John Steinbeck, who also wrote Of Mice and Men, is a California native who witnessed the drastic changes caused by the great Oklahoma Dust Bowl. He wrote a number of novels set in California, showing how near and dear the state is to him. Although California isn't portrayed so well in The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck was able to showcase the historical significance of this major event.
In my opinion, anyone who takes on the brave task of writing a novel that documents historical events has to have a large passion for that topic. The Dust Bowl was a major influence at the time not only for John Steinbeck, but also for all Americans having a part in it. I would say it was important for Steinbeck to inform readers of this major event in American history. He was able to spread the message of The Dust Bowl by documenting the events in an entertaining, fictional novel with realistic facts. He did it so well in fact that readers of his generation awarded the novel the Pulitzer Prize in 1940, and the novel has continued to be highly recommended today.
Two obvious values that were brought up quite a bit in The Grapes of Wrath were the importance of family and humanity. From Tom returning home out of prison to the family reaching California, the Joads proved that the only thing that mattered was sticking together. Through deaths and fights, the clan was able to persevere in order to reach their new life. The family faced hardships along the way asking, "How will we know it's us without our past (Steinbeck 88)" when they had to let go of all their belongings, but what didn't kill them only made them stronger. Humanity was portrayed in about every third chapter of this novel. How each person treated each other was important at this time due to everything happening in the country, and it was smart of Steinbeck to emphasize that subject.
As far as perspective goes, the novel contained various narrators, but had an ironic tone. Steinbeck wrote in a sympathetic tone for the novel, which was hard to grasp in the beginning because the family left looking for a happy, new future. The two sides didn't really add up, and as you read farther into the novel, you could understand why.
[Bibliography]
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print.
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