Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck may be the best or the worst book to read during this pandemic. Steinbeck paints a long, heart-breaking picture of the lost of farms during the 1930 when parts of the Midwest, including Oklahoma, and other states, were devastated by drought and the land was reduced to vast "dust bowls."
Poor share croppers weren't able to farm the property they rented from banks, or landowners and were run off the property, which, without irrigation, wasn't really much use to anyone. In desperation, families that had been working these farms for generations believe the stories their were told that there was good land to be farmed, and jobs to be had in the golden state of California.
Along the way, they encounter small favors that manage to lift their spirits and encourage their hopes. A waitress greets a man with two small children asking to buy a loaf of bread. She treats him with suspicion and stinginess but catches herself looking at the two hungry children and turns to kindness and generosity.
What they find in California makes them doubt they should ever have left Oklahoma. Wealthy landowners, less than livable wages for gathering vegetables and fruit, few safe places to stay, and more sickness and death. A government sponsored migrant farmers camp provides some shelter but efforts to prevent the workers from organizing brings in armed security men who break up the groups and threaten the instigators.
The mother becomes the leader of the family, taking on the role of decision maker, while the father is lost and bewildered by the hardship and grief. The oldest son, who has served as the protector, has to leave to avoid the police after he is involved in a struggle and kills a person. He leaves the family, but promises his mother that he will always be on the side of the down-trodden, working to help the hungry, the lost, the frightened, where ever they are, wherever men seek justice and decency.
Steinbeck won the Pulitzer prize in 1940 for the Grapes of Wrath. The title was taken from a line in the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
This classic work is available on the Bryant Library website through the Libby app: https://nassau.overdrive.com/
Review by Reference Librarian Pat Murphy
