Blog#4: Text Connections
One text connection Steinbeck makes is the references to the Great Depression. The novel was written in 1945 but tells the story of many people living through the 1930s. These text-to-worlds greatly exemplify how life was for people during The Great Depression. Prices are much lower, many people do not have much money, and unemployment is very common. For example Joey’s dad had great trouble fining a job. He was unable to provide for his family and as a result he kills himself by eating rat poison. Steinbeck shows how hard life was for these people who were greatly struggling. This pain was felt nation-wide during this time period and he attempts to untie his readers through the number of stories. This struggle seems to be the one thing that ties all of the characters together. When one character seems to be having issues, all of the characters seem to fall. After the first party, The Bear flag had to close for two weeks, Doc had to think of a way to pay for all of the damages, and Mack and the boys felt ashamed by the horrible things they had caused and felt that they needed to find work in order to make things right again. However, as soon as one of their lives started to turn around, the others seemed to be picked back up again as well.
Nice text connection Connor! I got the same exact text connection with the time era of the Great Depression, following the roaring 20s. The era was a disaster, both physical and physiological. Like you said, many turned to killing themselves or leaving their families because of the unbearable pain of facing their family when returning home. The pain was involved in its own circular cycle: it would hit one person of society and eventually everyone else was feeling equal if not more poverty than their neighbor. Going off of that, it reflects both the optimism and misery endured by the group of friends. They were in it together, and when things got better, it got better for the majority of them.
ReplyDelete