History - The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath does a great job of reflecting on the major event that was happening during this time period.  It was set during the great depression, after the dust bowl.  It does a great job of showing the tough times that many of the tenant farmers endured during this time period.  It shows how the farmers were basically thrown out of their homes, and forced to find labor elsewhere.  The farmers and their families were forced to move and most of them went to California in search for work. 
During these times, the wealthy treated the lower class like garbage.  They were very mean to them, and would not pay them what they deserved.  "And I been getting thirty cents' worth of work.  Well, goddamn it, this morning you're getting twenty-five cents an hour, and you take it or leave it."  (Steinbeck, 294).  Unfortunately for the farmers, they have to take work that does not pay what they would like.  There are so many workers that have come to work the fields, and the fields are not big enough so the land owners pay the farmers way less than they should be payed.  The farmers have to take it, or they will just be fired.  The social issues of the time period were between the poor farmers and the rich business owners.  The business owners treat the farmers terribly.  They do not give them what they deserve and they even rip them off by rigging the scales.  It was really hard during this time period for the poor tenant farmers.
I believe that the symbolic significance of this book is for the later time period, like now.  It shows us that not everything was given to you on a silver platter.  You had to work for everything you made, ate, and drank.  Now we have everything so easily and we take it for granted it a lot and we need to realize that some people had to work very hard for what they got.  I am not saying everybody, but we need to be thankful for what we have.

Bibliography

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