The 1929 stock exchange crash and the great depression.
Pictures about the great depression: pictures tell more than words sometimes...
What is "the dust bowl"?
The Dust Bowl or the Dirty Thirties was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936 (in some areas until 1940).
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of sharecroppers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, and changes in financial and agricultural industries. Due to their nearly hopeless situation, and in part because they were trapped in the Dust Bowl, the Joads set out for California. Along with thousands of other "Okies", they sought jobs, land, dignity and a future.
The Grapes of Wrath is frequently read in American high school and college literature classes due to its historical context and enduring legacy. A celebrated Hollywood film version, starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford, was made in 1940.
(From Wikipedia) The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F. Zanuck.
The film tells the story of the Joads, an Oklahoma family, who, after losing their farm during the Great Depression in the 1930s, become migrant workers and end up in California. The film details their difficult journey across the United States as they travel to California along route 66, in search of work and opportunities for the family members.
In 1989, this film was one of the first 25 films to be selected for preservation by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
The Plot:
Listen to the song "Tom Joad" sung by Country Joe McDonald
The film opens with Tom Joad. (Henry Fonda), released from prison and hitchhiking his way back to his family farm in Oklahoma. Tom meets an ex-preacher named Jim Casy (John Carradine) sitting under a tree by the side of the road. Casy was the preacher who baptized Tom, but now Casy has "lost the spirit" and his faith (presaging his imminent conversion to communism). Casy goes with Tom to the Joad farm only to find it deserted. There, they meet Muley (John Qualen) who is hiding out there. In a flashback, he describes how farmers all over the area were forced to leave their farms by the banks, including a striking scene where a local boy (Irving Bacon), hired for the purpose, knocks down Muley's house with a Caterpillar tractor. Following this, Tom and Casy move on to find the Joad family at Tom's Uncle John's place.
His family is happy to see Tom and explain they have made plans to travel to California in search of work as their farm has been taken from them by the bank. The large Joad family of twelve leaves at dawn, along with Casy who decides to come along, packing everything into an old 1926 Hudson "Super Six" truck in order to make the long journey to the promised land of California.
The trip along Highway 66 is long and hard. Weak and old Grandpa (Charley Grapewin) is the first to die on their journey. After he dies, they stop on the roadside, unload him, and bury him. Tom writes the circumstances of his death on a page from the Family Bible and places it on the body so that if his remains were ever found, his death would not be investigated as a possible homicide.
They park in a camp and they meet a man, a returning migrant from California, who laughs at Pa's optimism about conditions in California and who speaks about his awful experiences in the West. He warns the Joads about what they'll soon find out for themselves. The family arrives at the first migrant campground for workers and find the camp is crowded with other starving, jobless and desperate travellers. Their truck slowly makes its way through the dirt road between the shacks and around the camp's hungry-faced inhabitants.
After some trouble with a so-called "agitator," the Joads leave the camp in a hurry. The Joads make way to another migrant camp named the Keene Ranch. After doing some work in the fields they discover the high food prices in the company store for meat and other products. The problem is that the store is the only one in the area. Later they find there is a striking (grévistes) group of migrants in the camp and Tom wants to find out all about it. Tom goes to a secret meeting in the dark woods. The meeting is discovered and Casy is killed by one of the guards. Tom tries to defend Casy from the vicious attack and kills the attacking guard when he retaliates.
During the fight, Tom suffers a serious wound on his cheek and the camp guards realize it won't be difficult to identify him. That evening the family hides Tom under the mattresses of the truck just as guards arrive to question them and search for the killer of the guard. Tom avoids being spotted and the family successfully leaves the Keene Ranch without further incident.
They drive for a while and then stop at the top of a hill when the engine overheats; they have little gas, but decide to try coasting down the hill to some lights. The lights are from a third type of camp: Farmworkers' Wheat Patch Camp (Weedpatch in the book), a clean camp run by the Department of Agriculture, complete with indoor toilets and showers, which the Joad children had never seen before. Then Tom decides to leave his family as the police are behind him. One night, he says goodbye to his mother and he describes how he plans to carry on Casy's mission in the world by fighting for social justice. Tom goes off to seek a new world.
As the family moves on again, they discuss the fear and difficulties they have had, but recognize that they have come out the other side. Ma Joad concludes the film, saying these famous lines:
" I ain't never gonna be scared no more. I was, though. For a while it looked as though we was beat. Good and beat. Looked like we didn't have nobody in the whole wide world but enemies. Like nobody was friendly no more. Made me feel kinda bad and scared too, like we was lost and nobody cared.... Rich fellas come up and they die, and their kids ain't no good and they die out, but we keep on coming. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out, they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, cos we're the people."
Some of the most famous scenes from the film
Ma Joad is the strongest character, she is the one who keeps the family together, whatever happens...
