American Literature

The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)

This collection uses primary sources to explore John Steinbeck&#39;s novel, The Grapes of Wrath.

A photograph of a dust storm near Beaver, Oklahoma, 1935.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat on drought conditions, delivered on	September 6, 1936.

A photograph by Dorothea Lange of a residence inhabited by the Howards, a family of migrants, 1936.

The original caption for this photo, written by photographer Dorothea Lange, reads: “The present home of the Howard family. This family was photographed in April 1935. At that time they were on their way from Okla. to Calif. Camped in an open field. Mother pregnant with five starving children. Raw green onions were all that they had to eat. They were again photographed during the potato harvest. The baby was born then, and they had food. Now there is some prospect of a fairly decent home. A pile of odds and ends of lumber will eventually be a house. A truck garden is planted.”

A handbill advertising jobs for cotton pickers in Arizona,1939.

A 1925 Santa Fe Railroad advertisement for travel to California.

A photograph of a homeless family of tenant farmers in 1936.

A photograph of “Okies” on Route 66 to California, 1935.

Part of an interview with Art King about his family’s migration from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression.

A photograph by Dorothea Lange of a squatter camp in California, 1936.

A photograph by Dorothea Lange of children in a Kern County, California camp near Weedpatch, 1940.

An October 24, 1936 report from Arvin Camp, also known as Weedpatch.

Photograph of Arvin Camp parents with children who are having their height and weight measured, 1936. 

*California’s Grapes of Wrath*, a pamphlet in response to Steinbeck’s book published by the Associated Farmers of Fresno County, 1939. 

A transcribed excerpt from an interview with Dorothea Lange.

Questions

1. Before reading the novel, use the photographs and the interview in this set to learn about the Dust Bowl migration. What challenges did the migrants face? What strategies did they use to overcome these challenges? How did other people treat them as they migrated?

2. Several of the photographs in this set are by the famous Farm Security Administration photographer Dorothea Lange, who documented the struggles of the Dust Bowl migrants. Lange’s work was also an inspiration for John Steinbeck. Using Lange’s photographs and her [oral history](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-grapes-of-wrath-by-john-steinbeck/sources/273) in this set, compare and contrast Lange’s and Steinbeck’s portrayals of the migrant experience.

3. Using the [response pamphlet](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-grapes-of-wrath-by-john-steinbeck/sources/272), consider the impact that the publication and popularity of *The Grapes of Wrath* had on the public image of California. Which particular aspects of the novel does this brochure challenge?

4. The handbill is an important symbol in the novel. Using the [handbill advertising jobs for cotton pickers](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-grapes-of-wrath-by-john-steinbeck/sources/263) and the [Santa Fe Railroad advertisement](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-grapes-of-wrath-by-john-steinbeck/sources/264) as evidence, explain how the symbolic value of the handbill changes as the Joads get closer to California.

5. How did Art King’s experience of work, discrimination, and border crossing, described in his [interview](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-grapes-of-wrath-by-john-steinbeck/sources/267), compare with the Joads’? Which similar obstacles did they face?

Activity

Divide students into groups and ask each to design a handbill that would have attracted migrants to a particular agricultural industry in California. What kinds of language and images might corporate farmers have used to make California and their jobs appealing?

Teaching Guide: Exploring *The Grapes of Wrath*

Resources

1. [Sources about the Farm Security Administration](http://dp.la/search?q=farm+security+administration&type%5B%5D=image&utf8=%E2%9C%93), Digital Public Library of America. 

2. [Sources about Hoovervilles](http://dp.la/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=hooverville), Digital Public Library of America. 

3. [John Steinbeck's *The Grapes of Wrath*: reader's guide](http://dp.la/item/fdb20edca1a3f6034bacad1b2f5076e5), the National Endowment for the Arts via Digital Public Library of America. 

4. [The Great Depression and the New Deal](https://www.archives.gov/seattle/exhibit/picturing-the-century/great-depression.html), the National Archives and Records Administration. 

5. [The Dust Bowl](http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/dust-bowl-migration/), The Library of Congress. 


Overview

Set during the Great Depression of the 1930s, John Steinbeck’s novel *The Grapes of Wrath* tells the story of the Joads, a family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by the Dust Bowl and related financial hardship. Along with thousands of other "Okies," they migrate along Route 66 to California in search of jobs and opportunities. The novel explores themes of poverty, discrimination, social justice, and sacrifice. Published in 1939, it provided social commentary on the experience of real migrants struggling to survive in the historical moment in which it was written. As part of his research, Steinbeck relied heavily on records from Tom Collins, director of Arvin Camp in California, photographs taken by Dorothea Lange, and interviews conducted by Sanora Babb, as well as his own journalistic writings on the migration. *The Grapes of Wrath* won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and is considered an American classic. This primary source set include photographs, oral history, and documents that provide context for and different perspectives on the events described in the novel.


English

*The Grapes of Wrath* by John Steinbeck

grapes-of-wrath-john-steinbeck_04_b614411c79c1a536fe3e49d0456d4fe9.jpg

Courtesy of University of California via HathiTrust.

Excerpt from “Migratory cotton pickers in Arizona,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/b614411c79c1a536fe3e49d0456d4fe9.

A handbill advertising jobs for cotton pickers in Arizona,1939.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 4 of 14 in the Primary Source Set The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck