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Table of contents
INTRODUCTION 4
CHAPTER I : A MOUNTING ACQUISITIVENESS 6
1 - THE INFLUENCE OF CAPITALISM 7
2 - AN ACQUISITIVE COMMUNITY. 11
A - DEFINITION 11
B - THE SOCIAL AND MORAL VALUES IN JEOPARDY
12
CHAPTER II : DRAWBACKS OF MECHANIZATION
16
1 - A NEW AGRARIAN SYSTEM 17
2 - MAN'S CRUELTY TO MAN 19
A - SELFISHNESS AND HYPOCRISY 20
B - THE TRAGEDY OF THE SURVIVORS 31
CHAPTER III : ANALYSIS OF THE NARRATIVE
TECHNIQUES 59
1 - LANGUAGE 60
2 - MOOD 67
CONCLUSION 71
BIBLIOGRAPHY 78
Acknowledgments
· First of all, I present my heartfelt recognition to
God, The Almighty, for giving me the possibility to further my studies, to
undertake and complete a M.A dissertation.
· I'm also deeply grateful to my dear parents who first
sent me to school.
· I avail mysel of this opportunity to extend my warmest
thanks to a certain number of people, particularly my supervisor Dr Daouda Loum
for his availability and sense of sharing. Once again I thank him because his
assistance is the cornerstone of this laborious work.
· Along with my supervisor, I'd like to earnestly thank
all the Professors at the English department for their permanent efforts to
help students have a good command of English.
· In a simple way, I express my deepest gratitude to the
members of my family for keep on praying for me in the course of this demanding
task.
· Likewise, I cannot forget to thank my friends and
schoolfellows who somehow have contributed their efforts and the benefit of
their knowledge to the writing of this work.
· Finally, I would like to express special thanks to my
beloved late parents who gathered all along their lives sacrifices and
resources for the triumph of their adorable little son.
Dedication
I dedicate this work to :
my father El Hadji Modiane DIOUF,
ë my mother Mame Coumba DIOUF,
ë my aunt Maïmouna SENE,
ë my brother Ibrahima DIOUF.
May peace and blessing be upon them. Amen.
INTRODUCTION
Materialism is a belief that reality simply consists of
material objects. For the materialists, the method of production in material
life determines the general nature of the social, political and spiritual
process of life. In fact, the notion of materialism intends to
seize man as product of his activity, determined by the economic conditions.
The concept is rational and based on what one can see, feel and hear.
The materialists have often partiality for money, excessive
desire for comforts, unlimited search of pleasure and selfishness. Materialism
is a conception that stems from a growing capitalism during the thirties in
America. Capitalism obliges most of the population to espouse a materialistic
way of life. This new behavior is based only on the quest for profit by all
means in order to achieve one's goals.
It is in this regard that Steinbeck explores the materialistic
lifestyle of his community through his two novels: The Grapes of Wrath
and The Pearl. He resorts to these two novels to criticize the
acquisitive behavior which only consists in fulfilling at all cost one's
financial desires. This belief incites people to be selfish so far as to scorn
the noble human values which, in a certain way, is the cause of all pains that
American working class had undergone during the thirties.
Materialism places all hopes, desires and needs in material
objects rather than pay consideration to moral qualities, meaning altruism,
dignity, and solidarity. In reality, the materialists only
seek to reach social success. Consequently, they have a way of life that
regulates everything exclusively in terms of material prosperity and earthly
satisfactions.
And as an eyewitness to this situation, Steinbeck shows how
the American society functions within a culture deep-rooted in material ideals.
For instance, people are judged from the sum of money they have, rather than
from their moral principles. So, getting money is seen as the highest target,
something that is sought out as of prime necessity. Though everybody does not
adhere to it, materialism tends to affect one's thoughts and actions. But
Steinbeck's real purpose is to reject this kind of materialism in all its forms
in order to advocate a society whose moral values are enhanced. Yet, in the
American society, everyone's dream is to become rich. The ambition is to have a
lot of money no matter how, and as the saying goes
«money doesn't have odor».
In other words, certain people hardly worry about the manner by which they earn
money provided that they get enough.
Before the industrial revolution the economy was based on
small scale farming with archaic implements. The agriculture was intended to
feed population. With the introduction of machines in the field of industry and
agriculture, the economy had wide ranging ambitions. Now the agriculture
changed from manual farming to industrial agriculture. Otherwise the tractors
took the small farmers' place. A lot of progress was made in the field of
techniques so that man was able to master the land because of more competitive
tools. Not only did the mechanization create a climate of hostility between
landowners and workers but it caused a change both in behavior and
upbringing.
Materialism can be also defined as a conception privileging
material achievement. Whereas the term capitalism is defined as
«a competitive economic system based on the private
property and the search of profit» as it is said by
Adam Smith in his novel The Wealth of Nation1(*). This book sheds light on the
new law governing the economic process by substituting the natural established
order to the natural order of price and labor (law of supply and demand).
In fact, the link between materialism and capitalism results
from the fact that the latter gave birth to the former that has governed the
American society from the thirties up to now. Capitalism, with its conception
is the cause of the excessive materialism of capitalists which make them be
inhumane. And given that the change of the country is unavoidable, Steinbeck
proposed to «adapt oneself»,
because it was the only way to survive in a country which has already taken
materialism as its way of life.
As a journalist, Steinbeck is able to show the debasement of
human nature from the mechanization of the agriculture to the capitalism after
the First World War. And through the Joad family's hard destiny who struggles
to maintain their pride after they became migrant laborers at the mercy of the
rich, Steinbeck manages to epitomize the fate of the whole American lower
class. So, it is in the middle of depression that the author of The
Pearl denounces the misdeeds done to the new immigrants who were pushed to
revolt by intense and heartless materialism. Consequently, Steinbeck is able to
translate his experience with the migrants into realism that evokes concern and
understanding in the readers. The conclusion of The Pearl and The Grapes of
Wrath is at the same time an occasion to question the authentic nature of
man.
The interest of the topic is to show how the materialistic
behavior incites people to act cruelly while putting the emphasis on an intense
pursuit of material prosperity and a loss of moral values.
The topic is divided into three parts:
In the first place, there is a historic interest. In this
respect, we think it is fundamental to deal with the impact of acquisitiveness
and show how it changed the American society.
In the second part of the work, we try to explore the
mechanization process during the thirties in which there is a quest of survival
for the poor community. This part evinces both the dark face of the United
States while showing a similar misery could exist in the country we are used to
considering through the American dream as morally strong and see, to some
extent, how materialism can be inhumane.
The final part of the work is devoted to the analysis of the
narrative techniques. We try to demonstrate how Steinbeck uses a familiar
language and bitter mood to communicate his emotions.
CHAPTER I :
A MOUNTING ACQUISITIVENESS
«We were
poor people with a hell of a lot of land
which made us think we were rich
people,»-J. Steinbeck
1 - THE INFLUENCE OF CAPITALISM
To better analyze the influence of capitalism during the
thirties or more precisely in the American culture, we need to view Steinbeck's
background in the first place.
John Ernest Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California in 1902
and attended Stanford University intermittently between 1920 and 1926.
Steinbeck did not graduate from Stanford but instead chose to support himself
through manual labor while writing. Here we may notice that Steinbeck's
experience among the working classes in California lends authenticity to his
depiction of the lives of the poor workers who are the central characters of
his most important novels. Steinbeck spent much of his life in Monterey County,
which later was the setting of some of his fiction.
In fact, these laborers were always obliged to remove from
their motherlands for better living conditions. From then on they start losing
contact with their society or their family unit. Feeling a sense of social
displacement and marginalization, poor farmers were doomed to remain in a
position of drift and inadequacy. Now they have to endure a miserable existence
devoid of real social and political identity.
Under such circumstances, Steinbeck suffered a symbolic sense
of homelessness. His withdrawal from Stanford University to support the working
classes is the cornerstone on which The Grapes of Wrath is
based. It is in this regard that he received a Pulitzer Prize, a national
Book Award. Steinbeck is not satisfied with the American individualism that
inculcates a sense of bitterness in him, for poor people are cruelly exploited
by a ruthless system of agricultural economy. Steinbeck turns out to be
unsympathetic to the American materialism where all sense of real dignity and
unshakable human values are practically non-existent. Thus, people aspire
extremely to material success as the main concern in life. In his novella,
The Pearl, Steinbeck has real concerns about the Mexican-Americans'
greediness. Actually, Steinbeck gainsays any extreme acquisitiveness to
material success through cruelty and hypocrisy and to which the American
society can refer with a view to better make their life, acquire selfishly more
wealth, power and consequently moving ahead. As for Steinbeck, the American
poor farmers are devoid of great achievements effected by the extreme
materialism of rich people as far back as one can remember in history:
«California
belonged to Mexico and its Mexicans. But a horde of feverish American poured
in,
with such great hunger for the land they took it over.
They imported Chinese, Japanese, Mexican
and Filipino workers who became essentially
slaves.» 2(*)
For Steinbeck, the country has been established through
oppression and inhuman exploitation for long standing years. In the American
society, capitalists cannot lean on their cultural values and pride of their
social success. The rich people therein are heavily reliant on poor community
to better their life. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck compares the
American people as «Tattered and feverish». In The
Grapes of Wrath, his harsh criticism of money-oriented aspiration is more
leveled against the rich landowners in America during the thirties.
The Americans also know that the first settlers who are firmly attached to
their lands couldn't be dominated unless they were inhumanly oppressed. The
American settlers consciously think it's fundamental to place premium on both
land occupation and economic strategy as an efficient means whereby so-called
«Okies»3(*) population can easily adopt selfish and materialistic
behaviors. American landowners fight tooth and nails to lay hand on the lands
to reinforce their positions therein to have what Edward Said calls in his book
«real control on power.»4(*)
The Americans adopt a selfish money-oriented mind when it
comes to looking for money. Thus, they focus on their own interest rather than
comply with the moral values. The notion of individualism is given momentum in
the industrialized American society. The sense of egalitarian society which
should have been preserved is rejected to the detriment of harsh competition
for wealth. Steinbeck, a punctilious observer of social failure in America,
deplores the fading away of communal existence that is superseded by
individualism and unlimited desire for material comfort. In America, people
have grown into money-minded behavior and living selfishly. This fact is
noticeable through Naipaul's
quotation:«Money means a good deal more.
Only a man's eccentricities can get him
attention»5(*)
The extreme desire for wealth in this society demolished the
common bond between people rather than gathered the poor community whose
primary concern is to live in a decent way. But wealth brings about a terrible
sense of individualism in the American society. In Steinbeck's The Pearl,
for example, such characters as the Priest and the
Doctor are corrupted by their acquisitive desire for money. The painful
thing is that instead of working hard on their own to earn money, both men
simply rely on Kino's precious pearl. The Doctor, after refusing
before to restore to health Kino's son, wants to heal Coyottito because now
Kino has money. Likewise the Priest of La-paz village who hopes to
gain possession of the pearl and achieves social status for himself sells the
sacrament in the name of the church. The problem with these opportunists is
that they pretend to befriend with Kino which is nothing but a pretext that
holds the key to their personal gains.
The pearl-buyers as well as the Priest or the
Doctor are so deeply corrupted that they go so far as to hurt
Kino. These people put forward more their wishes for personal
advantages than the binding interest of the whole nation. This is also a stark
reality in The Pearl wherein man's quest for wealth and property leads
to the self-destruction of man, both mentally and physically.
By the same token, Tom Joad in The Grapes of
Wrath assesses the fragmentation of his community where people suffer a
sense of individual displacement. This dislodgment is mainly caused by the
excessive materialism of rich property-owners. Moreover, this sense of
individualism is put to the extreme in the American society where rich
landowners hate poor farmers instead of getting together to establish a
peaceful life in the society.
As we know, Capitalism is an economic theory which stresses
that control of the means of producing economic goods in a society should
reside in the hands of those who invest the capital for production. In such a
system, individuals have the right to own and use wealth to earn income, to
sell and purchase labor for wages. Thus, one can see through The Grapes of
Wrath that this economic system is effective because the landowners, the
holders of all goods dictate the laws of the market. As for Steinbeck, the
individuals are ruled by concepts. The cohesive relations are replaced by the
personal relation of dependence whereas the accumulation of capital becomes an
end in itself, which is largely irrational. The irrational nature of this
economic system is that it compels people to become so thoughtlessly
materialistic that it causes social regression, brutal process of plundering,
murder and exploitation. This fact is described by Steinbeck with the term
«monster»6(*) because of the brutality of this economic system.
The influence of Capitalism over poor people is, to a large
extent, negative because capitalists shatter the poor community while impinging
on their way of living. In doing so, rich people set up an economic system that
keeps the working class always poor. Then, they seek to starve poor farmers and
consolidate their privileges and inevitably engender an extreme
acquisitiveness.
2 - AN ACQUISITIVE COMMUNITY
A - DEFINITION
Acquisitiveness is the eager desire to acquire and possess
things, especially material possessions or ideas. In an acquisitive society,
people crave for material success and seem never satisfied.
Acquisitiveness denotes the aspiration to get wealth or
possessions beyond the needs of the people, especially when this accumulation
of possession denies others legitimate needs. For example, amassing a large
quantity of grapes or pearls is not considered an acquisitive act, unless in
doing so, the needs of others are in danger. The fact of getting more is
essential to the concept of Acquisitiveness.
One can see that the desire to increase one's wealth is nearly
universal and acceptable in any society, but the simple desire is not
considered like an acquisitive behavior. Acquisitiveness is the extreme form of
this desire, particularly when one person wishes things simply for the sake of
having great amount of money not to buy objects, but possessions as one can see
through rich landowners' behaviors that focus only on the way to get money.
Acquisitiveness involves acquiring power and material property
at the expense of other person's benefit. Thus, Acquisitiveness combined with
selfishness is called excessive materialism.
From the above definition, one can notice that acquisitiveness
is synonymous with materialism. Materialism can be defined as a conception that
focuses only on material objects. The main concern of materialism is to gain
profit no matter how. Thus, competition for material comfort, selfishness and
brutality are the central elements that make up materialism.
For Steinbeck, a materialistic behavior is the fact of having
excessive ambition of material success combined with the purpose to achieve it
at all cost. This yearning is visible through the people of La-Paz
village in The Pearl. One can also notice through The Grapes
of Wrath that materialistic people center their attention on money mingled
with self-seeking conducts. Thus, the two things constitute precisely the
American materialism that Steinbeck describes through The Grapes of
Wrath and The Pearl and which is also the cause of the
transformation of the American society.
This money-oriented behavior starts gaining ground in the
American society and goes so far as to change the mentality of people.
B - THE SOCIAL AND MORAL VALUES IN
JEOPARDY
Modern writers, especially American writers like John
Steinbeck are deeply concerned with their identity which is fragmented by the
great depression experiences. They constantly resort to the thirties condition
to question the assumption of the so-called American dream that has erased rich
American people's moral values and motivate their greedy behavior. These
writers suffer a sense of inadequacy and loss of moral values in their native
lands, exactly during the thirties when it comes to showing their point of
views in a society where extreme aspiration to material success is a priority.
This is where the interest of materialism study lies. The rise of capitalism
has also caused deep wound to the north and south Americans to such an extent
that their social and cultural values are jeopardized on a large scale.
The rising capitalism in America is threatening for poor
people. Thus, rich capitalists' aim is to implement political domination and
economic exploitation over poor workers. They also seek to impose their
economic system on the existing methods which are believed to be non-productive
and risk destroying systematically their economy.
In this cruel economic policy of mechanization, poor farmers
prove so powerless before rich property-owners that they are more likely to
submit to rich landowners' financial system regarded as the most profitable
one. Thus, in front of this insurmountable political and economic domination a
defense against this agrarian system then becomes inevitable because it entails
cruel scenes that provide almost no way out. That's the reason why in John
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, the protagonist, Tom Joad, feels
resentful towards this cruel desire for material achievement.
In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck makes bitter
remarks on the condition of working class life during the thirties whose
agrarian system was cruel and whose people suffered economically and socially.
In Steinbeck' s The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath, the
protagonists feel depressed by the callousness of people either in
California or in La-Paz village. Systematically, people
refute their moral values and prefer espouse a heartless money-making
behavior.
It is clear that prosperous people just like in The Grapes
of Wrath as well as in The Pearl have an acquisitive lifestyle
which always enters in conflict with the ethical values or needs. This is what
drives us to query whether materialism reduces the well-being or if lack of
well-being (or happiness) nourishes materialism or the two cases. Thus, one can
notice through Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl
that several factors can explain the couple of questions which endangers the
social and moral values in the American society.
In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck shows that people
who have strong materialistic behaviors tend to be directed towards purposes
which lead less to the well-being. This idea is taken as well by Tim Kasser in
his novel, The High Price of Materialism7(*). Tim Kasser presents researches which show when
people organize their life around extrinsic goals like the acquisition of
property, they both generate less satisfaction and more psychological problems
in their relations. Thus, Kasser distinguishes on the one hand, the extrinsic
goals, like possessions, status, and glory. And on the other hand, the
intrinsic goals like the personal development and contact with the community
which is satisfactory in oneself.
Similarly, Steinbeck shares the same point of view as Tim
Kasser. For Steinbeck, materialistic people have often unrealistic expectations
in comparison to what material success can bring to their relations, autonomy
and happiness. Money-oriented people believe that acquire possessions can
change their life in every sense. The people of La-Paz Village in
The Pearl as well as the landowners in The Grapes of Wrath
are illustrative examples. These people wish enviously to acquire any
other profit in order to get better their living condition. This longing is
unfortunately the source of hard insensitivity and brutality between people.
In the middle of the thirties, poor people started growing
aware of this oppressive economic system. And now they strive to struggle for
their political and economic independence by trying to adjust the economic
policy so as to give the deprived community the chance to live in a decent
way.
CHAPTER II :
DRAWBACKS OF MECHANIZATION
1 - A NEW AGRARIAN SYSTEM
After the industrial revolution, the dust storm brought about
the damage of the earth, crops as well as the loss of many famers' lands. Thus,
man had efficient control on the nature because having at his disposal
competitive tools of work. Therefore, the American society became more modern
with new machines. With the introduction of equipment in the field of
agriculture and industry, manual agriculture changed from industrial farming.
Consequently, tractors replace small farmers.
Thus, in The Grapes of Wrath the rural areas in
America were mechanized which cause huge decrease of farmers in the lands as
well as the loss of small farmers' job. After the mechanization of the
agriculture, rich landowners created a system in which farmers become poorer
and were always in debt. This fact pressed poor farmers to mortgage their lands
to the bank as one can see through the chapter one in The Grapes of
Wrath, because farmers were unable to pay their debts. On the one hand,
landlords and big farmers resorted to a system in which migrant workers sank
into poverty and on the other hand, property-owners used ways to preserve their
social positions in a country where to remain at the summit demanded a lot of
means and force.
It is interesting to remark that «in the early
thirties many farmers were victims of Franklin Roosevelt's 1933
Agricultural Adjustment Act, which required landlords to reduce their cotton
estate, fortified by the A.A.A.
subsidy»8(*). And
in chapter two of The Grapes of Wrath, landowners evict their tenants
and consolidate their property. Thus, it was the contribution of the government
which allowed landlords to acquire tractors and decrease their reliance on
tenant families.9(*)
Thus, through this fact, Steinbeck shows that the consequences
of this policy cause strong unemployment. It is interesting also to notice that
the change of ownership and the mechanization of the land are also responsible
for farmers' migration. This new system is profitable to the landowners who
became richer. Consequently, small farmers are not able to cope anymore with
this competition. That is the reason why poor farmers are obliged to give up
their native lands to the detriment of rich landlords.
Steinbeck shows through The Grapes of Wrath that this
agrarian system is built in such a way that big property-owners control the
market and use it as they wish. In fact, landlords resort to a policy of
changing price so that they have a foretaste on the market course. Therefore,
they have the opportunity to reduce the harvest but also the possibility to
increase or diminish the price of goods. This system uses often some tactics to
decrease automatically the prices in case of overtaking and frost of the land.
In the same way, the evolution of the policy better privileges the
consideration of environmental requirement and the reduction of the harvest in
order to make the land more productive. Thus, small farmers with their
insignificant means are not able to maintain themselves to this vacillating
state of affairs anymore, that's to say the fluctuation of prices.
The rich landowners, the defender of this agricultural system
are used to affirming that capitalism creates stability and advancement in
economic and social life. Thus, one can notice that the mechanization of the
agriculture creates also confusion and joblessness. And that is the motivation
that drives Steinbeck to express through The Grapes of Wrath that the
agricultural system is the first reason that incites people to adopt a strong
feeling of appropriation and displacement.
In his novel: The Endangered American Dream, Edward
Nicolae Lutiwak affirms also that «people need more, that's to say
American people are not satisfied with what they get». This
dissatisfaction impels the people to espouse progressively selfish behaviors
and attitudes to get money. This discontent is also visible in The Grapes
of Wrath where rich landowners change everyday the methods of cultivation
in order to get profit. But, this change creates also social and economic
troubles because the new property-owners have strong desires to improve their
methods of farming. Thus, the fact of mechanizing the agriculture is sometimes
destructive because landlords are concerned only with the quantity of harvest.
Landowners wanted to attain a certain level of production that is the reason
why they resorted to new techniques. But, these methods are so harmful that
Edward Nicolae Lutiwak calls it «the speed of the creative
destruction.» 1(*)0 In other words, these new systems, instead of
creating only good thing, generate also social perturbations as much in the job
market as in communal life.
Consequently, everyone does one's utmost to preserve one's
social status even if it is necessary to make recourse to violence in order to
reach one's personal interest. Thus, this hard situation drives the American
society into a supreme disorder.
2- MAN'S CRUELTY TO MAN
Man lives in society where his acts have mutual consequences.
All human beings are interdependent. Their individual or collective life shows
them the fault not to commit. In fact, a form of regulations takes place
between individual and collective interests. These rules make the world livable
with cultural identities that we call morals. Thus, these moral values
constitute the social barriers which make it possible to live harmoniously in
society. But, when people violate these moral principles, they directly plunge
into a perpetual anarchy.
In fact, these moral values are transgressed, as one can see,
by pearl buyers in The Pearl or by landlords in The Grapes of
Wrath who privilege personal interest. Selfish behavior creates social
disarray and can be regarded as a frame of mind characterized by an acquisitive
behavior. This covetous conduct exploits and violates the rights of other
people. Such a behavior is often immoral. Therefore, talking about disorder is
tantamount to carelessness and disrespect for moral tenets in a society. In
other words, there is a strong incapacity to comply with the social norms.
Thus, this confusion results from a greedy attitude of rich property-owners who
seek merely to get rich. This materialism is more visible through The
Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck describes this chaotic
situation with prosperous landowners and pearl-buyers who resort to repellent
acts in order to satisfy their individual needs. These rich people believe that
their victims, that's to say, the farmers in The Grapes of Wrath or
the poor people in The Pearl are weak and deserve to be exploited.
That is why capitalists are insensitive and act regardless of the consequences.
Thus, solidarity and sincerity lose their places to the
detriment of opposite behaviors which do not honor the human being.
Consequently, the conduct of every man for himself reigns.
A - SELFISHNESS AND HYPOCRISY
Indeed, one can clearly see that these two terms
(selfishness and hypocrisy) converge towards the wrong side of human
life. It is in this regard that Steinbeck points to the fact that the
migrants' great suffering is caused not only by bad weather or
simple misfortune but also by the attitude and behaviors of their fellow human
beings. Steinbeck's work is nourished by his experience that he amplifies in
order to denounce the secret pain of a community who is victim of
self-interest, crime, dishonesty and extreme search of profit.
As one can notice in The Grapes of Wrath, these
misbehaviors cause farmers' migration towards unknown countries in which they
think as the favorable place to find a solution to their problems. Thus,
migrant farmers found at their great surprise a city in which competition,
insincerity, lack of consideration for others and excessive quest for material
comfort are the main behaviors. In other words, an intense individualism
resulting from an extreme greediness was the source of all evils that American
society had endured during the thirties.
In fact, Steinbeck shows how the American materialism is so
terrible in a country we're used to considering as a reference. This extreme
materialism makes people heartless because rich landowners exploit small
cultivators. Thus, farmers are paid so lowly wages that they can survive and
keep on working for wealthy property-owners.
It is significant to remark that through The Grapes of
Wrath, the structure of the urban setting favors also landlords to the
detriment of migrant farmers. This is quite reminiscent of the thirties when
the capitalists lived in the most attractive and breathtaking places whereas
the poor farmers dwelt in unlikely places. This brings about a feeling of
inferiority but also of frustration among the farmers relegated to a lower
status. Thus, most of them lived in poverty and in the fringe of society like
Rosharon Joad who starts fantasizing about the attractive things that
seem elusive to her and cannot help finding optimistically ways to acquire the
comparable privileges as the rich landowners (p 180).
Having been oppressed for a long time by rich people, poor
farmers are desirous of reversing the miserable condition into which they are
inhumanely plunged.
In The Pearl, the Doctor is cut off from his
social norm. He is morally corrupted when he sets his heart on having money.
This indecent and acquisitive behavior is also visible through the
Priest who turns a blind eye to the moral values. The Doctor,
just like the pearl-buyers and the priest, unabashedly adopt
unfair conducts to get money. The horrible thing is that they all grow into
deviants and intentionally ignore the social norms.
Extreme aspiration of social success can be compared with
self-destruction. In other words, wealth, instead of bringing happiness,
jeopardizes one's life. This fact is noticeable through the dialogue between
Kino and his wife, Juana :
«Kino, this pearl is evil.
Let us destroy it before it destroys us.
Let us throw it back in the sea where it belongs. Kino, it
is evil, it is evil.
' `No he said.' I will fight thing. I will win over it we
will have our chance» 1(*)1
Thus, the attachment of Kino to the pearl constitutes a threat
for his life and that of his family. Moral corruption is one of the highest
expressions of materialism because man simply adopts demeaning aspects such as
hypocrisy, egocentricity and brutality in order to get rich. And worst of all,
this materialism turns to humiliate human nature and create a feeling of
rivalry.
It is viewed that extreme materialism and selfishness go hand
in hand. One cannot be extremely materialistic without deeply being selfish.
Money incites man to turn one's back on moral values. This incentive is visible
through Connie Rivers' behavior in The Grapes of Wrath who lonely
preferred go looking for money than keep the stability of his family.
Steinbeck's novel, The Pearl, lays emphasis on a
greedy country that is riddled with violence and social unrest. Kino and his
family are harassed by what Steinbeck calls «greedy
behavior». They are torn by constant violence that hampers all
attempts to have a decent life. The only disturbance is that they are
overwhelmed by a feeling of selfishness and extreme competition for material
achievement. They cannot help being mistreated by the cruelty of
La-Paz community in The Pearl who had an extremely
money-oriented and selfish behavior.
As an eyewitness of the thirties era, Steinbeck pinpoints the
strained tension between rich landowners and poor farmers. The deprived
cultivators suffered from an «economic and psychological
degradation» and are engaged in a rough struggle against this
ruthless agricultural system. And unavoidable is this violence when the poor
farmers have had enough of this humiliating and heartless oppression and as a
result, resort to other ways to survive.
In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck points out the
importance of land especially in America to enhance its development, as it is
visible through this paragraph :
«It's our land we measured
it and broke it up.
We were born on it, and we got killed
on it, died on it.
Even if it's no good, it's still ours.
That's what makes it ours, being born on it, working
it, dying on it.» 1(*)2
It is significant to notice through this paragraph above, how
important the land was. Although they have mere harvests, these farmers live in
solidarity. This situation makes farmers feel comfortable and avoided violence
which played havoc with the welfare of each and everyone. But during the
removal of their lands a feeling of dissatisfaction, bitterness and unavoidable
violence spawned. Actually, the agrarian system is cruel as Steinbeck says :
«The bank is something more than man, I tell you.
It's the monster. Men made it but they can't control it.
» 1(*)3
Here one can remark how cruel the situation is. The prosperous
landlords know how to establish at the same time clever systems on which poor
farmers remain always oppressed. The poor laborers are left to their own lots
with no economic and political power on which they can lean in order to improve
their living conditions.
Similarly, Steinbeck's fictional work, In Dubious
Battle1(*)4 also
describes the account of a strike by agricultural laborers in order to better
their living conditions. One can see that the endless pursuit of material
possessions increases the disparity of the American population between affluent
landlords and poor farmers. Therefore, this discrepancy creates the poverty of
farmers who are obliged to borrow money from the rich. One can remark that
landowners avail of this situation to behave dishonestly. Consequently, man is
no more the cure of man because everyone tries jealously to gain the maximum of
possession to the detriment of someone else.
This frame of mind turns the American culture into an
individualistic society. This individuality was often the source of all
difficulties happening to the migrant workers as well as for all immigrants who
plan to come to the supposed Promised Land (California).
One can also notice that the removal of farmers in chapter
twelve is full of troubles. By lack of means to survive farmers preferred
take the road «highway66»
which is regrettably the favorable place to undergo the corruption and the
self-interest of rich landowners. Thus, this harsh competition for material
success makes the American area hostile. As one can see also in Abdoulaye
Sadji's novel: Maimouna, which is very descriptive, for Abdoulaye
Sadji depicts his town as: « in
Dakar we didn't pay attention to anybody, every house counted about twenty
tenants all as indifferent as the others, selfishness was the
rule»1(*)5, meaning everyone minds one's own
business. The desire to acquire more profit encourages rich people to adopt
egocentric behaviors to the point of defining man according to his possessions.
This fact is also visible through this paragraph :
«The last clear definite function of man_ muscles aching
to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need_ this is
man.»1(*)6
In other words, this definition obliges rich landlords to
consider only their own interests. This fact is as well noticeable in the
episode where Kino finds the great pearl which is tantamount to wealth. Thus,
all the community tries acquisitively to have Kino's pearl even if is necessary
to hurt him. Steinbeck shows how rich property-owners create a situation in
which everybody focuses on one's own interest. This misbehavior allows also
landlords to exploit individual interests in order to prevent the possibility
that the combined interests of farmers generate a revolt.
It is visible to remark from the beginning of The Grapes
of Wrath that an egoistic rule is imposed on the car drivers. The system
obliges the car drivers to carry nobody as it is said through this
dialogue:
«The
hitch-hiker stood up and looked across through the windows.
«Could ya give me a lift, mister?» The driver
looked quickly back at the restaurant for a second.
» Didn't you see the NO Riders Stickers on the
win'shield?» 1(*)7
This regulation permits to keep the car driver alone and fed
up to the point of becoming insane. This fact prevents the truck driver to have
no contacts with the people in the course of his journey in order to do his job
mechanically and efficiently. It is clear that man has a feeling of
appropriation because he is naturally egoist and wants always to preserve one's
ownership for fear to lose it. That is the reason why man has tendency to mark
the boundary of one's possession. In this regard, Pa Joads endeavours
to behave altruistically but one can see that his selfish nature betrays him in
such a way that he thinks only about himself. This egocentric nature is a
feeling of security as it is well illustrated in this part:
«Joad pointed to the boundary fence.
` That there's our line.
We didn't really need no fence there, but we had the
wire, an' Pa kinda liked her here.
Said it give him a feelin' that forty was
forty.»1(*)8
In other words, man naturally wants to protect one's property
in order to be more sheltered. That is the reason why Pa Joad wanted to enclose
his house to better know the limit of his dwelling. As one would expect, this
fact is as much normal as each of us needs to secure one's belongings in order
to be at ease. But, this self-interest is healthy contrary to what Steinbeck
wants to demonstrate through The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl. Thus,
the selfishness that Steinbeck denounces is the behaviour which thrusts people
to use heartless acts to reach one's objective.
Viewed from this angle, it is clear that in The Grapes of
Wrath, the false tactic done by rich landowners to attract more farmers in
the city is a way to create a situation in which the demand for work becomes
higher than the supply. Thus, this fraudulent method allows landlords to
decrease wages. The selfishness of wealthy landlords turns into a feeling of
racial intolerance and fear. The intolerant feeling goes so far as to
marginalize migrant workers because rich people are afraid of migrant farmers
whom they consider as an obstacle, as it is illustrated in this paragraph:
«She hesitated a long time. «Tom, this here
police- man he called us_Okies. He says,' we don't want you goddamn Okies
settling' down»1(*)9
In other words, prosperous people marginalize poor farmers in
order to make their integration more difficult in the city. Thus, many of the
evils that infect the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath and Kino's family
in The Pearl come from egoism and corruption, hence their countries
become hostile. All those misconducts are due to an excessive desire to satisfy
one's personal interest. Similarly, in The Pearl, Kino led a modest
and calm life until the day when he finds a pearl of great value and the whole
community starts interesting in his family. In this way, Steinbeck presents the
American way of life which is based on making greedily money even it is
required to resort to unreliable conducts in order to achieve one's objective.
Thus, this misconduct is also perceptible through the Doctor's deeds in The
Pearl. As one knows, the role of a doctor is to heal people regardless of
race, ethnic group or wealth. In reality, a doctor does not have to compromise
the ethic of his profession. However, the Doctor in The Pearl forgets
the deontology of his job because he does not worry about the recovery of the
boy when bitten by a scorpion. Thus, when the Doctor hears about the pearl, he
acted as if he was really concerned with Coyottito's health. In fact, the
Doctor's wish is to gain only money. As well the priest who, after having heard
about the pearl, immediately starts to think about the repairs in the church
that can be made thanks to the great pearl. Thus, the priest who wants
to extort money from Kino's family displays hypocrisy by putting the material
goods beyond the spiritual values. It is clear that the quest for money guides
the doctor and the priest not to fulfill their duty. Money represents the only
key capable to facilitate one's needs. Thus, whether you get a misfortune or to
be in poor health, the main importance is to get enough money, if not people do
not take care of you. On this account, dishonesty becomes a clever way to reach
one's objective. Therefore, greediness motivates landowners to maintain an
organization that drives thousands of farmers into poverty besides the
selfishness that reigns between migrant farmers.
However tough materialism is, it does not only thrust
property-owners to adopt individualistic behaviors but it drives also migrant
farmers to be insensitive. Consequently, every migrant farmer thinks merely
about one's own interest without worrying about the collective
goods. This eccentricity is also visible within the Joad's
family. For example, when Tom Joad goes out of prison he is far from
being altruistic, although he had a strong love for his family. Steinbeck
really points out the fact that the suffering of the migrants
is caused by climatic facts but also by their own mates. One should not forget
that historical, social, and economic circumstances separate the humanity into
rich and poor, ruler and dominated. Thus, people in the dominant role struggle
hard to preserve their positions. This fact permits actually to understand the
concern of The Grapes of Wrath which deals with the eviction of
farmers while relating their anger as well as the nation's inheritance of an
extreme selfishness. Thus, material success does not always
mean human progress. In fact, a few people monopolize the wealth and become
regardless of poor people. This selfish accumulation causes a lack of
solidarity which generates a antagonistic climate because everyone cares only
about oneself. And what really matters for everyone is to survive at all cost.
In chapter fifteen, the people who work at «the diners on Route
66» adopt deceptive behaviors towards migrant farmers in order to get
rid of them quickly.
In the same way, certain people like the intruders
in The Grapes of Wrath preferred break farmers' association because of
the money they get from rich landowners. Thus, such a shameful behavior is
frequently adopted by tractor drivers or by property-owners2(*)0. Thus, the life that poor
farmers expected in California is nothing but a dream because once there they
face only difficulties and sadness. Some farmers leave their families in order
to find better conditions. But, a number of migrant cultivators consider their
families as an obstacle to their own development. Connie is an illustrative
example in chapter twenty, leaving his family out of selfishness
because he thinks he can make a better life for himself away from the Joads.
Connie's selfish conduct is also visible in Uncle John's deed
because Uncle John preferred wasting his money instead of giving it to his
family who were in need. Thus, extreme greed drives these people in a way that
they have no alternative but adopt self-centered conducts. This misdemeanor is
more visible in this dialogue between a tenant farmer and a tractor driver in
chapter five where the tractor driver replies selfishly :
«Sure the Driver said
`well, what you doing this kind of work for - against your own
country?
`Three dollars a
day'. I got damn sick of creeping for my dinner - and not getting it.
I got a wife and kids. We got to eat...»
2(*)1
This hard situation obliges the tractor driver to mind only
his personal need rather than concern with the communal interests. In fact,
property-owners create a situation in which everyone focuses on the achievement
of one's own desire. Thus, poor farmers' selfishness is almost caused by
landowners' mistreatments. The vice of materialism changes what defines the
real nature of man. Therefore, the moral values are relegated to the background
while making immoral acts such as insensitivity and deception a priority. Thus,
these iniquitous conducts constitute the essential condition to become rich.
This immorality is the result of obsessive materialism. In
this respect, moral codes that are built on emotional nature and good manners
are disdained because they constitute an obstacle to landowners' wish for
social success. Yet, it is this lack of moral values that incites Steinbeck to
answer on the way one should behave in society. The owners, therefore, forget
or refuse to understand that immorality leads to brutality. And this fact is a
source of terrible conflicts which can bring about the destruction of human
life. In other words, the fact of being extremely selfish towards one's fellows
is a part of the price that prosperous landowners have to pay for having become
too cynical. Thus, rich landlords resort to drastic means to undermine the
unity of farmers. Those bad acts plunge these people into ceaseless conflict as
it is illustrative through this paragraph :
«The deputy stager and Tom put out his
foot for him to trip over. The deputy fell heavily- and rolled, reaching for
his gun...The deputy fired from the ground....suddenly, from the group of men,
the Reverend Casy stepped. He kicked the deputy in the neck and then stood back
as the heavy man crumpled into unconsciousness.»
2(*)2
In other words, material comfort constitutes a cause of
disagreement and sometimes leads to crime. In the paragraph above, deputy and
farmers collapse into a fatal quarrel to preserve their life. The given
definition of selfishness above suggests that materialism identifies itself
like a productive conception. In fact, materialism is related to selfishness
because the latter is a belief in which one has to get more profit no matter
how. This materialistic conception is clearly exposed through The Grapes of
Wrath. Thus, in chapter five Steinbeck qualifies rich owners like a
«monster that breathes profits and never be
satisfied». Through the excerpt above, Steinbeck
shows that the acquisitive system is cruel and offers a situation with no
solutions. This fact is more visible through this part:
«The driver said `Fellow was telling me the bank gets
orders from the East. The orders were, `Make the land show profit or we'll
close you up'. But where does it stop? Who can we shoot? I don't know. May be
there's nobody to shoot. Maybe the thing isn't men at all...»
2(*)3
Thus, Steinbeck lays the emphasis on the tenacity of the bank
to make more profit. Through the paragraph above, one can notice that farmers
are in a deadlock. Thus, what really matters is to get more money. This fact
creates a passionate competition for wealth. As one can see, property-owners
consider individual achievement and egoism like integrating parts of success.
Hence, one should resort to Marx Weber's thesis2(*)4in order to better understand this self-seeking
conduct. For Marx Weber, «the American nation has
been mainly Protestant since its origin and many of its economic leaders have
contributed their own success in business with a set of convictions that Weber
calls 'Protestant ethics'»2(*)5. In other words, these
beliefs encourage American people to adopt inconsiderate behaviours and focus
on material possessions as if there was an insufficiency of goods. And due to
this scarcity people fight continually.
In fact, the people of La-Paz village in
The Pearl as well as the landowners in The Grapes of Wrath
grant more importance to material success. This strong attachment to money
motivates these people to act brutally. Consequently, one can notice that human
rights are based on «war of all against
all» ("Bellum omnium contra omnes")
according to Thomas Hobbes's view.2(*)6 In other words, landlords as well as pearl-dealers
consecutively in The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl have a
narcissistic and insatiable desire which drives them to act maliciously.
In The Pearl, a manifest selfishness is visible
through pearl-buyers' behaviours. These pearl-dealers do many tricks to prevent
Kino from becoming rich. The life of Kino and his family are changed by the
greed of his community who want to deprive him from his treasure. It goes for
rich property-owners as well in The Grapes of Wrath who elaborate
insensitive strategy to keep small farmers always poor.
According to Steinbeck's viewpoint, rich people are animated
by a great sense of acquisition. This intense desire is the cause of the
excessive egocentricity among people. Thus, this acquisitive behavior can be
destructive and plunges the American society into disaster.
B - THE TRAGEDY OF THE SURVIVORS
Steinbeck tries to show what really makes man, that's why in
1938 he wrote in a journal : «There is a base theme.
Try to understand men; if you understand each other you will be kind to each
other. Knowing a man well never leads to hatred and nearly always leads to
love.»2(*)7
From this quotation, one can actually see that Steinbeck
privileges the importance of man with his moral qualities. The moral values
that Steinbeck advocates are not achieved because those who survive the
hazardous passage to the Promised Land in The Grapes of wrath find
their life becoming worse and worse due to the selfish nature of materialistic
landowners. In Steinbeck's novel : The Grapes of wrath, the
authorities that control Californian agriculture avail of the great number of
migrant farmers to reduce continually the wages. This fact worsens the
situation of small farmers. Thus, cultivators are compelled to give up their
lands because they are no more competitive. This exploitation as one can see,
stems from a mistreatment towards farmers who are badly paid and victim of
corruption. Therefore, farmers have nothing to do but accept those meager
salaries which allow them to provide only their nutritious needs. That salary
can't afford farmers to satisfy their needs as one can see in The Grapes of
Wrath, because three Dollars per day is not enough to look after
themselves (chap 24, p380).
It is necessary to wonder the value of work because the
strength of labour is a kind of goods. Farmers are compelled to exchange their
strength in order to stay alive. It is interesting to notice that Steinbeck
goes further about the analysis of the working value. As for Steinbeck, a man
should be paid according to the value of his work but rich landowners forget
this right and go so far as to consider migrant farmers like machines. In other
words, the salary they paid them is destined only to preserve their strength in
order to be able to keep on working and being exploited. Steinbeck shows more
concrete details which permit to see the atrocious exploitation of poor
farmers. This frame of mind to get much more money leads rich landlords to
create merciless situations. And through The Grapes of Wrath,
property-owners preferred destroy the harvest instead of selling at low price.
The wealthy owners as well as the pearl-buyers resort to callous tactic to
increase the dependence of migrant farmers.This atrocity is noticeable through
rich landowner's acts in The Grapes of Wrath who preferred let their
harvests rotten and kept out of farmers' reach. This circumstance generates the
shortage of fruits in the market while increasing at the same time the price of
fruits. Consequently, many people die due to this heartless economic policy
because it prevents farmers from satisfying their basic needs.
Similarly, in The Pearl, pearl-buyers wanted to get
Kino's precious jewel. In reality, there are not many buyers, there was one
boss and he kept his agents in separate offices to give a semblance of
competition. Thus, each of the pearl-dealer pretends to bargain the pearl with
a very low price. This tactic is only a way to depreciate the value of the
pearl whereas pearl- buyers' real aim is to acquire the valuable pearl very
cheaply. Therefore, competition prevails among pearl buyers. Thus,
pearl-dealers resort to deception so that the boss could promote them and they
could make more money. Through The Grapes of Wrath and The
Pearl, the excessive insatiability of people is both the origin of
uncaring economic policy and insensitive acts. On this account, the value of
life is debased to the detriment of material success. The affluent landlords
use ways and means to implement their strategy. Consequently, anyone who
opposes the way their business runs in the country is marginalized or
considered as Steinbeck says «a red» or troublemaker. This
disregard is clearly illustrated in this paragraph :
«Well, you and me got sense. Them goddamn
Okies.
Got no sense and no feeling. They ain't human.
A Human being wouldn't live like they do.
A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty
and miserable.»2(*)8
In other words, poor farmers are victim of disdain because
rich landowners do not consider them like human being. Likewise, when farmers
try to organize themselves into an association in order to claim their rights,
they are also punished for that act. Landowners consider farmers' attempt to
join together as a menace for their stability. That is the reason why
Casy is savagely killed when he tried to gather farmers in order to
strengthen their efforts (chap26, p426). This
situation creates a hostile climate towards the two antagonistic classes.
Therefore, farmers are evicted from their lands which divide them into two
groups. On the one hand, most of farmers accept those meager wages proposed by
rich landlords because they do not want to let their children starve to death.
On the other hand, a group of farmers refuses these little salaries. This
negative response makes them marginalize because they have some preoccupation
larger than those poor salaries which can't afford them to satisfy their
elementary needs.
It is in this regard that Steinbeck blames the property-owners
for their heartless behaviors because rather than allow small farmers the
rights to exist landlords promote competition for material comfort,
selfishness, mechanization of the land. In a word, a money-oriented world that
incites rich people to be insatiable with intense desire to become richer
without taking into account moral principles. This avidity is noticeable
through this paragraph:
«The bank--the monster has to have profits all the
time.
It can't wait.
It'll die. No, taxes go on. When the monster stops growing, it dies.
It can't
stay one size.» 2(*)9
In this paragraph, Steinbeck compares this ruthless
organization with the rights of those who work the land. Steinbeck shows how
landowners were cruel. Thus, these farmers consider the land as an integral
part of them and finally hope to die in it. The connection with the land is so
strong that Ronal Mackin and David Carver affirm that
«peasant farmers are conservative and resistant to
the change in their methods of
cultivation».3(*)0
The refusal to adapt to the mechanization process constitutes
a source of cruel divergence. Thus, one can see that poor farmers are not
prepared to abandon their former methods of cultivation whereas rich landowners
yearn to industrialize the agriculture in order to gain more profit.
Consequently, this tense situation encourages rich landlords to adopt brutal
ways to achieve their financial wishes. Following Steinbeck's reasoning, one
can see that poor farmers are so attached to their properties that a possible
loss of their lands is synonymous to death. This fact illustrates Muley
Graves' behavior who couldn't accept the loss of his lands. That is the
reason why he becomes mad and has no envy to live anymore. It is obvious to
notice that the dispossession from their lands creates psychological
frustrations. It is in this respect that Ted Gurr in his novel : Why Men
Rebel, examines the psychological frustration-aggression theory. Thus, he
argues that the primary source of human capacity for violence is frustration
and aggression. As for Ted Gurr «frustration does not
necessarily lead to violence, but when it is sufficiently prolonged and harshly
felt, it often does result in anger and eventually
violence.»3(*)1 Like Steinbeck, Ted Gurr explains this loss with his
term «relative
deprivation», which is the discrepancy between what
people think they deserve and what they get at this time.
In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck explains that the
mechanization of the land brings about a shortage of manpower in the
plantations because machines replace farmers. As a result, farmers become
jobless. Basically, the dispossessed laborers deliberately leave their homes
for another place known as California in the hope of earning their living
through the strenuous work in the plantations. These laborers were economic
migrants whose dreams of better existence are unavailing in «a
Hooverville» (chap19, p258).
Being certainly a witness of this degrading human behavior,
Steinbeck starts feeling a loss of moral values because people worry about
material achievement. Instead of denouncing only these materialistic behaviors,
Steinbeck tries also to bring a solution toward these insatiable conducts which
obliterate American people from their moral principles .Thus, Steinbeck puts in
parallel two behaviors in order to suggest the conduct to adopt for a more
pleasant coexistence. Steinbeck is the epitome of a thirties period man who
lived in a bewildered state which lacked of ethical values. As a thirties
writer, Steinbeck cannot be indifferent about the momentum of people's
materialistic behavior. That is the reason why Steinbeck's work is labeled by
Lyle Boren an American congressman as «a lie, a
black, infernal creation of twisted, distorted
mind.»3(*)2
The hardness of his style is reflected through his writing
which exposes a sense of homelessness and placelessness during the thirties.
Steinbeck's both novels, The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl
provide us with issues regarding the deep wound that stresses a painful lack of
home during the thirties in America due to an excessive greediness of people.
In both novels, the protagonists go to exodus in order to protect their life
because of people's wicked behaviors. The Grapes of wrath presents the
American society during the thirties whose inhabitants are constrained to exile
by a ruthless economic system. Knowing what land means for them, migrant
farmers live now in a campground which brings about a feeling of frustration
and hatred.
The wrong is that, this place (campgrounds) cannot be
regarded as home in the true sense of the term. It is a fallacy to take the
term «home» as its face
value as merely a dwelling place. It has deeper meaning that pinpoints a sense
of selfhood, of belonging. By this term we mean a place where one lives with
one family in love and harmony or a particular country where the inhabitants
are united by moral tenets, social norms, etc. Home provides the key to live
humanely in security, to strongly feel a sense belonging despite the ravages of
modernity. According to Steinbeck, the sense of home is practically
non-existent in the thirties due to their materialistic behavior that cannot
call a halt for competition to wealth, loss of self, individualism, internal
conflict, in brief, an animal way of living which is caused by selfish
interests. The migration eventually worsens the sense of homelessness. So, in
one's own place or country, one can be paradoxically homeless without having to
be completely detached from the place. In The Grapes of Wrath,
Steinbeck elucidates a lack of home during the thirties in America. Steinbeck
is an American who lived in a country that is socially weak and divided by
individual interest. This social unrest is reflected through the separation of
Muley Graves' family (chap 6, p48). A family is a unit of the
society, in other words, a society in microcosm. Within the framework of his
country the bonds of kinship are not consolidated by the negative aspect of
materialism. But with the introduction of machines in the field of agriculture,
small farmers lose sadly their lands. Therefore, this loss forces them to look
for another job in order to start a new life because they are intimately
attached to their lands. The notion of land is pregnant with meaning because
farmers are too close to their inherited lands and to give up their lands is
almost the same as the loss of their dignity. With a longing for modern
property, landowners are oblivious to the primary importance of moral values.
In a world based on this attitude, contentment is determined by material
achievement.
It is clear that Kino is addicted to the treasure in The
Pearl. Thus, Kino sees his home invaded by greedy people who exacerbate
his life and oblige him to leave his house for security reasons. In The
Pearl, Steinbeck underlines the danger of materialism that blights a sense
of belonging. The Pearl story points out a family who is completely
cut off from his house due to voracious people. This exodus is as well
noticeable through The Grapes of Wrath but it reminds also the removal
of the thirties. In The Pearl as well as in The Grapes of
Wrath, the protagonists of the two families are forced to undertake a
journey (the case of Tom Joad and Kino). Here these people
are victims of deceitful forced migration that causes their loss. In either
case, the Joads leave their motherland instead of subjecting to
permanent inhumane treatments. Neither Kino's family nor the Joads can
take pride in a place of their own where they can live as it should be
regardless of the continuous influential acquisitiveness. Kino feels
diminished in a society that adopts deeply materialistic behaviors and brutal
ways to get money. It is clear that Kino's family in The Pearl and the
Joads in The Grapes of Wrath moves up their community because they
have difficulty preserving their lives that are constantly in danger.
Therefore, the process of eviction is strengthened by the intense wish for
social success. It is in this regard that Steinbeck goes so far as to qualify
rich oppressors' misbehavior like inhuman acts because it breaks apart
families.
These oppressors like all oppressors first have to dehumanize
poor people in order to better exploit them. In reality, it is always easier to
exploit people once you debase them just as the black people were degraded
under the slavery. This is what provokes the murder of people between
themselves in order to survive. The perpetual temptation of killing each other
is also visible through the people of La-Paz village in The
Pearl who uncaringly do their entire utmost to take Kino's
treasure.3(*)3
In The Grapes of Wrath, there was a permanent
sequence of corruption on the freeway as well as a blatant
mistreatment. These cruel actions among human being
mentioned at this point are a sort of obstacle against human evolution not in
terms of economy but in terms of morality, self-respect, love and unity.
Therefore, this confrontation means the loss of human values which breaks
morally human development. For instance, Muley Graves quite in the
beginning of The Grapes of Wrath talked with Tom about the unfair destruction
of their houses 3(*)4. One can see that Muley Graves loses both
his prosperity and dignity which is the most important thing in human life. The
injustice of his dispossession is also considered like a tragedy as one can see
through The Pearl story which is an allegory of materialism and its
horrible consequences. All these facts demonstrate the danger of prosperity in
a society where people think every method is good to reach one's goals even if
it is necessary to use violence. That terrible behavior is also noticeable
through Casy's murder in the episode where he tries to mobilize
farmers in order to unite their force.3(*)5
As a result, John Steinbeck makes himself the satirical
eyewitness of the high society. His work causes bitter critiques of the
«American Dream», that's to say, the thirst for money and
power which affect his community. This fact is also described with precision by
his contemporary Lewis Sinclair through his novel: Main
Street3(*)6, in which
he denounces the absence of spiritual and intellectual values of American
middle class who makes only material success a priority while behaving fiercely
towards their fellow citizens. In the same way like Sinclair, Steinbeck puts
into stage a society which complies blindly with material values without
regarding moral norms that are the most fundamental principles of life. In this
regard, the unsuccessful illusion to achieve the American dream motivates some
landowners to go beyond the limits of the norms in order to search firmly
social success. But, the desire to reach the absolute need, that's to say a
life in which one has all he requires is far from possible.
The illusion of American dream is also visible in The
Great Gatsby, in which Scott Fitzgerald shows Gatsby's whole life was
spent trying to attain at all cost money and status so that he can reach a
certain position in life and the rampant materialism that characterizes her
lifestyle3(*)7. Thus,
Scott Fitzgerald as well as Steinbeck shows how easy money and relaxed social
values have corrupted the American dream. Landowners and pearl buyers' extreme
need to reach their personal interest turns American dreams into a fatal and
unattainable goal. This objective is nothing but the cause of endless dispute
between American people. In this regard, landowners' acquisitiveness brings
about the poverty of farmers as well as their hasty migration. Therefore, this
situation leads farmers to focus thoughtlessly on how to find way to earn an
honest wage in order to feed their own family. This fact is the motive of
migrant workers' rush who are obliged to hurry up in order to look for a work,
like picking or lifting anything. In short, the main importance is to meet
one's children's needs.3(*)8 In fact, Steinbeck describes quite in the outset of
The Grapes of Wrath what he qualifies as the regretful history of
California due to its brutal settlement. Thus, when the whole wealth is
controlled by a minority of people, it will be taken forcibly by poor people.
It is in this respect that Steinbeck foretells the conclusion of this
accumulation of wealth will cause the decline of rich owners. It is
interesting to notice that Steinbeck relies on Marxist predictions that
capitalist domination creates its loss through its own victory. In other words,
the excessive materialism of landowners leads to their ruin. Thus, refusing
this fact to occur again rich property-owners establish a ruthless system that
grasps farmers as it is clear in this part :
«And the great
owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval,
the great owners with access to
history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact:
When property accumulates into
few hands it is taken away.»3(*)9
Through this economic warning, rich landlords take all
preventative actions to avoid a possible revolving of the situation. It is in
this purpose that one can remind Paul Samuelson's speech in front of the
American Congress saying that «Economics is such an inexact science and
the future is so unpredictable»4(*)0. In other words, moneyed classes are animated by
self-interest. That is the reason why they care simply about the way of
protecting their interests and forget the after-effects of their misconducts
towards underprivileged people. In this regard, prosperous people forget what
misappropriation of resources can cause. Rich landowners create a situation in
which they enhance themselves whereas poor farmers have nothing to do but adapt
to this circumstance or they will be crushed by the state of affairs. This fact
is all the more valid since we're facing the same situation nowadays. It is
clear that there is a feeling of disparagement in The Grapes of Wrath because
rich owners belittle migrant farmers as if they were different from them. Thus,
wealthy landowners' ambitions to consider themselves superior to small farmers
bring about a feeling of dehumanization toward poor farmers. Therefore, this
offense causes a frustration toward farmers because their prides are ignored.
This misconduct obliges poor cultivators to react against that misbehavior. In
fact, early in The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck shows as well the anger that
induces poor people to action. This incentive is visible through the dispute
between a tenant farmer and a tractor-driver:
«There's some way to stop this. It's not like lightning
earthquakes.
We've got a bad
thing made by men, and by God.
That's
something we can change. Another farmer, on the road, says,
I'm not going to stay in place and watch my children
starve» 4(*)1
Here Steinbeck shows that the destruction of farmers' land is
not only caused by natural circumstances but by landlords too. Thus, migrant
cultivators have no solution to this hard situation and this fact raises the
possibility of revolt. For Steinbeck, landowners adopt degrading conducts as
well as insensitive money-making attitudes that can be never satisfied. In
The Grapes of Wrath, the «bank» which symbolizes
rich property-owners is inhuman and the bank owners with huge lands are as
Steinbeck says a
«monster». Steinbeck goes
so far as to compare the intrusion of tractors into the land like somebody who
is not sensitive about human emotions. In other words, Steinbeck demonstrates
how tractors are callous comparing to farmers' deep affection towards their
lands. Thus, Steinbeck equates the tractor like a «corpse»
in order to show how this experience is insensitive. But the most horrible
image is when field owners poisoned oranges and threw away potatoes in the
stream in order to raise the prices. This nasty method starves to death many
families, as it is well illustrated through this paragraph:
«The roots of the vines, of the trees, must be
destroyed to keep up the price...
Carloads
of oranges dumped on the ground.
The
people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not
be»4(*)2
Those horrible acts degrade the personality of landowners so
much so they seem to return into the «state of
nature» as Thomas Hobbes says4(*)3. It is in this regard that
Steinbeck says «a sorrow weeping
cannot symbolize,» and he goes so far as to
call it «a crime beyond
denunciation.» From this paragraph above, landowners
lose all sense of life and plunge into an extreme animosity for the simple fact
to be prosperous. In the same way, the doctor in The Pearl betrays his
profession at the cost of getting unfairly money from Kino's misfortune. From
those acts, Steinbeck deliberately demonstrates the callousness of these people
who are in a world where material success is the priority next to a certain
oppression of one towards the others. In a society based on this attitude,
happiness becomes a matter of successful competition, and this is the method of
choice in the animal world. The stronger eat the weaker. Thus, life becomes a
matter of aggressive offence and successful defense. Thus, the authorities'
behavior toward migrant survivors in The Grapes of Wrath is so tough
that they are often victim of violence and trickery, as in chapter twenty where
the Mayor is likely pushed into madness by the police and subjected to constant
torture which drives him insane. In other words, the police do not want also
migrant farmers to stay in California because they can find relief and
organization which can constitute a menace for landlords. The reason for their
stern behaviors is nothing but an attempt by the police to prevent migrant
workers from settling in California because when they give them the opportunity
they could vote and have political power. In this regard, they can threaten
people in the dominant power. Thus, one can become aware of this saying
«Give a dog a bad name and hang
him» is pregnant with meaning here because any
farmer who does not comply with rules is marginalized and prevented from
working anywhere. Thus, life alternates between savage victory and abject
defeat. That is the reason why migrant survivors have no rights and sometimes
are victim of murder as one can notice through Casy's assassination in The
Grapes of Wrath. (chap26, p. 426)
In the same way, the pearl-buyers harassed Kino's family so
far as to attempt to kill him in order to get his great pearl. According to
Steinbeck, the result of people's excessive greediness is the uprising of poor
classes. Thus, Kino's family in The Pearl as well as the
Joads in The Grapes of Wrath suffers from perpetual
domination and heartless acts on behalf of rich people. Therefore, all those
cruel acts reveal the dehumanizing quality of the bank intrusion. Likewise,
the sale of migrant farmers' possessions in chapter nine
of The Grapes of Wrath is also a shameful process because they have
nothing to do but sell their properties at low prices in order to survive.
Steinbeck sheds light on the connotation of the sale saying that :
«you're not buying only junk, you're buying junked
lives.» This fact is another example of the
humiliating effects of materialistic behavior. The situation is hopeless
because migrant survivors are forced to give up those objects that have
sentimental values out of necessity and finally are filled with bitterness and
loss. Therefore, all those bad acts are tantamount to the failure of human
personality by a system in which landlords adopt acquisitive behaviors as well
as preventing poor farmers from living decently. This greed leads to ignoble
behaviors that one can qualify as animal conducts.
The fact of decision-makers to ruin migrant workers' life is
another example of the degradation in human nature. It becomes clear that rich
owners oppose to treat migrant farmers worthily because if they do so they will
require more as the saying goes «The more you get,
the more you want». The landowners, refusing the
content of the proverb happen, use dishonest plans to reverse migrant workers'
organization. The chapter twenty-two in The Grapes of Wrath shows
property-owners use deceitful strategies to break the government camp while
sowing the seeds of discord within the farmers. These policies permit to create
some fights that allow the deputies to enter farmers' camps and interrupt
Weedpatch (the government camp). Therefore, rich
owners are in favor of the dissension of farmers. Steinbeck protests against
big capitalists who promote the idea of making excessively money to satisfy
one's personal interests. Landowners seem unaware that low salary and
unemployment contribute directly to the collapse of family. In fact, this kind
of society takes more into consideration man from his material possessions than
from his moral values. This fact creates more often the separation of family
because when farmers can no longer support their children they prefer leave
together or apart. To a certain extent, extreme materialism causes the
breakdown of family unit. Steinbeck shows through Grandpa's death that
grand parents are essential references to the construction of children's
personality. Through the breakdown of families, Steinbeck demonstrates how the
importance of the family is minimized. This fact creates psychological troubles
which break the unity of poor people's family. In fact, rich owners forget that
beautiful buildings do not make a country, it's rather men with their moral
values that constitute a well established society.
Steinbeck examines the impact of materialism on morality.
Therefore, materialism brings about jealousy and opposition which drive as well
people to adopt worthless behaviors. In others words, materialistic people tend
to adopt the rule of the strongest. In this kind of situation, everyone
covetously tries to gain as much profit as possible. This selfish conduct
engenders a spirit of unfair competition for wealth. The fact of uprooting the
noble human values, that's to say, what makes up human being as a real man
endowed with reason and which permits either to think or to make a distinction
from animal is put in derision by landlords and pearl-dealers successively
in The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl. It is in the same way
that Steinbeck expresses his disapproval of the disregard for moral values.
Thus, when we go out of our way we risk endangering what really constitutes the
foundation of human dignity. And this misbehavior is clearly seen through
The Pearl in the episodes before and after the discovery of the
precious pearl. The discovery of the pearl reveals the disloyal conduct of the
La-Paz community towards Kino's family. The desire of La-paz community
goes so far as to try to assassinate Kino in order to take the
pearl. Thus, this community loses its moral
references which are the guarantee of a continual peaceful life in society. In
The Grapes of Wrath, greed drives landlords as far as a certain point
in which they are not able to control poor farmers anymore. Consequently,
everything happens as if people are runners with the same point of convergence:
profit and earthly satisfactions. Therefore, ethical orientations are flouted
and relegated to the background because their places are no more in a kind of
acquisitive society. Thus, wealth constitutes a source of perpetual conflicts
and goes so far as to jeopardize people's life. This danger is also noticeable
through this paragraph:
«He was terrified
of that monster of strangeness they called the Capital.
It lay over the
water and through the mountain, over a thousand miles
and
every strange terrible mile was frightening»4(*)4
Through this paragraph, one can see that money, instead of
bringing happiness, creates a danger for the people who detain it. Thus, wealth
is associated with monster and those who desire to get money can't help
resorting to violence to get it. Likewise in The Pearl Steinbeck shows
that the simple fact to obtain a treasure can bother one's life as it is
visible through the example of Kino who puts in danger his family while keeping
the pearl. On this account, landlords as well as pearl-buyers behave cruelly
because of money. Now it is not a matter of fulfilling one's basic needs
anymore but to monopolize uncaringly the greatest profit. Thus, antagonism
begins because rich landowners want to reach at all cost their financial
objectives. In other words, rich property-owners try to preserve their leading
positions while poor farmers strive to improve their living conditions.
Therefore, this tense situation drives both classes into struggle. Most of the
time that opposition leads to atrocious deeds, I mean people go so far as to
kill each other for material success. However, in the American society, people
believe in what they acquire hence the idea of self made man. As for the
development of human being, this philosophical approach through the American
vision has the particularity to turn the American culture into an
individualistic society. It is interesting to see the American society as
Steinbeck describes through The Grapes of Wrath and The
Pearl, is a country where people's imperative is to hasten to get rich by
all means. This fact creates disordered situations in which one cannot identify
any more the moral values that make up the root of the society. Thus, in
The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath, a great many so called
successful people (the Landowners or the pearl-buyers) believe that
life is a business and they arrange their conducts and behaviors accordingly.
Consequently, in such a society only money can buy happiness.
It evident that vicious behaviours are the fruits of a process
by which man's personality tends to transform into an animal nature. This
misconduct constitutes a menace for poor farmers as well as for rich
landowners. In other words, this inhumane behaviour is tantamount to build a
society on bad foundation. Tom's reaction against the
«intruders» is a perfect
illustration because one cannot get rich illegally at the back of poor people
and get in return their obedience and respect. (chap.26, p.426)
Motivated by a feeling of obsession to material achievement
Kino goes so far as to kill one of the «pearl
buyers»4(*)5. This passion to keep the pearl drives him into
animosity. This state of cruelty is the product of a materialistic society that
reflects only its negative aspects. It is in this respect that Steinbeck
demonstrates how the American society suffers from constant scarcity to
subscribe to ethical references. These orientations represent the bases capable
to mobilize the people into collective living. Thus, Steinbeck shows that it's
not only the lack of moral values which is the origin of people's nastiness but
by a phenomenon that draws aside moral values in favour of references that
refer to aggressive competition and personal efficiency. The phenomenon of
making money as a priority is characterized by quick and short options:
selfishness, exploitation and assassination. All these misdemeanours lead
inevitably towards brutal behaviours. Following Steinbeck's viewpoint, it is
necessary to cast a glance around oneself to realize unfortunately among those
who privilege respects, honour and kindness are often victim either of betrayal
or murder. Thus, the opposite acts of generosity, altruism and sincerity
constitute the new references in order to become rich. Paraphrasing this
quotation «when one is able to gain or have wealth
that he does not work or merit through cheat, hypocrisy and lie, finally that
person does not require to work»4(*)6. It is what Steinbeck wants
to show through people's insensitive acts. The Grapes of Wrath as well
as The Pearl describes an open society whose progression is determined
by its own ability. The American vision as Steinbeck portrays here is the way
to climb the social stairs, that's to say, from a poor person to a wealthy man.
It's somehow the American dream in practice. In The Grapes of Wrath
and The Pearl, self-respect and good manners are wiped out by rich
people's intolerable and acquisitive behaviors. Property-owners' malicious
behaviors towards migrant farmers are the objects of obsessive materialism.
Thus, landlords' real concern is how to achieve social success. This
materialistic way of life motivates also some poor people to focus on their
self interests. In this regards, one can see clearly that the concept of
extreme acquisition as it is said by T. S. Eliot in his novel: The Wasted
Land «The acquisitive world rather than the
creative and spiritual instincts are
concerned.»4(*)7 In other words, a world where the basic relation
between the individual and his fellow-men is no more based on cooperation and
common sense. The world, however developed by its material progress, suffers
from a lack of moral values. this extreme materialism of the American culture
caused many people's disillusionment in the years following the First World War
as well as their exodus to Europe, among them Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest
Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein...who are collectively called
«The lost
generation».4(*)8
In the nineteenth century, American people were interested
rather in material progress than in the development linked to spirituality,
love, solidarity and dignity. And John Steinbeck belongs to the period of
disillusionment. Thus, Steinbeck puts his story and characters in a
naturalistic environment where man is victim of the materialistic life.
The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl evoke misery and
instability of the family in a system that privileges only material
possessions. Actually, Steinbeck's work takes its source from the beginning of
the agricultural system in the United States which provokes a rising
exploitation of farmers and their exodus.
The author of Tortilla Flat and The Pearl describes
farmers' pain and the way they are atrociously treated by rich
landowners. Rich property-owners undermine poor
farmers in order to discourage them. These situations make migrant farmers
separate and adopt cruel conducts. Thus, some people behave out of cowardice or
selfishness. For example, Connie Rivers through The Grapes of
Wrath and the others combine dishonesty and cupidity like The
Doctor in The Pearl. On the top of these bad conducts, there are also
callous strategies through the inflation of prices to better exploit migrant
farmers. Those cultivators, victim of all bad fate go so far as to behave
abnormally because of strong discouragement and humiliation. Therefore, poor
farmers adopt self-protective conducts that allow them to support rich owners'
assaults. And as the saying goes «it's the last
straw.» In other words, migrant farmers have nothing
to do but revolt because a few people control the wealth and use unjust acts
towards them. Through these misconducts, Steinbeck shows his disapproval
against this extreme acquisitiveness of American people. Thus, Steinbeck lays
the emphasis on the relationship between rich landowners and small farmers but
also the racial discrimination toward Mexicans in southern California.
In The Grapes of Wrath, it is as well interesting to
remark at a certain level, rich landlords express a xenophobic feeling toward
their workers. As we know, xenophobia consists in affirming a hierarchy between
people. Through analogy, this attitude reveals a discriminatory behavior
against a group of people. This favoritism is visible through landowners'
attitudes and acts toward nomad farmers. Landowners regard migrant cultivators
different from them. Thus, farmers become at the same time the perfect victims
and constitute a menace. The fact of being afraid of nomad farmers arouses a
suspicious conduct on behalf of landlords. But this distrust is manifested
under different forms. For example, the rich Californians express a feeling of
disdain toward farmers. Thus, wealthy landowners go so far as to feel
themselves superior to migrant farmers. That is the reason why rich
property-owners do not welcome farmers. All these unfair conducts are due to
financial reasons and personal interest. Therefore, the more rich owners get
money, the more they change and become less selfish. Through the agricultural
system, selfishness becomes an intimidating and destructive force that thrusts
prosperous people to be dishonest.
At certain level of interpretation, The Grapes of
wrath and The Pearl represents the pride of rich people. Thus,
Steinbeck underlines the acute materialism that causes only misery and human
debasement. After the establishment of new agricultural policy which is the
result of American people changing behavior. Farmers and landlords change both
economically and morally. The agrarian system accentuates the division of the
American society into two antagonistic classes.4(*)9 In other words, every class tries to enhance its
position. Through The Grapes of wrath and The Pearl, one can see that
most of people grant more importance to material success. The American
authority's main concern is how to get material possessions. That's why they
resort to horrible methods to reach their objectives. In reality, it's always
easier to exploit people once you starve them just as the Amerindians were
treated and evicted from their native lands. The unreasonable persecution of
authorities towards Mexicans and American farmers leads Steinbeck to put his
pen in order to denounce those misdemeanors. In The Pearl, Kino and
his family far from being depressed or unhappy have a great sense of love and
cohesion for each other. But their quiet everyday life is turned upside down
the day when Kino finds a great Pearl and hopes to achieve his dream. As one
can see, Kino's dream turns to nightmare. In other words, dreams lead to
desires, then, desires incites to greed and finally greediness leads to
violence. In the same way, excessive materialism leads to selfishness which, in
return drives landlords to act fiercely. Thus, the unrealistic dreams of
farmers have often material significance because there is a complex link
between optimism and materialism which are more often conflicting. The emphasis
on material achievement which is essential to the idealistic fulfillment of
American Dream has always been the worst side of the American society. This
fact creates at the same time a sense of fear that troubles this optimistic
vision. Consequently, wealth becomes not only a means but the primary objective
of American life. In this respect, extreme materialism becomes terrible but the
scariest aspect of materialism leads American people to aggressive acts. And as
one can see, material wealth continues to act as the central element in the
conflicts and tensions that happen in the American society and particularly in
the world. In The Grapes of Wrath, the exploitation of farmers takes a
ruthless form because migrant workers are treated worse than livestock. In
others words, dead people have more significance than those who are alive. This
fact is noticeable in the episode where Grandpa is dead.5(*)0 Thus, Grandpa's corpse is
more important than migrant farmers' life because a late man's burial allows
Californian authority to gain money. In this regard, Steinbeck shows how
American materialism is merciless. This intense acquisitiveness makes rich
people callous because rich landowners appropriate the whole harvest while
letting farmers the strict necessity (thirty cent per hours) so that
they can survive in order to be able to keep on working for landlords.
Nowadays, money controls everything. As a result, whoever
detains it has the possibility to make or to have all required things. This
reality constitutes one of the first origins of moral values decline.
Consequently, ethical values vanish gradually to the detriment of rising
acquisitive behavior of people. In this regard, this strong concern with
material success causes a lack of moral qualities while privileging a perpetual
quest for wealth. The Grapes of Wrath as well as The Pearl
gives a large account of Steinbeck's personal experience. Steinbeck presents
the materialistic behavior of American people as the primary cause of pain and
the signs of notorious inhumanity. This fact is also visible in Paul Morand's
novel:The Journey at the end of the Night 5(*)1 which is both a protest
against materialism and shows the dark face of the American society. Paul
Morand rises against the social order to adopt a more reasonable viewpoint
while underlining absurdity, injustice, poverty and selfishness between human
being. Thus, these following elements are the result of people' excessive greed
in the American society. This hard quest for money is the justification of
hardhearted behavior between people. This misconduct creates also harsh
insensitivity between rich and poor and generates sometimes horrible acts.
Consequently, all these misdeeds converge towards an egotistic acquirement of
profit to the detriment of the weakest.
A constant conflicting situation is effective throughout
Steinbeck's The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath because wealthy
people want regularly to get rich to the disadvantage of poor people. But, poor
cultivators strive at all cost to refuse this state of things in order to
improve their conditions of living. Hence, everyone cares about one's own
interest. Thus, what really matters is to accumulate more profit. Steinbeck
shows how American society adopts a materialistic behavior. This yearning to
acquire more wealth presses on property owners to resort to violence in order
to achieve their purposes. Similarly, the cruelty that rich landlords use
towards small farmers was destined only to have more profits. Yet, the profit
drawn from this ruthless exploitation is sometimes used towards futile purposes
as Steinbeck illustrates through this paragraph :«The
money was spent for arms, for gas to protect the great holdings and spies were
sent to catch the murmuring of revolt so that it might be stamped
out.»5(*)2
In other words, rich landowners' profit comes from the
mistreatment toward small cultivators. As one can see, this profit is used most
of the time to buy weapons or to secure their social position. Thus, many rich
owners are guided by a feeling of excessive pride and greediness. This
egocentric feeling rouses insensitive actions such as speculation, competition
and sometimes fraudulent ways of getting money. The financial desire thrusts
rich landlords to organize themselves into vicious and restricted circles in
order to elaborate deliberate ways to multiply their wealth and secure their
social status. In this regard, these self-protective methods go so far as to
debase poor farmers' life. In addition, the excessive covetousness of
landowners is the result of the opposing relationships with poor farmers. Thus,
if everyone is content with the strict minimum, that's to say, satisfy one's
basic needs: eating, drinking or other necessities, there will be no more
enough animosity between people. But it is this strong desire to acquire more
property that enlivens rich people to get together in order to achieve their
personal interest. This yearning is enhanced by a feeling to accumulate the
biggest profit in order to keep a good social status. Therefore, this state of
things causes a tense relation between rich and poor. In other words, wealthy
landowners act like an animal, that's to say, landlords adopt a life in which
they care only about themselves because farmers represent an obstacle to their
survival. Thus, on the one hand, this intense quest for profit does not allow
poor farmers to get used to this materialistic way of living, although the
pursuit for material prosperity constitutes a rightful activity. On the other
hand, some people, being unable to fulfill their basic needs, are obliged to
use immoral acts to satisfy their selfish needs. But, this quest for material
comfort goes so far as to get another meaning further than legitimate doings.
Therefore, material wealth becomes the source of all cruelty that Americans
endured during the thirties. In Grapes of Wrath, rich people
deprived poor farmers from their lands, landowners in return exploited workers,
and the food burnt and buried. All these transgressions impel Steinbeck to
wonder what really determines human being. All along The Grapes of
Wrath and The Pearl, Steinbeck draws a simple line through the
American people, one that divides the rich from the poor and identifies this
division as the primary source of wickedness and pain in America as well as in
the world. The purpose of creating protective associations is also a way for
rich owners to unite their force and discuss to the adequate policy to break
migrant farmers' associations. Thus, the freedom of organization is scorned.
And as we know, the liberty to associate is something fundamental for workers.
But, when this right is forbidden, one can say that human rights are
disrespected and farmers as victim are almost reduced to slave.
In fact, it is this excessive materialism which is the source
of social troubles such as crime, poverty, oppression and genocide. The main
concern is that materialism is unable to offer a peaceful existence. The life
of Landowners in The Grapes of Wrath is a descriptive illustration.
Although their lives are determined only by having material possessions, they
do not have a calm life. In this respect, materialistic behaviors create a
situation in which everyone focuses on one's selfish interest. This fact is
dangerous because the constant existence for a society depends on one's
conformity to moral values. But, the incapacity to adjust ethical values in
response to new changes in the society is sometimes attributed to the excessive
materialism of people. This is what happens to the community that John
Steinbeck describes in The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl. The
chapter nineteen is an illustrative example as it is visible through this
paragraph :
«A horde of feverish American poured
in, with such great hunger for the land they took it over.
They imported Chinese, Japanese,
Mexican and Filipino workers who became essentially
slaves.» 5(*)3
Steinbeck points out the fact that migrants' great suffering
is caused not by bad weather or mere calamity but by their fellow citizens.
Though, historical, social and economic circumstances separate people into rich
and poor, Steinbeck shows how American settlement in California had been done.
Thus, the new settlers struggled sternly to conquer new lands. Through the
paragraph above, Steinbeck describes his city as «the product of
land-hungry squatters». In other hand, Californian landowners see
this historical example as a threat because they think that migrant farmers'
arrival may cause the history to repeat itself. Thus, landowners erect a system
in which migrant farmers are treated like animals in order to protect
themselves from such danger. Materialism presses landowners to forget the
principle of universality, that's to say, honour, dignity, and solidarity. Yet,
if an action is right or wrong for a group of people, it has to be true or
incorrect for everybody. The same case should happen between landlords and
farmers. But, if we analyse the paragraph above, one can see that if American
settlers act heartlessly it's because of wealth. Thus, landowners' previous
misdeeds prevent them from being at ease and live placidly because they are
afraid of reprisal. The reality is that these property-owners do not apply to
themselves the same principles they use toward farmers. In other words,
landowners prefer use unworthy acts to get money rather than care about
farmers' lot. Thus, in The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl,
rich people believe that the fact of resorting to selfish and hypocrite
behaviors to achieve one's objective is somehow normal. This deplorable code of
conduct between rich people is considered as natural because it is the prime
condition that allows wealthy landowners to reach their personal goals.
The tragedy of this misbehaviour is that the affluent
landlords try to justify this excessive materialism because the necessity to
possess sufficient means guides the process of their life. In this respect, the
gap between rich and poor becomes greater. One can see that the history of
American society is a history of struggle between rulers and dominated,
operators and exploited, meaning there is a relation of might between poor
farmers and rich landowners as it is visible along the narration of The
Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl.
In The Grapes of Wrath, there is a huge
inequality between a wealthy minority and a hard-working majority. In spite of
this unfair division between rich and poor, landowners continue dishonestly to
become rich at the expense of small farmers who became poorer. Therefore, rich
people control the whole material possessions and do their entire utmost to
make small farmers always dependent. Thus, rich landlords use callous ways to
maintain this fact. The extent of atrocity that farmers endure is so hard that
the solution was to «adapt to
oneself» as Steinbeck says. Thus, it is clear that
nobody was able to do anything against this state of things as it is well
illustrated in this paragraph:
«It's
not me. There is nothing I can do. I`ll lose my job if I don't do
it.
And look - suppose
you kill me? They'll just hang you, but long before you're hung,
there'll be
another guy on the tractor, and he'll bump the house down.
You're not
killing the right guy.» 5(*)4
In other words, one can notice that farmers have nothing to do
except adjusting to the changing environment in order to survive as Steinbeck
suggests otherwise their life will be in jeopardy. One should
know the root of this materialistic conception in order to better explain the
cruel behaviour that incites rich landowners to enslave farmers. This
domination is exercised over different ways either directly by individuals. For
example, the pearl-buyers in The
Pearl who force Kino to buy his pearl or indirectly by associations of
rich people through private companies like «The
banks» in The Grapes of Wrath. This
misappropriation of resources by a small minority has some
consequences. First of all, in economic field rich owners
focus on how to make more financial profit than care about the collective need
of farmers. Thus, wealthy-landowners create unjust policy by which small
companies are not able to adapt themselves. It is in this regard that Steinbeck
says through The Grapes of Wrath, that «big capitalists build
a hard situation for migrant farmers in such way they won't be able to provide
their own needs that's to say, they will be bankrupted. That is the reason why
a lot of people become without shelters and sleeping sometimes in camps,
streets or in their cars». (p.478-479)
It is also manifest to remark another form of cruelty on
behalf of landowners. In fact, property-owners not able to sell their products
anymore are obliged to destroy tons of food whereas thousand of people die of
hunger. Thus, landlords prefer rather starve people than sell their harvest
cheaply. Likewise, rich landholders privilege a system in which the prices of
goods are rising. On the one hand, this unjust strategy makes poor farmers
incapable to buy fruits whereas on the other hand, landowners resort to the
method of increasing the quantity of harvest which creates an over-production
in the market. Consequently, little farmers become non-competitive.5(*)5 In the social field, the
division of American society in two main social classes with conflicting
interests becomes greater. In the first place, rich landowners possess the
resources of production whereas farmers have only thoughts and physical
capacities. For example, the Joads or the Wilson family who are obliged first
to work to get a wage that allows them to stay alive. This fact is noticeable
through Karl Marx's analysis in The Capital saying that «in
capitalistic society, proletarians are obliged to sell their labour force to
provide their own needs.»5(*)6 In other words, farmers have to barter their
strength in order to live. According to Marxists, this state of things opposes
human beings between them particularly though class struggle. The motivation is
that poor people want to improve their living condition whereas rich people try
to acquire more profit. Therefore, this class struggle will continue as long as
the excessive materialism responsible for this social division lasts. For this
reason, the author of The Grapes of Wrath and In Dubious
Battle shows how materialism leads to absurd situations such as disdain
and oppression which are the result of thoughtless acts. It is this inhumane
conduct that Steinbeck condemns in parallel with poor farmers' collective
interests. With a great sense of humanity, Steinbeck enlightens the tragic
story of his community through the Joads' destiny in The Grapes of
Wrath as well as through Kino's family in The Pearl. Steinbeck
demonstrates that money has a strong influence that coerces people to use
sometimes brutality. This incentive is visible through the pearl-dealers who
after vain temptations force Kino to kill one of them. Thus, materialism can
keep man from behaving like a human being. And according to pearl-buyers, the
quest for money has a great significance that even necessitates violence. The
greediness of La-Paz village is visible through Kino's pearl which
becomes also everyone's wish. Thus, Kino has what the whole community
needs.5(*)7
The feeling of contempt that rich landlords had towards
migrant cultivators in The Grapes of Wrath is also manifest in The
Pearl. Thus, in The Pearl, the doctor is incapable of emotion.
Thus, he is guided by a despicable feeling rather than by reason. The disregard
of the doctor toward Coyottito is visible through this paragraph:
«'Have I nothing better to do than cure insect bites
for `little Indians'?
I am a
doctor not a veterinary...»Has he any money» the doctor demanded.
«No, they never have any money».
I, I alone in the world am supposed to work for nothing
and I am tired of it. See if he has any money!»5(*)8
In this paragraph, Steinbeck shows how the doctor is very
attached to money so far as to transgress the oath of his profession. Thus, his
only concern is how to get wealth. As we know, everyone has one's own
imperfection. It is just the way of human nature. Thus, the common weakness
that everyone shares is the quest for money. But most people get caught up in
the selfish illusion that money is able to solve all their problems. This is
what happens to Kino's community as well as landowners through The Grapes
of Wrath. One can see that money has the force to change considerably
people. This change of behaviour is noticeable through two levels. Firstly,
Kino grants a great importance to the pearl. Thus, «the pearl has, as
Kino tells his brother Juan Tomas, become his soul. If I give it up I shall
lose my soul.» 5(*)9 In other words, Steinbeck
shows how man loses his consciousness so far as to adopt malevolent acts. It is
clear that the ambition of rich landholders and poor farmers converges towards
a common target: money. This same purpose is to maintain a social status for
landlords and get a decent living for poor farmers. Thus, this couple of
objectives is opposing. That is the reasons why rich and poor behave selfishly
so far as to use appalling acts that do not honour human nature. Thus, material
comfort which should be considered as a mean of exchange is regarded as the
first priority of life. This strong consideration of money goes so far as to be
against moral values. Through The Grapes of Wrath and The
Pearl, one can see that social success provokes nothing but misery and
fatality.
All in all The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl
present futile communities that are systematically fragmented by an extreme
materialism. In the former novel, Tom Joad is overcome by a feeling of
despondency and disappointment of human nature. Most of the characters in the
novel are painfully upset by a feeling of cruelty around them. The Joads'
characters and Kino's family become disillused in their places. The attempt to
move their places ends in failure. Their quests for survival become tragic, for
they are downgraded and mistreated like animals by people's selfishness and
materialistic disorientations. In this respect, man's quest for a decent life
cannot come true unless they turn back their brutal conducts and moderate their
yearning to get money. This was the only way that can orientate the thirties
American society to all-round development. In short, Steinbeck points out the
capacity of money and the fascination which it exerts on people. Admittedly, it
is not an offense to have some money but the latter was useful for the honor of
individual, honor in the sense where it is necessary to be well equipped, care
one's family and well nourish. But now, it is essential to accumulate more
money by all possible way to satisfy one's personality. Thus, money becomes a
means of showing one's financial power, which is undoubtedly the source of
dehumanization of social bond and deep discomfort. In the two novels of our
study, we are in presence of a society where people are obliged to show what
they represent in financial and material terms. This is what Steinbeck explains
through the relationship between farmers and landowners, poor and rich because
some people desire collect much money to dominate the others. All that leads to
deviant attitude and behavior comparing to the moral tenets which had been
established for the safeguard of social cohesion. Thus, according to Steinbeck,
it is in the order of things to look for money in order to live decently. But,
when this search for money becomes an obligation and takes frightening aspect,
consequently, this situation generates disastrous condition. This situation of
mistrust constitutes the main problem because it is the personality which
determines the act.
However, in a remarkable style, Steinbeck conveys clearly his
viewpoint face to a ruthless situation of his period and society. The critical
phase of this period is an acquisitive society combined with a despicable
behavior towards one and another. This misdemeanor leads American people to
remove the authentic moral values which really make man.
CHAPTER III :
ANALYSIS OF THE NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES
«The writer must believe that what he is doing is the
most
important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion
even when he knows it is not
true». __ John
Steinbeck
1 - LANGUAGE
Literature helps better understand human conditions in
society. Being a written material, literature through the use of a given
language does not fail to emphasize the difficulties facing human being such as
political and social tensions within the framework of the society. A writer
plays an important role in society. He is incumbent upon him to observe in
accurate details cultural, political and economic dysfunctions, to castigate
them for correctives purposes as it is said by Joseph Shipley:
«A
writer is not merely someone who is at the mercy of social and economic forces;
although those
forces do of course continuously affect his status and function.
He is also
himself an influence on society.»6(*)0
It is in this respect that Steinbeck puts his pen to condemn
the misdeeds done to the working classes in America particularly during the
thirties. Steinbeck's writing style as well as his social awareness of the
thirties is shaped by a convincing figure in his life, his wife Carol.
She helped him to edit his style while suggesting him most of his titles. One
should remind of the time when Steinbeck wrote his two novels in order to
better deal with the language he uses through The Grapes of Wrath and
The Pearl. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was
published in the middle of the industrial revolution. In this period, poor
farmers were marginalized and dispossessed from their lands. This fact
motivates him to use a direct and truthful language in order to denounce those
wrongdoings done to poor farmers by rich landowners. Thus, after many years of
personal questioning and quest, Steinbeck demonstrates what the obsession with
wealth causes to his community as well as the identity of the person who
experiences that wealth and fame.
At first glance of The Grapes of Wrath, one can see
that the title of the novel is pregnant with meaning because Steinbeck uses a
metaphor to denote a harsh petition to action against a bitter misconduct. In
fact, when Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath in 1939, America
was still recovering from the Great Depression. Similarly, Steinbeck resorts to
the title of his short story: The Pearl to reveal the bad effect of
wealth. The pearl which symbolizes prosperity is the cause of harsh
disagreement between people. Steinbeck, in a romantic way, gathers the
country's recent shame and desolation to erect his topic. It is clear that the
titles of the two works of fiction are significant in terms of interpretation.
The famous pearl as well as the bitter grapes are the causes of wealthy
people's selfishness and heartlessness toward poor people. From the beginning
of The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses historical items in order to
give his story a realistic aspect. Thus, Steinbeck condemns the growing
money-oriented behavior through the Joads' removal which is synonymous to
hypocrisy, opposition and brutality. Steinbeck uses a factual way of writing to
display the deception of American people due to the yearning for social
success. The use of permanent components of mechanic: «con-rod,
roadster, highway 66, and puncture, gearbox...» demonstrates the hard
removal of migrant farmers but also a way to emphasize the ways they are
brutally expelled from their lands. Steinbeck is so attached to his
environment. That is the reason why his language is descriptive and he goes so
far as to say that «man and nature constitute one and
single inseparable unit and none of them can move
apart». The symbolic language reveals the difficult
process of migrant farmers' eviction. The construction of the narration is of
great efficiency because the strength resides in an alternating way, whether
the narration of one family or a historical analysis. This technique is very
effective because the different chapters create an image of the economic and
social history
that impacts the story. The language that Steinbeck employs in The Grapes
of Wrath is so firm and simple that one can see also what was happening to
the group of migrant farmers traveling to California on Route 66. Steinbeck
uses through The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl the story of
the Joads and Kino's family to reveal the negative aspect of the materialistic
behavior of his community.
In this regard, Steinbeck uses a local dialect coupled with a
simple style to show the oppressive labor condition of poor farmers but also
the yearning for social success. So, in the beginning of The Grapes of
Wrath and The Pearl, Steinbeck employs an informative language
that predicts the misfortune that an extreme materialistic behavior is going to
cause for the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath as well as for Kino's
family in The Pearl. Steinbeck resorts to harsh words to show the
first origin of this acquisitive behavior. Thus, the use of a symbolic way of
writing is also present in Steinbeck`s language. In chapter three, Steinbeck
resorts to an animal as a figurative language to demonstrate poor farmers'
hardship. This trouble is visible through this paragraph:
«The turtle had jerked into
its shell, but now it hurried on, for the highway was burning hot.
And now a light truck approach, and
swerved to hit it. His front wheel struck the edge of the shell,
flipped the turtle like a
tiddly-wink spun it like a coin, and rolled it off the
highway» 6(*)1
In this paragraph, the turtle walks with difficulty and is
regularly confronted with the dangers of trucks. Significantly, Steinbeck uses
a metaphorical communication in order to show the same threat posed to the
farmers but also a way to better convey his message. The intrusion of car and
the building of highway demonstrate as well the painful mechanization process
of the land and its cruel effects. Likewise, the truck that strikes the turtle
is also a sign of new and brutal change in the American society. The incursion
of tractor in chapter eleven of The Grapes of Wrath is also a way to
show the inhumanity of tractors because the latter have no connection with the
land. Steinbeck uses symbolic languages to criticize the heartlessness of rich
people.
The use of allegorical elements is also a way for Steinbeck to
translate visually the formulation of his thought. And with a particular
language Steinbeck describes the tragedy of migrant workers during the
Depression. This allegorical method is also a technique to express his
disapproval against the selfish and unkind policies of rich landowners.
Steinbeck resorts to poor farmers' language (okies) so that their
concern dominates clearly his description, that's to say, his personal
consideration for poor people whether in America or Mexico. Steinbeck combines
through his narration the vernacular language of lower classes with the
Standard English language in order to better interpret cultivators' torments.
The combination of okies' language through The Grapes of Wrath and the
Latino words in The Pearl demonstrates also the origin of the two
communities. In fact, the use of colloquial language as a technique of writing
allows Steinbeck to keep the quality of the language without distorting the
English language. The allegory and literary forms used in ironic ways is
another way to insist on the materialistic culture which privileges only
individualism and competition for material comfort. Steinbeck uses an ironic
language to describe Kino's village: La- paz. In fact, «La-
paz» is synonymous to peace in Spanish language. But this village is
far from being a place of quietness. In a narrative way, Steinbeck resorts to
the discovery of the pearl to test people's values.
From The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, one
can see that wealth brings only anger and sorrow. Thus, what makes more
attentive the reader of The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath is
the abundant use of popular language. From this choice, one can see that
Steinbeck creates his own style in order to better disclose the distress of
poor people in his community. It is also obvious from Steinbeck's reasoning
that poor farmers could have got rich if landowners had softened their
obsession for material wealth. The pretense affective language in The
Pearl shows, to some extent, a certain duplicity of La-paz community
toward Kino's family precisely in the episode where Kino's son
Coyottito is bitten by a scorpion. The disguised language is also
noticeable through the doctor's act who refused before to examine Coyottito
due to his poverty. The negative response of the doctor to heal Kino is
visible through this paragraph:
«A wonderful thing, a memorable thing, to want
the doctor.
To get him would be a remarkable thing.
The doctor never came to the cluster of brush
houses...»6(*)2
Through the paragraph above, the use of adjectives
«memorable, remarkable, wonderful»
evinces how the people of la-paz community are conscious about the
power of money on their life. These adjectives show clearly a possible coming
of the doctor to poor houses would be a surprise. Steinbeck uses a contrastive
language to describe the deception of Kino's village. Thus, when Kino finds a
«large pearl as a sea gull's
eggs»6(*)3 which is tantamount to success and happiness, the
doctor changes his position. Thus, the language which was short and firm
becomes now airier and soft. The veiled language mentioned above shows both the
hypocrisy of the doctor as well as the pearl-dealers who depreciate the price
of the pearl in order to get it.
The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath are
written in detailed chapters showing what life is and was before. In The
Pearl, the different chapters demonstrate life before and after the
discovery of the pearl but also a way to better see the rising insincerity and
cruelty of Kino's community. Similarly, from chapter one to chapter
thirty in The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses a sustained language
to show his dissatisfaction with the American materialism as well as
the pressure to be loyal to a system that oppresses poor people. It is in this
regard that Steinbeck focuses on writing something true. Through this truthful
language, Steinbeck reveals one of the worst aspects of the American society,
that's to say, the cruelty of materialism during the thirties. Thus, Steinbeck
resorts to a free language to enlighten those who aspire to the American dream
to be more rational because this dream is nothing but an illusion that causes
despondency. Steinbeck uses along the narration of The Grapes of
Wrath a constant dialogue in order to better expose the egocentric policy
of his community as it is visible through this paragraph :
«The hitch-hiker
stood up and looked across through the window.
`Could ya give me a lift mister?'
The Driver looked quickly back at the restaurant for a second
`Did you see the No Rider
sticker on the win' shield?»6(*)4
The conversation between the driver and the hitch-hiker is a
way for Steinbeck to translate perfectly the insensitive regulations that
Californian authorities put in place in order to impose drivers to adopt
individualistic conducts. The dialogue along the whole narration of The
Grapes of Wrath is also a technique to display the tense relationships
between acquisitive landowners and dispossessed farmers. By using small pieces
of spoken conversation, Steinbeck is able to create a mood of confusion and
disorder. Likewise, the discussion used in chapter five between a tractor
driver and a tenant farmer shows the atrocious dispossession of farmers' lands
in The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck uses an easy language to illustrate
the insatiability of American people but also the cruel effects of the new
agrarian system. Thus, in Chapter five, Steinbeck resorts to a descriptive
language as it is noticeable through these following words:
«bank, machines and
creatures».6(*)5 These vocabularies are pregnant with meaning because
they describe the monstrous machine: the industry. Here the engine is related
with car and the latter is the spearhead of the consumer society. Steinbeck
describes the saleswoman's tart like a «branded like
an engine part». In other words, a
part of engine that needs to be changed regularly. Hence, one
can see through this metaphorical language that Steinbeck qualifies landowners'
behaviors like a horrible conduct. Steinbeck resorts to a simple speech so that
one can clearly see American people's acquisitive behaviors. Thus, during the
whole process of the narrative, Steinbeck uses realistic items:
«The death of the Joads' dog as well as the
discovery of the pearl by Kino».6(*)6 All these facts illustrate
the first signs predicting the tragedy that awaits those two families.
As an ecological writer, Steinbeck chooses some elements of
the nature to shed light his narration. Steinbeck goes deeply about a symbolic
way of writing to reveal a turbulent moment in the American history. As one can
notice through the words of the critic Robert Demott
«He entered both the American consciousness
and conscience.»6(*)7
It is clear from Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and The
Pearl, that man is put into a struggle between material success and moral
principles. Through an uncomplicated speech, Steinbeck provides convincing
details so that readers can see the characters' dilemma, that's to say, between
a revolt and an adaptation to this materialistic world. Steinbeck combines at
the same time elements of history and fiction to clarify his view. As one can
notice, there is an accumulation of historical and climatic informations
through Steinbeck's writing which demonstrates the historical background of the
thirties. Steinbeck adopts the technique of mixing together the torment of the
Joads with the universal suffering of migrant farmers.
Steinbeck's writing is so touching that it shows how the quest
for profit destroyed the most essential elements of agriculture, land and food.
Through his language, one can see that Steinbeck suggests landowners to revise
their method of cultivation. Steinbeck's words are stained with encouragement
toward farmers' speciality instead of supporting completely the mechanization
of the agriculture. In addition to the desire which leads him to the discipline
of writing, Steinbeck finds his theme in the people and the landscape of his
community (Salinas). That's why his writing is accurate and hard. It
is exactly this hardness that some critiques do not fail to condemn under the
pretext of quality for the language. Yet, one shouldn't forget that Steinbeck
is self-taught and sensitive to the styles of others but guarded from being too
influenced by other writers. Steinbeck's writing is so clear and detailed that
it incites American people to adopt reasonable behaviors toward the quest for
material prosperity. The fact of using lower class' dialect makes Steinbeck's
novels more realistic and involves the reader in the story. The language that
Steinbeck uses in The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath is an
appeal to human emotion to adapt to this materialistic society through faith
and solidarity.
2 - MOOD
The Grapes of Wrath as well as The Pearl is
written in a simple language. This simplicity is combined with harsh mood which
translates the cruelty of the American materialism during the thirties.
From the beginning of The Grapes of Wrath, there is a
menacing atmosphere that predicts farmers' coming trouble, as it is noticeable
through this paragraph:
«The men were silent and they did not move
often.
And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men....
To feel whether this time the men would
break.» 6(*)8
This paragraph gives a foretaste of farmers' difficulty.
Through a blurred mood, Steinbeck shows the Depression effect as well as the
helplessness of farmers in front of people's acquisitive behavior. In fact this
ominous mood is also visible through The Pearl in the episode where
Kino finds the precious pearl. In an alternating tone, Steinbeck emphasizes
poor people's characters that are dived in a money-oriented society. And with a
severe mood, Steinbeck depicts the yearning for wealth which is one of the
first causes of man's brutality. It is clear that the mood changes between
different levels, summarizing the experiences of a large number of people and
provides sometimes historical facts in order to make the novel more realistic.
Through a regretful mood, Steinbeck criticizes the heartlessness of
property-owners in The Grapes of Wrath because instead of buying
fruits cheaply, landlords prefer poison and throw the rest of fruits in the sea
as it is visible through this paragraph:
«The works of
the roots of the vines, of the trees must be destroyed to keep up price
and this is the saddest,
bitterest, thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground.
The people came for miles
to take the fruits, but this could not be...
and men with hoses squirt
kerosene on the oranges,
and they are angry
at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the
fruit.» 6(*)9
This paragraph shows one of the cruelest acts of landowners. A
constant harsh mood prevails along the paragraph above which demonstrates the
callous policy that prevents poor farmers from being able to acquire food. In
chapter twenty five, landlords prefer burn their harvest. This strategy creates
hunger and anger as it is noticeable through the final moving chapter in
The Grapes of Wrath in which Rosharon gives her breast to the
hungry man in order to feed him.7(*)0 The Grapes of Wrath as well as The
Pearl is composed with different chapters and moods. The diverse chapters
are tantamount to the different degree of people's violence. That is the reason
why the mood becomes tenser, illustrating the dualism between moral value and
material success. And through a deplorable mood, Steinbeck translates the
tragedy of the Joads and Kino's family successively in The Grapes of Wrath
and The Pearl.
The use of music through The Pearl is also a way to
anticipate the coming mood. The «song of
evil» in chapter two7(*)1 announces a
worried mood which demonstrates the coming danger of Kino's family in front of
aggressive pearl-dealers. In chapter one, the anxious mood can be felt
through Kino's brain as this paragraph illustrates it:
«In his mind a new song had come, the song of Evil,
the music of the enemy, of any foe of the family, a savage, secret, dangerous
melody...»7(*)2
In this paragraph above, Steinbeck demonstrates the risk that
Kino and his family incur. In other words, the unsafe and brutal song predicts
a danger toward Kino's family. Similarly, in The Grapes of Wrath, a
sad atmosphere invades the whole chapter six. The insecure atmosphere evinces
the hard removal of the Joad family who are obliged to move in order to escape
from the ferocity of materialistic landowners. The furious mood which is at the
start of The Grapes of Wrath is replaced by a dark mood in chapter
twenty one7(*)3
which shows the cruelty of human nature. This depressing atmosphere is
noticeable as well through The Pearl in the episode where
pearl-buyers want to kill Kino in order to take his precious pearl.7(*)4 The constant temptation
to murder is the reason of the strained mood.
Through a callous setting, Steinbeck reveals the pitiless
quest for material success of his fellow citizens in America. The gloomy mood
mentioned above discloses also the hypocrisy that prevails around his community
as it is obvious through the Doctor's dishonest conducts in The Pearl.
The Doctor refuses beforehand to heal Kino's son but after being informed about
Kino's treasure, immediately the Doctor changes his viewpoint.7(*)5 It is clear that the
vacillating mood from chapter one to chapter six in The Pearl reveals
people's deceptive attitudes and behaviors. The concealment of people's factual
purposes is the justification of the wavering mood. This indecisive atmosphere
divulges also the image of a divided America whose moral values are relegated
to the detriment of material prosperity. Thus, Steinbeck depicts through a
bitter mood the American society with a vision more pragmatic. The dark mood
which spreads along the narration demonstrates the dark side of an unfair
longing for wealth but also a way to disclose the illusory nature of the
«American Dream» which
causes nothing but sorrow and anger. The changing mood in Steinbeck's The
Grapes of Wrath as well as in The Pearl expresses also the mounting
acquisitiveness of pearl-dealers and prosperous landowners. Along the narration
of the two novels, a sorry air flows constantly throughout The Grapes of
Wrath and The Pearl describing poor people's hard lives who strive to
preserve their dignity in front of the materialistic wealthy people. And
through an altering mood, Steinbeck exposes the dilemma of some people who are
caught between material success and moral values.
In fact, the harsh mood mentioned through the two novels has
not the same intensity. From one chapter to another the mood changes
considerably. This brutal atmosphere becomes more terrible in the middle of the
narration than in the beginning of the narration. Similarly, the insatiability
of La-Paz village in The Pearl as well as the unkind
behaviors of landowners in The Grapes of Wrath becomes harder at the
end than in the beginning of the narration. It is clear that a stern mood
dominates along the whole narration of The Pearl and The Grapes of
Wrath. This fact is nothing but the translation of the excessive
materialism in America and its atrocious consequences. The strength of
Steinbeck's writing rests on its full of characters with a depressed mood
through the description. In The Pearl as well as in The Grapes of
Wrath, the mood is moving and runs so well that one can have an opinion
about the cruelty that extreme materialism can cause.
From The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath, the
reader feels shocked by the terrible and acquisitive conduct of people in
America. Therefore, these two novels are more than works of imagination because
they are genuine revelation of the selfishness and desperation that many
Americans felt during the thirties. Through a fiery mood Steinbeck denounces
the successful competition for material achievement that goes beyond animosity.
The author of The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath wants his
fiction sound as an alarm as well as an incentive for people to adopt more
civilized behaviors. Steinbeck creates the appropriate mood in these chapters
which is very important in getting readers' interest and allowing them to
understand what life should truly like for the deprived people.
CONCLUSION
The study of Materialism and Inhumanity has a prerogative that
consists in reinterpreting and rewriting American people's behaviors during the
thirties that are thoroughly altered by an extreme desire to acquire wealth.
American people culture is overdetermined by money-making attitudes so much so
that they are deeply affected by a lack of moral values.
Having no ethical peculiarity owing to the extreme
acquisitiveness of social success, the American society during the thirties had
difficulties in reconstructing the much fragmented society. As a result, they
were less committed to impose upon themselves a worthwhile conduct so as to
live properly in solidarity. The American society is confronted with a problem
of material success. They have no true moral values and focus on wealth which
warps their human nature. The result of this extreme materialism is that the
American nation remains morally and socially in a state of regression and its
inhabitants are far from privileging and conserving the respect of human
values.
In a materialistic society, there can be no solidarity because
everyone tries to get money to the detriment of someone else in order to get
better one's life. So, there is a position of exploitation, debasement and
brutality. The American society, conscious of it, but does not appear to get
rid of the perpetual and cruel yearning for social success. Steinbeck's
perspective seeks to reconstruct the American nation's cultural, political and
social policy in order to provide the American people more civilized
conducts.
Steinbeck's writings exemplify the question of human values in
America during the thirties. He contends that his nation is doubly affected by
the power of money and the craving for modernity. A sense of human anxieties
and loss of moral values are rife in the American society. The Grapes of
Wrath and The Pearl reflect the unsettling state of mind of
American citizens. These people cannot live decently in adopting an acquisitive
frame of mind which is based on a system that does not extol the virtues of
moral values. Thus, working classes have undergone the brutal effect of
materialistic landowners. And this materialism causes what George Lamming calls
«fractured
consciousness.»6(*)8 In his autobiographical novel, he underlines the
terrible change of cultural values that occurs in his village in Barbados where
the poor villagers used to lead a peaceful existence. Now these village
dwellers live in a country where material comfort and personal interest
prevail. This is the stark reality during the thirties in America whose most of
its inhabitants lost their ethical values and led a selfish existence.
In The Pearl as well, Steinbeck depicts a community
that is in the throes of critical situation. The people of La-Paz village in
The Pearl are equated with opportunist people who live in a country
where material success and self-interest are the main concerns. Not only is
money a priority, but it plunges also the whole country into violent behaviors.
People are unable to quench their intense desire for money and solve their
social turmoils. Just as the landlords in The Grapes of Wrath, they
are divided by personal interests. These opportunist landowners are stimulated
by economic privileges. Their sense of selfishness does not create good
conditions for a better existence in the country
The story that Steinbeck narrates in The Grapes of
Wrath is an attempt to delineate his painful experiences next to the
migrant farmers and to impose order on his society. He lived in a society that
was under the influence of money. Steinbeck was dissatisfied with his society
for being torn by an extreme wish for material gain. It is interesting to
remark that the lust to get money is not only the cause of man's inhumanity in
America. The truth is that American people attach less importance to the
virtues of dignity and solidarity and their leaders just work selfishly for
themselves monopolizing resources and obstructing any gateways to social and
political progress for poor people. This fact is paradoxical to modernity
because the latter is synonymous with progress.
The American nation is still victim of extreme materialism and
consequently, cannot be socially in advance. This fact leads the country in a
situation that offers no way out owing to the excessive exploitation of the
economy by rich people. Thus, wealthy people, irresponsible and passive
landowners were not up to alleviate such difficulties as unemployment, poverty,
social unease, etc that inevitably lead to an expansion of brutality and
backwardness.
In The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl,
Steinbeck highlights through this issue, the consequences of materialism on
American people who are short of moral principles and of a worthy economic
system that favors social progress. At the same time, Steinbeck criticizes
these landowners for adopting selfish behaviors and political backwardness. The
American society is doomed to remain in an acquisitive state for good so long
as its population turns their backs on moral values and makes material
achievement a priority. This conduct creates a heartless disorientation through
people's acts. The landowners in The Grapes of Wrath or the
pearl-buyers in The Pearl are «materialistic» and/or
adopting «inhumane» ways to satisfy their financial desires.
The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl represent
the vanity of rich people. It's true that material success brings comfort but
it causes also sorrow and fatality. The greatness of Steinbeck's work is that
at any level the two novels are well told to make us think about the future in
a materialistic world. In every case, many people believe that material
prosperity can solve all their problems, which is not exactly right. In short,
a loyal and rational consideration should be granted to the quest for wealth in
order to live placidly together.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I - WORKS STUDIED
- Steinbeck John. The Grapes of Wrath, New York,
Viking Press Edition, 1939.
- Steinbeck John. The Pearl, New York, Viking Press
Edition, 1947.
II- WORKS BY JOHN STEINBECK
A -- FICTION
-
Cup of Gold, USA, Penguin Books Edition, M. Mc Bride &
Co, 1929
- The
Pastures of Heaven, Penguin Books Edition. Robert O. Ballou,
Inc. 1932
- To a God
Unknown, USA, Penguin Books Edition, Robert Ballou, Inc.
1933.
- Tortilla
Flat, USA, Penguin Books Edition, Covici, Friede
1935
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The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath , USA,
Penguin Books, 1936
- In Dubious
Battle, USA, Penguin Books Edition, Covici,
Friede 1936
- Of Mice and
Men, London, Penguin Books Edition Ltd, 1937. First
published in The United Stated of America by Covici, Friede, Inc, 1938
-
Forgotten Village, New York, Viking press, 1941
- Sea of
Cortez, New York, Viking Press, 1941
- The Moon Is
Down, New York, Viking Press, 1942
- Cannery
Row, New York, Viking Press, 1945.
- The Wayward
Bus, New York, Viking Press Edition, 1947.
- Burning
Bright ,
New York, Viking
Press, 1950
- Sweet
Thursday, London, Heinemann Edition, 1954
- The
Short Reign of Pippin IV: A Fabrication, New York Viking
Press Edition, 1957
- The
Winter of Our Discontent, New York,
Viking Press
Edition, 1961
- The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knight,
Penguin Books Edition, 1976
B - NON FICTION
-
Working Days: The Journals of the Grapes of Wrath, New York,
Viking Adult First Edition,1938-1941
-
Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team, New York,
Viking Press Inc.
1942
- A Russian
Journal, New York,
Viking Press.
Inc.1948
- The
Log from the Sea of Cortez, New York,
Viking Press 1951.
- Once There
Was A War, New York Viking Press Edition, 1957.
-
Travels with Charley: In Search of America, USA, Edition
Penguin Putnam Inc, 1962.
- The World of
Li'l Abner, USA, Penguin Books Edition, 1965
- America and Americans, USA, Penguin Books Edition,
First published in The United Stated of America by Susan Shillinglaw and
Jackson. J. Benson.
1966
-
Journal of a Novel: The "East of Eden" Letters , New York,
Viking Press,
1969
-
In Touch by John Steinbeck IV, London, Hardback Andre
Deutsch, First Edition, 1969
C - SHORT STORIES
- The Long
Valley, Viking Compass Edition 1936
- "
Red
Pony", USA, Penguin Books, Covici, Friede. Inc. 1937
- Viva Zapata, New York, Penguin Books,
1952
III - CRITICAL WORKS ON JOHN STEINBECK
- Benson, Jackson J., The True Adventures of
John Steinbeck, New York, Viking Press, 1984.
- Demott Robert, John Steinbeck. The Working
Days: The journals of the Grapes of Wrath (1938-1941), Ohio University
Press, 1989.
- Demott Robert, J. Steinbeck's
Reading, New York, Garland Edition, 1984.
- Green, Celia, Letters from Exile:
Observations on a Culture in Decline, Oxford Forum, 2004.
- Karsten, Jr,Ernest E. "Thematic
Structure in The Pearl,", London Oxford University Press Vol. 54, No. 1,
January, 1965
- Levant Howard, "The Natural
Parable," USA, Missouri University Press, 1974
- Schultz Jeffrey, Critical Companion To
John Steinbeck, Duke University Press, December 1990
- WYATT, DAVID, New Essays on The
Grapes of Wrath, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1990.
- Warren, French, A Companion to
The Grapes of Wrath, New York, The Viking Press, 1963
- Warren French, "Dramas of
Consciousness,", USA, Twayne Publishers, 1975
IV - WORKS CITED
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Civilisation, Hachette Edition, 1967.
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l`Analyse Economique, Paris, La Découverte Edition, 1994.
- Beau Michel, « Karl Marx, le
capital, Bible de la Pléiade », Histoire du Capitalisme,
le Seuil, 1981.
- Demott Robert, The Working Days: The
journals of the Grapes of Wrath 1938-1941, Ohio University Press, 1989.
- Demott Robert, J. Steinbeck's
Reading, New York, Garland Edition, 1984.
- Fitzgerald F. Scott, The Great
Gatsby, New York, Scribner Classic, 1925. First Scribner Classic/ Collier
Edition, 1986.
- Gurr Ted, Why Men Rebel,
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970.
- Hobbes Thomas, Leviathan, or The
Matter, Form, & Power of a Common-Wealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil,
London, Andrew Crooke, 1651
- Kasser Tim, The High Price of
Materialism, The MIT Press, First edition September 2002.
- Lamming George, In The Castle of My
Skin, New York, Schocken Books, 1983.
- Luttwak Edward Nicolae, The Endangered
American Dream, Touchstone Book Edition, 1993, Translated by Sophie Duloq,
Le Rêve Américain en danger, Odile Jacob Edition,
1995.
- Mackin Ronald, David Carver, A Higher
Course of English study 2, London Oxford University Press, 1971.
- Naipaul Vidiadhar Surajprasad,
«London», The Times Literary Supplement, Excerpted from
Critical Perspectives On V.S. Naipaul August 1958.
- Sadji Abdoulaye,
Maimouna, Présence Africaine Edition, 1958.
- Said Edward. W., Culture and
Imperialism, New York, Vintage Books Edition, a division of Random House,
Inc., June 1994. First published in new York in 1993 in Hardcover by Alfred A.
Knopf.
- Saparta Marc, The American Ethos,
public Attitudes towards Capitalism and Democracy, Cambridge, Harvard
University Press, Translated by Herbert MC Closki, Capitalisme et
Démocratie l`Amérique juge de ses valeurs, Russiere and
Saint Armand Edition, Septembre, 1990.
- Shipley Joseph T., Dictionary of World
Literary Terms, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1970.
- Smith Adam, The Wealth of
Nation, Translated: Recherche sur la nature et les
causes de la richesse des nations, Livre I, Les Grands Thèmes.
Gallimard Idées Edition, 1776.
- Vincent Bernard (dir.), Histoire des
États-Unis, Paris, Champs Flammarion, 1997.
- Weber Marx, The Protestant Ethics and
the spirit of capitalism, translated by Charles Scribner's son, Lyceum
Edition, 1959.
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