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Dustbowl

            1)Archibald MacLeish, Land of the Free .
             2) John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath.
             Mencken, The Dole for Bogus Farmers.
             4) Carey McWilliams, Ill Fares the Land.
             5) "Migratory Labor: A Social Problem" Fortune.
             MacLeish and Steinbeck's writings are important because they both illustrate how people commonly viewed the Okies. MacLeish inaccurately describes the United States" landscape as nothing more than a cesspool. The photographs, provided by the Farm Security Administration, were not a representation of the entire United States and for him to describe the landscape the way he did does not accurately illustrate the United States" beauty. He adds that the country has not only lost its beauty, but also the opportunity for its people to advance. "We wonder whether the dream of American liberty was two hundred years of pine and hardwood and three generations of the grass and the generations are up We wonder if the liberty is done: the dreaming is finished." It is apparent that the Depression had a very large, negative effect, but to dismiss so easily the possibility of recovery is not plausible. .
             The Grapes of Wrath does not completely display the entire truth of the Okie's experience. Later in the novel Steinbeck accurately shows that people like the Joads were driven out of work because machinery was changing farm work, not because of the drought. However, he still begins the novel with describing the drought. He also did not accurately describe the economic institutions that caused the Joads to leave. The author tells the reader that Steinbeck told a story about "Great invisible corporations interlocked with banks supposedly controlled the land around Sallisaw. In fact, however, there were few farming corporations anywhere in Oklahoma." .
             The Fortune magazine article that was published just before The Grapes of Wrath did give solid numbers and evidence about the farming life in California. "One in ten farms in the state grew more than one-half the crops; these were gigantic "factories in the field", which were more highly developed here (California) than anywhere else in the world.


Essays Related to Dustbowl

1. The Dust Bowl

In 1915 3,000 tractors existed in the entire state of Kansas later, by 1930 the tractor quantity grew to 60,000 (Dustbowl np). ... John Steinbeck accurately sums up the migration of the dustbowl in the Grapes of Wrath on page 317, "And then the dispossessed were drawn west- from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out, tractored out. ... The storm measured 315 miles in width and carried over 100,000,000 tons of dust, leaving everything covered under layers of dirt (Dustbowl np). Today, many people still feel the effects of the dustbowl, mai...

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2. Causes of the Great Depression

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3. The Dusty Prison

During the horrific dustbowl that flooded through areas around north Texas and Oklahoma many immigrants suffered on their way to what they believed was the promise land. ... These okies are angry with the men who deny them the right to be like everyone else, they are mad at the rich who choose to lower wages paid, they are mad at the authorities for not only condoning their oppression but being key players in it, they even go so far as to be mad at God for sending them the dustbowl itself. ...

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4. Home owner in the 1930's

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5. Grapes of Wrath

This region became known as the dustbowl because of the violent dust storms which blew dust as far away as Chicago, and often blackened the skies. ... They live in Oklahoma, which was one of the few states within the dustbowl region of the United States during the Great Depression. ...

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6. Grapes of Wrath

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8. The Life and Works of John Steinbeck

Thirdly, he experienced the dustbowl in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas (Hamilton 35). ... The book is about how a family is forced from their farm during the dustbowl depression era and they migrate west to California for a better and more sustainable life. ...

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9. New Deal

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10. Steinbeck

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