P3+ATomasek

Life is a journey filled with trial and error that teaches people the ways of right and wrong. The experiments conducted, decisions chosen, and mistakes made are all what help us learn the difference between what is just and what is not. The novel //The Grapes of Wrath// by John Steinbeck portrays the long and tedious journey of a family moving from Dust Bowl to what is supposed to be sunny California. Their encounters with other travelers, land owners, and harsh California officers distinguish the characteristics between right and wrong and the duty an individual has when confronting an injustice. Learning right from wrong is the backbone of adolescence and bases of all things learned from mistakes. As human beings, we make mistakes and learn from them, thus learning right from wrong. However, based on the content of the situation, an individual’s surroundings, or one's moral standards, a person’s judgment of what is right and wrong can vary greatly. This is shown directly in //The Grapes of Wrath// with the situation between the farmers and the owners of the land. The farmers don’t understand why they are being kicked off their land because they need to make money to live, and they think the land owners are in the wrong. However, being controlled by the banks and larger companies, the owners believed that what they were doing was right because they needed to make a living of their own. The owners “would take no responsibility for the banks or the companies because they were men and slaves, while the banks were machines and masters all at the same time” (Steinbeck). The owners were facing the same problems with the banks that the farmers were facing with the owners. This goes to show that depending on the situation, the judgment of right and wrong can vary depending on who the action or decision can affect. Another way a person can be challenged with the decision of right and wrong is when they are faced with a situation when a lie can be told. Of course the right decision would be to not lie and tell the truth, however lying would get him/her out of the awkward situation with ease and perhaps feelings would be spared. As told in her essay “The Ways We Lie”, Stephanie Ericsson shows that it is in fact impossible to be honest with everything. Sometimes by lying, less trouble comes out of it than with telling the truth. Ericsson relates with personal experience: //“//// I once tried going a whole week without telling a lie, and it was paralyzing. I discovered that telling the truth all the time is nearly impossible. It means living with some serious consequences” (Ericsson). The decision of whether or not to lie is always decided with the same question: which one will get me in less trouble? Most of the time the answer is to lie. Judgment between right and wrong is based on previous experience and future perception of what will happen if the wrong or right decision is chosen. // // Injustices are spread throughout the world and are seen so much that sometimes they pass by without any notice. Sometimes we are so involved with our own lives that we are blind to these injustices that surround us. The traveling farmers seen in The Grapes of Wrath//// are the focus point of injustices throughout the novel. They are metaphorically portrayed as a turtle in one chapter as the clash between the rich and poor is demonstrated. As the turtle was crossing the road, “[The driver’s] front wheel struck the edge of the shell, flipped the turtle like a tiddley-wink, spun it like a coin, and rolled it off the highway. The truck went back to its course along the right side” (Steinbeck). The driver represents the rich walk all over the poor because it has no effect on them what so ever. This injustice is shown in many different versions throughout the text, especially when the families approach the //// California border //// and are faced by the //// California //// police. As one family talks to a tire salesman, he tells them about the //// California //// police and how they don’t let in any travelers without a driver’s license. The family’s response is “It’s a free country” (Steinbeck). The farmers are faced with the injustice in a variety of different ways everyday, and with their lack of money and knowledge, there is virtually nothing they can personally do about it. Like the farmers during the Dust Bowl, today’s world is also filled with these weary travelers but instead they are known as the homeless. However, lack of money is not the root of their problem. Most of the homeless are faced with mental illness or severe drug addictions that have forced them out of their homes. “Even if the economy were booming, jobs were plentiful and affordable housing abundant, these unfortunates probably would still be on the streets” (Perkins). Joseph Perkins studied the homeless and revealed in his essay “Homeless-Expose the Myths” that these people don’t have the mental stability or necessary resources to take the matter into their own hands to change the problem. The situation is beyond them, as it was with the farmers, and confronting the injustice is not up to them but it is up to the people that have the money and connections to do it. // // The injustices the farmers faced and the hardships the homeless face are situations beyond their control. As individuals of society that can fix the problems, it is the duties of the people watching these things happen to confront the injustice. However, the farmers did attempt to change the hardships of their journey by creating their own governments and establishing their own rules. These governments quickly disintegrated and every morning “when the sun arose, the camping place was vacant, only a little litter left by the people. And the camping place was ready for a new world in a new night” (Steinbeck). As the farmers got rejection after rejection of help from landowners, banks, and police officers, they tried to fix the problem themselves. However their problems were so great and many they could only be fixed by the people they asked for help. The homeless today are also in the same situation. Since they do not have the money or knowledge to change their problem, it is up to the higher members of society to change it. However, there are the handful of homeless that are not completely incapable and lead an abundant life on the streets: dumpster divers. They have changed the injustice by making it just and made being homeless something not to be feared. Lars Eighner spent a significant amount of time on the streets and showed that everything necessary for survival can be found in the dumpsters. He relates himself and dumpster diving with the wealthy saying “I think this is an attitude I share with the wealthy – we both know there is plenty more where what we have came from” (Eighner). Eighner confronted his own injustice by changing it for himself. As individuals in society it is our role to confront injustices that are beyond the reach of the people they are affecting. It is possible to change them for yourself, however, to fix the problem all together, help is needed from higher authorities because they ultimately have the power to change things. // Judging right from wrong is all based on an individual’s moral standards and their interpretation of the situation. Their judgment is what helps them distinguish between what is just and unjust and what they should do when faced with an injustice. //The Grapes of Wrath// portrays traveling farmers that are the injustice, and shows what they interpret as what is right and what is wrong. The farmers of the Dust Bowl are the homeless of today and they are faced with the same challenges and fixing them to a great extent is beyond their reach.