Synthesized answer
The passages do not explicitly describe sharecroppers becoming "strike-breakers" whose "consciences force them to leave," so the specific internal conflict mentioned in the question is not directly addressed. However, related material shows a similar tension. In Passage 1, a tractor driver justifies working against his own people for three dollars a day, saying, "Can’t think of that. Got to think of my own kids" [1]. This reveals a value system where survival and family needs override communal loyalty, creating guilt that is suppressed rather than acted upon. The driver acknowledges that his choice causes "fifteen or twenty families can’t eat at all" [1], implying a conscience that is silenced by economic necessity.
This suppressed guilt and the broader dispossession of tenant farmers foreshadows the "wrath" of the title. Passage 4 shows tenant men with "the smolder of pain" in their eyes as they realize they must leave their land [4]. The owner men are described as "caught in something larger than themselves," with some hating the "mathematics" that drive them [2]. This sense of being trapped by an inhuman system—banks and companies acting as "machines and masters" [2]—builds a…
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
“Sure,” the 'driver said. “Well, what you doing this kind of work for— against your own people?” “Three dollars a day. I got damn sick of creeping for my dinner— and not getting it. I got a wife and kids. We got to eat. Three dollars a day, and it comes every day.” “That’s right,” the tenant said. “But for your three dollars a day fifteen or twenty families can’t eat at all. Nearly a hun- dred people have to go out and wander on the roads for your three dollars a day. Is that right?” And the driver said, “Can’t think of that. Got to think of my own kids. Three dollars a day, and it…
Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do, and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold. And all of them were caught in some- thing larger than themselves. Some of them hated the mathe- matics that drove them, and some were afraid, and some worshiped the mathematics because it provided a refuge from thought and from feeling. If a bank or a finance com- The Grapes of Wrath 43 pany owned the land, the owner man said, The Bank— 01…
Timothy had changed. His shoulders were straight and his eyes cold. “What you mean?” “Don’t you ever tell where you heard,” Thomas said un« . “There’s going to be a fight in the camp Saturday night. And there’s going to be deputies ready to go in.” Tom demanded, “Why, for God’s sake? Those folks ain’t bothering nobody.” “I’ll tell you why,” Thomas said. “Those folks in the camp are getting used to being treated like humans. When they go back to the squatters’ camps they’ll be hard to handle.” He his face again. “Go on out to work now. Jesus, I hope haven’t talked myself out of my…
We’re sorry, said the owner men. The bank, the fifty- thousand-acre owner can’t be responsible. You’re on land that isn’t yours. Once over the line maybe you can pick cot-' ton in the fall. Maybe you can go on relief. Why don’t you go' on west to California? There’s work there, and it never gets cold. Why, you can reach out anywhere and pick an orange. Why, there’s always some kind of crop to work in. Why don’t you go there? And the owner men started their cars and rolled away. The tenant men squatted down on their hams again to mark the dust with a stick, to figure, to wonder.…
“Well— nothing. Seems too nice, kinda. I seen the han’bills fellas pass out, an’ how much work they is, an’ high wages an’ all; an’ I seen in the paper how they want folks to come The Grap es of Wrath 123 an’ pick grapes an’ oranges an’ peaches. That’d be nice work, Tom, pickin’ peaches. Even if they wouldn’t let you eat none, you could maybe snitch a little ratty one sometimes. An’ it’d be nice under the trees, workin’ in the shade. Fra scared of stuff so nice. I ain’t got faith. I’m scared somepln ain’t so nice about it.” Tom said, “Don’t roust your faith bird-high an’ you won’t…
More questions about this book
- Describe the journey and initial experiences of the sharecroppers in California as if you were explaining it to someone who has never heard of the book. What specific details are crucial to understanding their plight upon arrival?
- Given Steinbeck's diverse background – from a quiet upbringing in Salinas to working casual jobs like a hod-carrier and day laborer – how might these specific experiences have shaped his perspective and ability to vividly portray the struggles of the sharecroppers in *The Grapes of Wrath*?
- The text highlights Steinbeck's early works being met with "public's indifference" before the success of *Tortilla Flat* and *Of Mice and Men*, leading up to *The Grapes of Wrath*. What does this progression reveal about the typical path of an artist, and how might the "Modern Library" marketing strategy have contributed to making such a significant work accessible?
- The Joads are "driven from their home by drought and poverty" and arrive in California to find "hundreds of others like them being forced to work for breadline wages." If you were explaining the systemic issues at play here to a peer, what specific economic or social forces, as implied by this text, led to such widespread displacement and exploitation?