due to the extreme sacristy of food, water, and love.
The novel depicts the elegant attitude towards the immigrants no matter which state they are moved from. Natural disasters are unavoidable and are potentially alter a person both physically and mentally. Nobody naturally born evil so why we could treat them differently?
When the nation faces a serious problem, it’s also the time for everyone connect the heart together, to collaborate, to survive the setback period. People with negative attitude will transfer the emotion, the bad emotion will merely accelerate the deterioration. Everyone has the responsibility to solve the problem, until the new life starts.
Great American Novels 2020 