Connecting to I’ll be There
by Shaun Dunn
Hi, I’m Shaun Dunn from Lincoln, Nebraska here for HPPR’s Radio Readers Book Club. John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors, so I was excited to re-read what is arguably his most celebrated book: The Grapes of Wrath. Winner of a Pulitzer for fiction, read in hundreds of high school classrooms, and considered a Great American Novel, The Grapes of Wrath tells the story of the Joad family who drive from Oklahoma to California with all their family members and possessions in a single vehicle. After losing their family farm when the bank foreclosed on it in the drought years of the Dust Bowl, the Joad’s learn they are now part of a lower caste in America, so-called ‘Okies’ or Oklahomans-turned-migrant workers. I was struck by how differently the story impacted me compared to when I first read the book more than 20 years ago.
When I originally read this book, I remember being captivated with the book’s themes of injustice and rebellion in America. And I finally understood all those lyrics from Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, and Rage Against the Machine! I was angered by the strike-breakers who would burn down the shanty towns and Hoovervilles to keep the workers from organizing to get a livable wage. I remember really connecting with the characters of Tom and Casey – especially Tom’s famous ‘I’ll be there’ monologue.
But this time my heart ached for the Joad’s as their family fell apart: as the bank’s tractor-driven plow knocked into the Joad’s home making it unlivable; as the adults took less food so the kids and Rose of Sharon (who is 8 months pregnant) could eat more; when Tom has to go into hiding after accidently killing a strike-breaker. I found myself more worried about the families, the Joad’s and the hundreds of thousands of other families that had to make similar trips to find work in the 30’s.Having my own family and struggling financially at times has changed my perception of this book.
Growing up I was told The Grape of Wrath was a good representation of those impacted by the Dust Bowl, but I think Steinbeck’s vivid description of corporate greed is overlooked or forgotten. Steinbeck writes, “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. ”The Great Depression wasn’t caused by just the Dust Bowl, it was capitalistic greed, price-fixed commodities, reckless tariffs, and a lack of humanity by many.
I was surprised to find that a book published over 80 years ago contains a lot of direct comparisons to today’s increasingly disparate economic and social inequalities, and poor treatment of migrants. Steinbeck reminds us that economic inequalities are nothing new when he wrote: “And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.”
I’d encourage everyone to give this book a read, or even a re-read if it’s been a few years, because unfortunately parts of it are still relevant today. While The Grapes of Wrath is a poignant piece of writing and effective at conveying a difficult time in America’s past, I do like to point out that Steinbeck didn’t win the Nobel Prize for Literature until 1962, after he wrote his tome East of Eden. It might be difficult for some to pick a favorite Steinbeck book, but the fact that we named our first daughter Abrah would give you a hint at mine.
This is Shaun Dunn for the HPPR’s Radio Readers Book Club encouraging you to take care and keep reading.
