A portrait of the bitter conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man's fierce reaction to the injustice of the time, and of a family's quiet, forbearing strength, The Grapes of Wrath is a landmark of American literature, one that captures the horrors of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl as it probes into the very nature of equality and justice in early twentieth century America.
             In the epic tale of the Joad family's migration from the terror floating in the midst of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl to the "Eden of California", John Steinbeck depicts the lives of ordinary people striving to preserve their humanity in the face of social and economic desperation. When the Joads lose their tenant farm in Oklahoma, they join thousands of others, traveling the narrow concrete highways toward California and the dream of a piece of land to call their own. Each night on the road, they and their fellow migrants recreate the past, and rather, faraway society where leaders are chosen, silent standards of privacy and generosity evolve, and passion, violence, and malicious rage erupt (Bender, 20-25).
             Published in 1939, John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath drew attention to the hardships faced by the "Okies": poor farmers who moved from the Dust Bowl area to California in search of work. While writing the book, John Steinbeck visited Bakersfield, California and based his book on Arvin Federal Government Camp, which he portrayed as "Weedpatch Camp." (Owens, 5). The camp's solemn yet radical atmosphere, combined with the plight of America's Great Depression bestowed onto the story a pungent perspective to that unforgettable time period.
             The camp's history began in 1935 and lasted until 1940, when over one million people left their homes in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri to escape the wind, dust, and drought caused by the monstrous Dust Bowl (Fanslow, 2). They quickly set out for Cal...