A View on the American's Pursuit of Values Through Grapes of Wrath

徐菲艳

（云南外事外語职业学院）

【Abstract】In recent years， The Grapes of Wrath provoked an upsurge in American literatus and the readers. Based on the previous researches on the Americans values， this thesis analyses the pursuit of values of Americans during the Great Depression in the1930s. Moreover， it explores the influence to the then American society of the values， especially the influence of formation of the values for those who lived in poor and suffered unequal treatment， they were the middle and lower class.

【Key Words】The Grapes of Wrath American dream the middle and lower class the Pursuit of values

1. Introduction

John Steinbeck （1902-1968）， born in California， is generally considered as the foremost novelist of the American Depression of the 1930s. The Grapes of Wrath， his representative work， is very popular with the common readers， literary critics view about this novel controversialed seriously. Since it was published， it aroused many intense debates and arguments among critics. David Minter， an expert of American literature， once said，“The Grapes of Wrath was one of the most influential and controversial novels of the 1930s”（1996： 189）. But why and how could the novel achieve such a great success？ This thesis will answer the question from the perspective of values.

2. A Brief Introduction to the Story

It is so frequent for western society in appearing the economic crisis， but the worst crisis was happened in the 1930s， called Great depression. As Steinbeck witnessed the miserable experiences of the migrants in California， he wanted to display their sufferings to the society through the novel. He hoped that their situation would be improved by the federal government， therefore， he wrote the novel of The Grapes of Wrath in 1939.

The Grapes of Wrath tells a story of the Joad family of twelve and their friend Jim Casy. It describes their hard sufferings and their unabandoned dream during the Great Depression.

3. The pursuit of values of the Middle and Lower Class

A New Historicism scholar said，“any literary work contains some fictional history which is the writers subjective representation of the social reality in a text form”（Bressler 2004： 189）. In The Grapes of Wrath， Steinbeck successfully created the pursuit of values of American middle and lower class by narrating the Joads westward migration from Oklahoma to California during the economic crisis.

3.1 Cooperation

During the long journey of the Joads westward migration， they demonstrate the pursuit of values of cooperation， which plays a very important role for their survival in the hard times. This value is greatly displayed in The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck presents the mutual assistance between the Joads and their help to other people， particular Ma Joads help to the people who are in difficulties. In fact， cooperation not only exists in the Joad， but also among other Dust Bowl migrants.

3.2 Self-reliance

Self-reliance is always regarded as one of the most significant values in American culture during the Great Depression. In The Grapes of Wrath， the Joads are endowed with this pursuit of value. In preparing for going to the westward， each member of the Joads makes his or her own effort to help the family. Pa Joad and the sons go to the bazaar and sell all their farm tools for a shabby truck； Ma Joad and the daughters prepare the clothes， food and the things needed for their migration； then， the men pack all their belongings on the truck. For the Joads， family is a group of self-reliance which can help them form a new unity.

3.3 Hardworking

After the Joads arrive in California， nearly all of workforces in the family go to pick the peaches to earn the daily food. They always want to get enough food by working hard. Under the help of each member of the family， the Joads overcome all kinds of troubles. This pursuit of value is reflected in the Joads which gives them dignity and helps them find the right direction of life in the rigorous economic crisis. At the same time， it helps American people survive like the Joads.

Based on the analytical steps of Americans pursuit of values， this thesis achieves a combination of literary and cultural studies by analyzing it from different aspects. It demonstrates how The Grapes of Wrath reflected Americans pursuit of values and how the pursuit of values influenced the American society in the time of Great depression.

References

[1] Bressler，Charles E.Literary Criticism： An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Beijing： Higher Education Press，2004.

[2] Steinbeck， John. “Nobel Prize American Speech.”American and Americans and Selected Nonfiction[M]. ed.Suan Shillinglaw & Jackson J. Benson. New York： the Penguin Group，2002.

[3] Steinbeck， John. The Grapes of Wrath[M]. New York： The Viking Press，1972.