Grapes of Wrath - The Book and Movie that gave me a social conscience at age 17

[JPZenger]

I just saw the movie Grapes of Wrath again on DVD. It is one of the greatest movies of all time. It was directed by John Ford, based upon a novel by John Steinbeck. It was released in 1940. When I first read the book at age 17, it helped give me a social conscience.

It is about Tom Joad and his family. They are Oakies from Oklahoma who are chased off their land by bankers and the dust bowl during the Depression. They read ads telling them that there were plenty of jobs picking fruit in California, and head off across the desert to seek the promised land. The large farm owners are actually seeking to have a huge surplus of labor so they can have people fighting over poverty wages.

The Oakies are simple people who maintain their dignity despite being cheated, laughed at, persecuted and beaten.

Woody Guthrie loved the book and the movie and wrote a song about Tom Joad.

In the beginning, a large tractor is coming to level the wood homes of the farmers. The owner of a home aims his shotgun at the guy on the tractor. The guy on the tractor says "you won't shoot me, I'm just a neighbor trying to feed my kids." The guy with the gun keeps asking "Then who can I shoot." It is explained to him that the land company is just doing what the bank tells them to do. The local banker is just doing what their headquarters tells them to do. The people responsible are no where to be seen.

The movie was made by a large studio run by a conservative. Steinbeck was very afraid that the story would be watered down. Fortunately, the wife of the president of the bank that financed the movie told her husband how much she loved the book. That helped to prevent interference, and the movie captured the essence of the book.

Steinbeck grew up in the area where the story took place and had conducted research for a newspaper before he wrote the book. He knew about the violence that erupted between the land owners' hired guns and the migrants. Steinbeck best source was a man who ran a model Federal government camp for migrants in California. That man had interviewed many of the Oakies and documented their experiences. The book was dedicated to him.

Fortunately, most of the Oakies were able to get jobs in defense plants in California once WWII started.

Twenty years later, Edward R. Murrow reported in a CBS documentary that many of the same conditions existed for a new generation of migrant farm workers.

The commentary with the DVD is definitely worth listening to. It combines a film critic who is knowledgeable about John Ford with an author who is knowledgeable about Steinbeck.

Steinbeck and Ford both had to fight suspicions that they were Com-muu-nits. Steinbeck tried to volunteer for the armed services in WWII, but was turned down because of his liberal politics. He had to settle for being a war correspondent. Ford proved his patriotism by making the "Why We Fight" film series, but still was suspected of being a leftist during the McCarthy era. Steinbeck was a lifelong Democrat who wrote speeches for Adlai Stevenson. He travelled through Vietnam during the War shortly before his death.

[JPZenger]

1. The song Woody Guthrie wrote after watching the movie

The night Woody Guthrie saw the movie Grapes of Wrath, he stayed up all night with a half jug of wine, a guitar and a borrowed typewriter and wrote this song: (excerpts)

"Tom Joad met Preacher Casey, and they had a little drink,
But they found that his family they was gone.
And he found little Muley and Muley said,
"They've been tractored out by the Cats.*"

(Cats = large caterpillar tractors)

Tom Joad walked down to the neighbor's farm,
Found his family.
They took Preacher Casey and loaded in a car,
And his mother said, "We've got to get away."

Now, the twelve of the Joads made a mighty heavy load;
But Grandpa Joad did cry.
He picked up a handful of land in his hand,
Said: "I'm stayin' with the farm till I die."

They fed him short ribs and coffee and soothing syrup;
And Grandpa Joad did die.
They buried Grandpa Joad by the side of the road,
They buried Grandma on the California side.

They stood on a mountain and they looked to the west,
And it looked like the promised land.
That bright green valley with a river running through,
There was work for every single hand, they thought.

The Joads rolled away to the jungle camp,
There they cooked a stew.
And the hungry little kids of the jungle camp
Said: "We'd like to have some, too."

Now a deputy sheriff fired loose at a man,
Shot a woman in the back.
Before he could take his aim again,
Preacher Casey dropped him in his track.

They handcuffed Casey and they took him in jail;
And then he got away.
And he met Tom Joad on the old river bridge,
And these few words he did say, poor boy.

"I preached for the Lord a mighty long time,
Preached about the rich and the poor.
Us workin' folkses, all get together,
'Cause we ain't got a chance anymore."

Now, the deputies come, and Tom and Casey run
To the bridge where the water run down.
But the vigilante thugs hit Casey with a club,
They laid Preacher Casey on the ground, poor Casey.

Tom Joad, he grabbed that deputy's club,
Hit him over the head.
Tom Joad took flight in the dark rainy night,
And a deputy and a preacher lying dead.

Tom run back where his mother was asleep;
He woke her up out of bed.
An' he kissed goodbye to the mother that he loved,
He said what Preacher Casey said.

"Ever'body might be just one big soul,
Well it looks that a-way to me.
Everywhere that you look, in the day or night,
That's where I'm a-gonna be, Ma.

Wherever little children are hungry and cry,
Wherever people ain't free.
Wherever men are fightin' for their rights,
That's where I'm a-gonna be, Ma."

[zanne]

2. The end of that book is the most human thing I have ever read.

Thank God for Steinbeck.