The Grapes of Wrath #2

In books like The Grapes of Wrath, there is always going to be a conflict. To me, the conflict is always kind of hard to point out because people always tell you that the conflict is the main problem. However, sometimes I think maybe there is more than one main problem and those all cause everything, not just one specific thing. But I guess in this book I would have to say that the main problem is the Joad's not being able to find work. (Steinbeck, 294) I believe this is the main conflict because this is one main problem that leads to many other problems in the novel.

The causes of the conflict probably is alot of things going back to do with the landowners and forcing the tenant farmers off of their land. Even before that, the book talks about how the Mexicans used to have California. Then some squatters came and took the land from them. (Steinbeck, 231) I'm not an expert on everything that went on there, but the bank taking the Joad's land definately caused them to have to look for work and move to California.

Despite all that the Joad's were put through, they did manage to gain some things from their journey's hardships. The Joads became way closer as a family I think because they had endured so much together. Not only did they become closer with each other, but they made friendships with people in the camp, people that were going through hard things just the same as them. They gained values that they may have not gotten had they have not gone through what they did. Generosity and self-sacrifice were just two of them.

Well the Joads lost alot do to the conflict in the story. The Joads lost their home. They had to completely leave their old lives behind and start all over. Besides that, they still had to find work somewhere. Without making money they were limited to what they could do. They struggled to find good shelters and sometimes went hungry for awhile. Even though we established that the Joads gained some things, they did also lose alot.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.