Determination In Steinbeck Essay, Research Paper

In Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, when the Joads are traveling, a mob of armed people stop their truck. This brings out fury from Tom Joad, who claims “They tryin’ to break us.” To this Ma Joad replies, “Why, we’re the people–we go on.” She couldn’t be more correct. In her statement, she claims that the rich die out and the poor go on. That statement can be justified many ways. When a person grows up rich with luxuries, he obviously has not undergone all of the hardships that a less well-off person has undergone. There once was a statement the went something like “If it doesn’t kill ya’, it’ll only make you harder.” It only takes a few seconds to really understand how truly that pertains to real life. If someone has been forced to starve and mow lawns all of his life and his rich neighbor has been allowed to indulge not only in food, but also in play, the former person will better adapt to more trying circumstances than the latter. Thus, the rich do, in fact, die out, and the poor go on. Steinbeck mainly uses this statement to emphasize the Dust Bowl and its conditions, as well as who lasts the longest in it.