The Grapes of Wrath - 2

The three main conflicts in this novel are that the Joads, and most other American families, are furiously looking for work- to no avail, trying to find food, as well as trying to hold their families together on top of everything else.

Most farmers had been "tractored" off of their land and started heading West. Actually, Tom says "They is a whole country movin'. We're movin' too." (Steinbeck 173)

Since so many people were kicked off of their land, they had nowhere to go but West, because they heard that things were good in the West and had hope that they would find work there. There was work in the West, but the problem was that there was not enough of it. As the Joad family was almost to California, they encountered a poor man on his way back from California. As Pa Joad questioned him on how there could be no work there, this is how he replied:

"Look," said the man. "It don't make no sense. This fella wants eight hundred men. So he prints up five thousand of them things an' maybe twenty thousan' people sees 'em. An' maybe two-three thousan' folks gets movin' account a this here han'bill. Folks that's crazy with worry."

Pa replied, "But it makes no sense!"

And the man told him, "Not till you see the fella that put out this here bill. You'll see him, or somebody that's workin' for him. You'll be a-campin' by a ditch, you an' fifty other famblies. An' he'll come in. He'll look in your tent an' see if you got anything lef' to eat. An' if you got nothin', he says, 'Wanna job?' An' you'll say, 'I sure do, mister. I'll sure thank you for a chance to do some work.' An' he'll say, 'I can use you.' An' you'll say, 'When do I start?' An' he'll tell you where to go, an' what time, an' then he'll go on. Maybe he needs two hunderd men, so he talks to five hunderd, an' they tell other folks, an' when you get to the place, they's a thousan' men. This here falla says, I'm payin' twenty cents an hour.' An' mabye half a the man walk off. Buy they's still five hunderd that's so goddamn hungry they'll work for nothin' but biscuits." (Steinbeck 189-190)

In California there are hundreds of acres of fertile land that migrants would be able to farm, but they cannot. They cannot farm the land because most of the rich men of California own hundreds of acres of unused land. They do not want the poor "Okies" trashing their town and making camps there. They do not want the "Okies" farming their land either. All it would take would be an acre of land, and that could save dozens of families.

Since so many people got kicked off of their land, many are moving West. Since so many are looking for jobs, the wages decrease significantly. Families have to keep looking for work, as well as try to find food, which eventually tears most families apart. So the three conflicts of looking for work, trying to find food, and trying to find a job are problems that are not easy to solve, and many people die because of it.

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