The+Grapes+of+Wrath

= The Grapes of Wrath = ==== In 1939 John Steinbeck published the novel //The Grapes of Wrath//. The novel told of the story of the Joad family and their lives during the Great Depression. The novel won a Pulitzer Prize and was made into a movie in 1940. It is the movie version that was shown in class. ====

The Joad family had lost their farm during the Great Depression and migrated to California. The middle section of the United States had experienced a drought causing the Dust Bowl. Farmers were already suffering because of the low prices of the 1920s and the debt they had taken on. With the drought they could not grow crops and most lost their farms to the banks or big companies. In addition to the drought and wind the farmers had removed the praise grass to plant their crops. The grass with it's deep root system had once held the soil in place. The farmers were unaware of how to rotate crops to conserve the soil. It was these conditions that caused (push) the farmers from the Great Plains to migrate to California for the promise of jobs picking crops (pull)