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__**The Grapes of Wrath: Synthesis Essay**__

Since the beginning of time people have had to deal with certain dilemmas in their lives. Two of the most talked about topics people have had to deal with would be finding the difference between right and wrong and dealing with certain injustices. In The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck talks about his view on the difference between right and wrong and injustices. Other readings that tie into Steinbeck’s theory could be Civil Disobedience by Henry Thoreau, On Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner, and Homeless by Anna Quindlen. With a direct shift from what used to be a norm in people’s daily life, people had to begin to adapt to a new life style which ultimately lead to a complete and total disconnection between the way the government began to functioned and how the people reacted to what was being done.

Steinbeck describes his concept of the right thing to do throughout his entire novel with use of symbolism. Steinbeck believed that the right thing for a person to do in hash time would be to keep on fighting what ever is trying to keep then from achieving their ultimate purpose together. In Chapter 1, Steinbeck starts off by setting the stage in a progressive order. He uses the biblical illusion of the creation to show how women, it a time of need, knew that the man of the family would “be safe and that there was no break” Steinbeck shows this in the quote “the corn fights the wind” by demonstrating the way people would fight the change in their live coming upon them. In Chapter 3 we also see this repeating theme of never giving up as the right thing to do to be able to succeed. This is demonstrated through the struggle of the turtle to get to the other side of the road. The turtle represents the way the whole country was trying so hard to keep going and had to face many obstacles. The shell and the inside of the turtle are symbols for how the people are beaten and like the turtle “pushed against the wall” and they also signify how deep down inside they are just so fragile but refuse to stop doing what to them was the right thing to do to be able to survive. Steinbeck not only show what’s right but he also goes on to show what is wrong and in the end will end up hurting the “land” which is a symbol for the farmers, and maybe even cause its death.

Steinbeck takes a different approach when dealing with what are the wrong aspects of having to deal with all the things they were dealing with. He does this through authority figures such as the banks, land owners, and the government itself to show how the people became when they got to involve in a not so beneficial system. In Chapter 7, Steinbeck shows this by comparing man kind to a cog in machines that are non-living and nonhuman. “Tires, used bruise tires, staked up in tall cylinders” is a way the Steinbeck uses to show how the people were out of shape and couldn’t really deal with what was going on so many of then just piled up as if they were nonhuman just waiting for someone to use then, just like the tires In Chapter 17 Steinbeck shows that it is wrong to try and get somewhere by yourself because its not possible. This become evident in this quote “Listen to the motor. Listen to the wheel. Listen with your ears and with your hands on the steering wheel; listen with the palm of your hands on the gear shift level….For a change of tone a variety of rhythmus mean...” Steinbeck proves through the car that the country has to unite to be able to get out of the depression they are currently in, if not there is no way they will be able to make it because it is not right to do it on your on. In Chapter 19, we see that a capitalistic society is brought into the novel to show that if everyone is competing for things and not working together to gain from it, tensions will ultimately rise and cause a conflict between to groups of people that are suppose to be united. He shows this by saying this “Farming now became an industry” Now the people weren’t working together they were working like machines that didn’t no the difference between what was good or bad. Steinbeck wasn’t the only one that relied that there was a problem; others also felt the same way towards the injustices being committed.

In Civil Disobedience (Part 1) we see the injustices that the government makes by not representing the people the right way and to actually express what they really wants makes Thoreau dislike the government and states “The government is best which governs least.” A government that acts on its own benefit and forgets about how the people would feel and would react to what they were doing is doing the wrong thing. Thoreau believes that he himself is” too high-born to be a propetier, to be a secondary at control, or useful serving-man and instrument to any sovereign state through the world.” Thoreau know that people who go and work in the government in the end go corrupt and that is why he does not fell, just like many other people, the need to work for such people. Thus he believes that “even voting for the right is doing nothing for it.” Thoreau just like many other people believes that the government does many unjust things but because they are who they are end up down what they want even without the people. Another author that has the same ideas as Henry Thoreau and Steinbeck is Lars Eighner that wrote an article On Dumpster Diving.

In the reading On Dumpster Diving we see how some people are just so wasteful and throw away things that can work for other people. Eighner points out that “Between us are the rat-race millions who nightly scavenge the cable channels looking for what they know not. I am sorry for them.” It is evident that Eighner believes that with the injustice of some people, even animals, such as rats and other people have to look around and search for things that they don’t necessarily have to do other times. If that were the only affect then it would be a lot easier on people but it is not there are other affects as well. Eighner paints a very vivid image in our minds when he says “I began Dumpster diving about a year before I became homeless”. This in the end keeps on proving that with one injustice comes another one and another one. By not having a stable place to eat and stay you will ultimately suffer the injustices of the government and in the end give up all hope. In a related article titled Homeless by Anna Quindlen we see the injustice of having people living in the street because of certain expectations the government has for then and they just can’t meet them. Quindlen believes that being homeless in these times is one of the worst things that the government can allow to happen. She makes her point clear when she states “It is natural that the thing that seems most wrong with the world to me right now is that there are so many people with no homes.” Quindlen classifies being homeless as a great injustice because people shouldn’t be homeless when there are so many places where people can live and have a roof over their heads. Ultimately people have to deal with a lot of bad thing but it just a matter of how you are able to deal with these injustices.

In conclusion Steinbeck, Henry Thoreau, Lars Eighner, and Anna Quindlen all have the same point of view towards the good and bad aspects of thing and about some of the injustices that were being committed towards the people. In the end the good was working together and uniting as one to be able to defeat the injustices the world might bring about to you.