Grapes of Wrath Essay: Steinbecks Political Beliefs -- Grapes Wrath e

The Grapes of rage and Steinbecks Political Beliefs Steinbecks relationship to the transcendentalists Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman was pointed out soon after The Grapes of Wrath appeared by Frederick I. Carpenter, and as the thirties fade into history, Jim Casy with his idea of the holiness of all(a) men and the unreality of sin seems less a product of his take in narrowly doctrinaire age than a latter-day wanderer from the putting green village of Concord to the dry plains of the West. Although Steinbeck argues for collective action to achieve specific goals, only the most unperceptive critics continue to argue that he is a collectivist in either philosophy or politics. Throughout his live he decries the mindless indoctrination of the totalitarians and maintains that only through reflection upon his bitter sleep with can learn the value of acting in concert with others for the support of emergency conditions -- like the flood at the end of The Grapes of Wrath -- so that the individual may subsequently be free to realize his throw potentialities. Nothing better illustrates Steinbecks concept of social organization than the pictures in Chapter seventeen of The Grapes of Wrath of the world that is created each night a people serve together, and disappears the next morning when they separate. In reference to the authorities camps in The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck never suggests that these camps should offer more than temporary relief during emergencies he never suggests that the government should provide work for the people. We must recall, too, the camp managers comment that the people in the camp had taken his job away from him by assuming responsibilities for self-government. Steinbecks thanksgiving ... ... the question How can any form of government avoid vie a continual role in the shaping of peoples lives, whether directly or indirectly? Simply to prove that Steinbeck was not a socialist, a rather easy task these days thanks to the w ork of Steinbeck scholars in the 60s and 70s, does not mean that he was a conservative bastion of American individuality and an opponent of big government. Such a portrait of Steinbeck is as wrong as the socialist portrait French and Lisca exposed. Works Consulted French, Warren. A companion to The Grapes of Wrath. New York The Viking Press, 1963. Hawgood, John A. Americas Western Frontiers. New York Alfred P. Knopf, 1967. Jones, Evan. The Plains States. New York Time heart Books, 1968. Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York The Sun Dial Press, 1939.