A general unfriendliness toward migrants from neighboring states seems to have been formed, especially for those of Oklahoma. As the Joads progress, they find that the people of California do not want other people coming into their land and bringing their 'dirt' and 'grime.' The people of California seem to not fully grasp how hard migrants have worked to get there and to what lengths they are willing to go to make a new, and honest life. The Joads are compared to 'gorillas' by the service boy and cannot understand how they live such 'miserable' and 'dirty' lives. The Joads obviously do not wish to be dirty and miserable and it seems that Californians can only see face value; they see none of the hard work and effort many families have put into their long and treacherous journey. Taking on such a trip across the mid-west left many with nothing; no home to go back to, very little money, and broken spirits. It is unfortunate how the people of California were not more open than they were. Are the Joads losing their optimism from the acts of the people they have met? Are the many negative experiences and stories they have heard breaking their wills? Will they have the strength to continue this to the end?
Thursday, December 12, 2013
The Stereotypes and Biases against 'Okies.'
As the Joads start to head across the Californian desert, they stop at a service station to check the vehicle and a map. While conversing with the service-station boy, mention of the condition of the car comes up. The boy reminds Tom of how bad it looks and sounds. Tom believes that people in California would stop and help a broken down car. "Well, maybe. But folks are kind of scared to stop at night" (301) the boy tells him.
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The people in California, though they may not all be doing great, are doing better than those coming from the Dust Bowl. They are not aware of how impossible it was for people to live there, and how they had no other options. Also, they seem to be afraid of what the "Okies" are capable of. Steinbeck mentions a few conversations where Californians worry about what the Okies are capable of, because there are so many of them, and because they are the oppressed. I think the treatment of them has a more to do with this than the fact that they are actually dirty, it is because they are afraid of some sort of revolt from the struggling dust bowl-ers.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as if the people of California are also very hesitant to 'allow' people from the east in as it drives wages down. If the big people of California had some sense don't you think they wouldn't be purposefully fixing their profits, killing wages and making it harder on everybody? Why do they think it's a good idea to screw with the economy to the point that they are? The point of revolution or overtaking of land seems like a very paranoid thought. The migrants want to get honest work done and live honest lives, not those of anger and 'sin,' which seems to be a primary focus of the book.
DeleteI think that most of them don't really understand what they are doing. The country had never been faced with an economic depression this large, and they didn't know what they had done to get into it or what to do to get out. They didn't understand that in slashing wages they were hurting the economy even more, many of them believed it was the only option, or put their views on the 'Okies' in front of the need to fix the economy. They had no idea what they were doing.
DeleteI think that sometimes if people would just step back more and look at what somebody else is going through and enduring, they would be more appreciative. It is very true that the Californians are unwelcoming to the Okies and that they sis not understand the hardships that these migrants were enduring. I also think that Eliza is right too, that maybe the Californians are also scared of what the Okies are capable of. The term "dust" and "dirt" were not very coming from the Californians. I mean the Joad family and so many families like them were coming from very hard times. They had been traveling for a long, long time, and these poor people had no food, no money, they were tired, hungry, and they were in pain. But they were strong because they had four very important things, HOPE, FAITH, LOVE, AND EACH OTHER.
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