How has farming changed according to Chapter 19? Why do the local people fear the migrants? What is a Hooverville? How do you suppose a Hooverville got its name? What are the “three great facts of history”, and what do they imply about the outcome of the events in this novel?
Create one discussion question of your own from the reading. You do NOT need to answer it.
Life during this depression era depicted in the book was extremely tough for the lower class citizens of America. Working class citizens were at a constant struggle to survive and find a way to sustain their families. Consequently, migration became a popular choice for many families and people who were already destitute and had no better choice for themselves. This migration, understandably, caused much alarm amongst the popular migration regions, namely California. The farmers who were already struggling to maintain the possession and rights to their own piece of land that they farm felt threatened for their own sustenance. They knew that migrants would seek opportunity for themselves, and this newcomer effort to find work in a region where it was already scarce just amplified the worries of everybody. They resented the migrants because they were worried for their own selves.
ReplyDeleteHoovervilles are basically congregations of migrants who are naive to the fact that opportunity is a dried up levy in California. They do not yet see the resentment they face. The name, derived from President Hoover, refers to his support of state and local governments for issues such as the depression in America. The governments were insufficient, rendering his entire logic useless. Hoovervilles were just products of Hoover's negligence.
The 3 great facts of history are as follows:
1. When property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away
2. When a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need
3. Repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.
The first refers to the fact that property ownership in California was dwindling and shrinking.
The second refers to how the people, with the lack of opportunity to sustain themselves, will get the bare necessities for survival no matter what. People will do whatever it takes to survive.
The third is more complex. It means to say that oppressing or ignoring peoples' needs and wants as a human being will just create a unification between these people being ignored. they will band together and rise up eventually, once they have numbers on their side.
I think these principles give some serious foreshadowing to the fact that these migrants of California will at some point reach a breaking point, and it will be a point when they revolt and stand up for their rights as humans. It is inevitable. I have been anticipating it since their arrival to California.
A question that I would want to pose for discussion is this: What is the driving force behind these migrants that keeps them in anticipation for what they might find around the bend? What keeps them hopeful after all their hardships?
During the 1930’s and 1940’s farming underwent the sort of revolution that put artisans and craftsmen out of business during the industrial revolution. Farms became more and more efferent. Businessmen accumulated large tracts of land and invested huge sums of money in modern tractors, fertilizers, and irrigation. The result was massive amounts of profit, huge increase in food supply, and the demise of the traditional farmer. No longer did families exist on small plots of land and love their land, passing it down through generations. The 30’s turned farming into a business and working on a farm into a job.
ReplyDeleteDo to their inability to properly adapt to changing conditions, 300,000 (according to the novel) displaced farmers crammed themselves into the Western part of California. Although California is a big state 300,000 new residents would severely tax their recourses, especially considering the reduced size of the states overall population eighty years ago. Residents where afraid that these new migrants would not only eat up all the work and overtax the area, but also be driven into acts of crime due to their poverty. It’s as if the entire population of Detroit was suddenly shipped to Central Oregon. I would be scared.
Because of the migrants severe poverty and the insufficient number of jobs in the state, migrants where forced to live in squalor. They would set up ramshackle little hovels along the side of rivers or amongst the protection of a wooded area and soon a veritable town of destitute persons. These towns where dubbed “Hoovervills” as a derogatory commentary on the presidency of President Hoover.
According to the novel the “three great facts of history” are; when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away, when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need, and repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. All of these “great facts of history” revolve around the idea that the poor have the right to violently take from the industrious if they feel they are being mistreated. In this case the migrants who moved to California are feeling “downtrodden” because they can’t organize and secure fair wages for themselves. Therefore, in accordance with “the three great facts of history” these people should feel justified in rising up to take property which isn’t theirs, causing chaos, death, and destruction in doing so.
ESSAY QUESTION:
-If the migrants now living in California decided to instigate an uprising and revolt against the system of laws which keep them from obtaining land, would they be justified, after such sever mistreatment, in doing so? Should a small number of people be allowed to monopolize such a large portion of the resources we all depend upon, or should this wealth be distributed more evenly amongst “the people”?
During the depression, it becomes apparent that thousands of families have been left with nothing but the clothes on their back and bellies to feed. It also becomes apparent, to farmers, that these people's extreme hunger and willingness to do anything to remove themselves from these dire circumstances could be beneficial to the farms. With people willing to work for a biscuit and a nickel, farmers took advantage of this situation by hiring as much help as possible, for as little as possible. As their farms grow into greater monopolies, the idea of living off the land becomes a vague memory to the migrant workers, picking peaches for hours on end, only to provide a few crumbs of bread for their families as the end of the day. Farming becomes a corporation. This is referred to in the first of the "three great facts of history", "when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away." As the farms grow, the farmers virtually disappear, and all that is left is their minimum wages.
ReplyDeleteWith the extreme migration of people, and very little room for them to settle down, Hoovervilles were created as makeshift villages to house the migrant families. With President Hoover being solely blamed for the crash of the stock market, the shantytowns were named after him as a sarcastic slap in the face. Two of "three great facts of history" represent the feeling of the Hooverville's residents, and their experiences. The second "great fact", "when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need," refers to the primal instincts of man that overtake him when he must provide in difficult circumstances. This is true for all of the Hooverville families, out of work, out of money, and with no food to spare. The third "great fact", "repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed," reflects the community of the Hoovervilles, and the people who inhabit them. All in the same situation, empathizing with and supporting one another becomes a necessity for the hundreds of families living within the tent-towns. With hardly anything to give but a helping hand every now and then, the importance of family and the willingness to do anything to survive, are the only things that matter to families like the Joad's who are desperately trying to make it through the depression.
QUESTION:
Will the Joad family's persistence to find work and a stable life dig their grave or be their guide to success? Is part of their persistence naivete?
In chapter 19 we get a deeper look into farming. We no longer see it as a way of life but as a war between the rich and poor. The farmers that already have their land in California are afraid that history is going to repeat it’s self and the migrants and going to take what they don’t have by force. The truth is that they just want to be able to feed their families they want to be able to give their loved ones the basic things everyone needs to survive.
ReplyDeleteA Hooverville is a shanty town build by homeless men during the Great Depression. They where named after the President at the time, Herbert Hoover, people felt he was the one to blame.
When property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away.
When just a few people own a large amount of land nothing good comes from it. These few people can now control what they pay people and people will have to accept it whether they like it or not.
When a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need.
It is human instinct to do what you have to in order to survive. When many people are hungry and few people are allowing them to be able to feed themselves they can up rise in order to get what they want. Ex. Revelations.
Repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.
During hard time people tend to band together it get through what ever it maybe. During a repression the people who are affected are the repressed so they can band together to solve the problem. Ex. Americans banning together against the English.
Why aren’t people rebelling. What is keeping them in order, and who is really to blame for the dust bowl?
California was a part of mexico until American farmers came and claimed that its there land, they are farming and working on it. At that time they worked for living. The next generation of those settlers were the rich farmers who had security for protecting there land and workers who worked for not enough money which together saved the famers money and they had a good life. They didn’t care about the workers. This is not how it’s supposed to be. The owner of the land should work there and when he has workers he needs to pay them the right amount of money. They are working for their families and for surviving. I think the local people like the normal worker not the wealthy farmers are scared that the migrant are working for less and taking them the job away.
ReplyDeleteA Hooverville is a village where the new people live who came to town to find work. The houses are shanty and not good. The shanty towns were built by homeless people. It is named after the president Herbert Hoover who was president in that time because he let American sliding into the depression.
The part with the great facts is coming over the weekend, when i read the chapter.
Within chapter nineteen farming is transformed. No longer is the love and desire to create and grow in mans heart instead it is replaced by the hunger for money. As time progressed farming became more than a way of life farming it became a profit. This change is what will ultimately cause the local peoples fear and the greed that is portrayed throughout the book. If land and farming mean making a profit that the more land one man owns the more profit he has to gain thus creating a selfish man. The immigrants have the potential to take the land owned by those selfish men and this creates fear. The local people fear their land being taken from them and they are scared of what might become of "their country". As most people do the locals react with force using police and so called health codes to keep these men away. However the knowledge that at some point these things will not be enough to keep away the growing numbers is a fear that waits in the back of their minds.
ReplyDeleteHooverville was a term used to describe all small "shanty towns" set up by the homeless and traveling immigrants. Named after president Herbert Hoover because of his believed involvement in the great depression. Hoovervilles were a common sight at the time of the Joads entering California.
When property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. This will come to mean that the more selfish men are the more they will lose.
When a majority of people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. Perhaps the most dangerous fact given this warns of the outrage and coming change.
Repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. This goes well with the second fact in stating that although the immigrants suffer alone now that will not be the case forever.
Question:
Why at the end of chapter 19 in the example given do the men give what may be their last few dollars to one family? What does this say about the character of the immigrant man? How does this contrast with that of the Californian?
In Chapter 19, the reader sees the idea of farming change from; for the love of the land, to power and money. Owning land in turn gives you money and having money gives you power. This idea of farming for a profit is the one of many reasons why families began migrating to California. The angry American squatters believed the land they farmed was theirs, initially taking it from Mexico, and turning it into the farming euphoria the Joad’s believe it to be. So now it does come down to the power struggle between the rich and the poor, as Lauren said. The poor are fighting to get by on their diminutive wages and the eighth of the biscuit they ate for breakfast. The rich fear the poor and protect their wealth by paying their laborers extremely low wages; one, to keep the laborers from having the money to pack up and leave, and two, to keep as many workers as possible. The locals fear the migrants because the migrants crave the land and sustenance that the locals have. It also doesn’t help the fact that the locals think the migrants will take their livelihood from them.
ReplyDeleteHooverville is the large, crowded, and dirty camp full of hungry families unable to find work. They have hit a bump in the road and life circumstances have lead them to set up camp along with other failed or failing families. Many blamed President Herbert Hoover’s terrible presidency for the Great Depression, thus dubbing the grubby congregations “Hoovervilles”.
3 Great Facts of History
I really don’t want to type them all out, so I hope you can look at the comments above mine. =)
1.When many poor migrants begin thriving, the rug is pulled from under them by the rich.
2.When the bellies of the children go unfed and the supplies from the car have finally run out, the hungry and tired people will take what they need. Doesn’t matter whether they do it civilly.
3.One can only take so much oppression. That “one” will vent to another “one”, forming a bond. Those “ones” become a “two” and they bond with other “ones”. So, as I complicatedly pointed out, a group will form over common experiences. When the oppressed have reached the limit, they will ban together and stick it to the man.
Essay Question:
When approaching a near-by town a crowd of anti-Okie men have stationed themselves by the road. Ma says that a “different time’s comin’.” What does she mean by that?
three great facts of history
ReplyDelete1. When property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. When 10 people own everything out of 100 the other 90 get mad and take it away.
2. When a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. When many people don’t have what they need to survive they will stick together and fight for it. So when the migrants finally see that they can’t live with the money they get they will take what they need to survive.
3. Repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. Migrants get together to rebel against the wealthy landowner. With taken more away and take more pressure on the migrants they get more angry and in the end they all together rebel.
Question:
Why is the book called 'The Grapes of Wrath' ? It doesn't make sense to me.
California has grape vineyards which may imply work but only provide despair, hence the grapes of wrath.
ReplyDelete