The Grapes of Wrath
Webquest
Introduction
In the 1930's the Midwestern states suffered an incredible
drought. This area became known as the Dust Bowl. Many families
were forced to stop farming their land or they lost their land
and were forced to move to other places with the promise of work.
One such migrant family, the Joads, was fictionalized by John
Steinbeck in his novel The Grapes of Wrath. For your next
project you will enter this era and relive the trials and tribulations
of those who lived through this time. Your group will assume
roles that played a part in this tragic story. Your findings
will be presented to the entire class in a Power Point presentation.
Become a person in The Grapes of Wrath or one who influences
the events in this novel. Your team has been assigned two of
these roles. Each person will have a different perspective of
the events. Choose a topic that is appropriate for your role.
Weave events from the novel/film in your presentation.
1. The Historian-chronicle the events, gather and weave human
interest stories based on actual history.
2. One of the Joads (these will be specified) Document at
least two experiences as they pertain to you and record them
in a journal.
3. Government Official-Interact with the migrants and landowners
while carrying out government policy, design a campaign to influence
migrants and or landowners.
4. Scholar-discuss the background of the novel and the influences on
Steinbeck's life that caused him to write this story.
5. The Migrant mother, father, or child. (Specify who you are.)-tell
everyone what your life is like now that you have been uprooted
and seemingly have been exploited.
6. The Songwriter-chronicle the events, gather and weave human
interest stories based on actual history into a song that reflects
the novel's experience. Make sure that these songs are ones that
a migrant family might have heard or sung. Be prepared to perform
some of these songs yourself.
7. Photo-Journalist-report the events in Oklahoma and California
for your newspaper/magazine/book during this era.
8. John Steinbeck-report where and how you gathered information
for the writing of the book.
Divide into groups of four.
In your group, choose two of these roles.
Historian
A Joad family member
Government Official
Scholar
Migrant Worker
Singer
Photo-Journalist
John Steinbeck
Follow the links under each role to get information about the
characteristics and responsibilities of each one.
Read the contents that refer to your role. Follow the instructions
and steps indicated.
Assign group tasks.
Conduct an internet search for your role using the Resources
provided.
The Grapes of Wrath Characters
From Sparknotes
Tom Joad The novel's main character and second Joad
son. As the novel opens, he is returning to his family after
his parole from the McAlester State Penitentiary. Among the novel's
characters, Tom shows the most growth in his realization of the
concept of human unity and love.
Jim Casy A former preacher. Concerned with his controversial
beliefs about what is sinful and what is holy, he has renounced
his calling. Traveling to California with the Joads, he plans
to listen to the people and help them. Casy is the spokesman
for the author's main theories, including the multi-faceted themes
of love and strength in unity.
Ma Joad Wife and mother. Ma is the backbone of the Joad
family: strong-minded and resolute. Her main concern is that
the family unit not be broken. She is the physical embodiment
of Steinbeck's theory of love.
Pa Joad Patriarch of the Joad clan. Pa is a sharecropper
whose land has just been foreclosed on by the bank. Somewhat
lost and weakened, he leads his family to California in search
of work.
Rose of Sharon Eldest Joad daughter. Rose of Sharon is
pregnant and married to 19-year-old Connie Rivers. Self-absorbed
by her pregnancy, she has many plans and dreams for their life
in California. At the novel's close, she represents life-giving
force.
Granma and Granpa The couple who first began farming on
the land that Pa has lost.
Al Joad Sixteen-year-old Joad son. Al willingly admits
that only cars and girls interest him. He is responsible for
the maintenance of the family's truck during the journey to California.
Muley Graves A Joad neighbor in Oklahoma. Muley has also
been tractored off his land. He chooses to stay behind when his
family leaves for California, an illustration of the effect of
loss on those who have been driven from their land.
Ivy and Sarah (Sairy) Wilson Traveling companions of the
Joads. A couple from Kansas, the Wilsons meet the Joads when
their touring car breaks down. After Al and Tom fix their car,
they travel with the family to the California border. The cooperation
between the Wilsons and the Joads exemplifies the strength that
is found in persons helping others.
Mr. and Mrs. Wainwright The Wainwrights share a boxcar
with the Joads at the end of the novel. Like the Wilsons, their
union with the Joads underscores the novel's theme of human unity.
Agnes Wainwright The Wainwright's 16-year-old daughter.
She is engaged to Al Joad at the end of the novel.
Ezra Huston Chairman of the central committee in the government
camp at Weedpatch.
Willie Eaton Texan in charge of the entertainment committee
at the government camp. He and his committee members thwart a
staged riot attempt by the Farmers Association.
Historical People of Interest:
Woody Guthrie was the most important American folk music artist
of the first half of the 20th century. Coming out of Oklahoma,
Guthrie had firsthand knowledge of the Dust Bowl, chronicled
in John Steinbeck's novel -The Grapes of Wrath. In fact, Guthrie
wrote his own version of the story in a song called "Tom
Joad." By the time he gained recognition in the '40s, Guthrie
had written hundreds of songs, many of which remain folk standards
to this day. When he was interviewed by Alan Lomax for the Library
of Congress in March 1940, Guthrie punctuated his reminiscences
by singing "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You," "Dust
Bowl Blues," "Do-Re-Mi," "Pretty Boy Floyd,"
"I Ain't Got No Home," and other songs. He later wrote
"Pastures of Plenty," "The Grand Coulee Dam,"
and his masterpiece, "This Land Is Your Land." He was
also an author (Bound for Glory) and a newspaper columnist.
DOROTHEA LANGE (1895-1965) Photo-Journalist
In 1912 she opens a photographic studio in San Francisco. She
begins working as a portrait photographer, interested in the
psychological aspect of her subjects but still working within
the context of the pictorial style of the period. However, the
American Depression in the early 30's is to drastically change
her approach to photography.
Hired by the Farm Securities Administration, funded by the US
Congress she begins a exploration of the vast movement of migratory
workers to the West. This experience is to mark her forever.
The portraits she produces during this period reveal a deep understanding,
compassion and sensitivity towards her fellow man. Her most famous
work, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California symbolizes a triumph
of the human spirit in times of difficulty.
Dorothea Lange's photography was to inspire Steinbeck's "The
Grapes of Wrath" which in turn inspired John Ford's film
adaptation.
John Steinbeck:
"John Steinbeck performed a rare feat for a writer of fiction.
He created a literary portrait that defined an era. His account
of the "Okie Exodus" in The Grapes of Wrath
became the principal story through which America defined the
experience of the Great Depression. Even today, one of the enduring
images for anyone with even a passing familiarity with the 1930s
is that of Steinbeck's fictional characters the Joads, an American
farming family uprooted from its home by the twin disasters of
dust storms and financial crisis to become refugees in a hostile
world. Not since Dickens's portrayal of the slums of Victorian
England has a novelist produced such an enduring definition of
his age."
--from "Steinbeck's Myth of the Okies," by Keith Windschuttle
Resources
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| Background
Information
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Migrant Workers
Government Officials
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| Singers
Woody Guthrie:
Art in the Great Depression
| "On May 6, 1935, the Works
Progress Administration (W.P.A.) was created to help
provide economic relief to the citizens of the United
States who were suffering through the Great Depression.
The artistic community had already become inspired
during the 1920s and '30s by the inspired creations
of Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco,
and David Alfaro Siqueriros. Certain visionary U.S.
politicians decided to combine the creativity of the
new art movements with the values of the American
people" |
|
Voices of
the Dustbowl
Photo-Journalism
Walker
Evans
Dorothea Lange: Web Collections
|
| Reading The
Grapes of Wrath
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John Steinbeck:
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| |
Presentation Links
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