Analysis of four types of conflict in John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", man versus man, man versus nature, man versus society, and man versus himself.
In John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, the journey of the Joad family is riddled with conflict. The family experiences all of the four major types of conflicts: man vs. himself, man vs. society, man vs. nature, and man vs. man. In the case of The Grapes of Wrath, "man" represents the Joad family as a single unit. They experience conflict within the family itself, with the society they are coming from as well as the one they are going to, and with nature and the elements. The man vs. man conflict is usually just a more specific example of one of the other areas of conflict.
The most prevalent conflict in the novel is man vs. society. The first example is the Joads being forced off their land in Oklahoma. The corporations are becoming bigger in America, and are driving all the small farmers off of their land. "One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families" (Steinbeck, 44). This causes a conflict because the Joads are being forced to leave the land their familes have lived on for generations. A second conflict between the Joads and society starts when they leave their farm for the west. Almost immediately after they leave Oklahoma, they start to feel out of place, and later are directly ostracized by people in the west, who start calling them "Okies", and making their lives worse in any way possible. "Them goddamn Okies got no sense and no felling. They ain't human. A human being wouldn't live like they do. A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable. They ain't a hell of a lot better than gorillas" (301). This quote shows the incredibly low opinion the people in the west held of the people emigrating from the Midwest.
The quest for work shows another aspect of the Joad family's conflict with society in the west. There is such a poor balance of workers to work, that even if they are lucky enough to find work, it will barely pay enough to feed their family. But the problem isn't a shortage of food, it's that the economy is
The most prevalent conflict in the novel is man vs. society. The first example is the Joads being forced off their land in Oklahoma. The corporations are becoming bigger in America, and are driving all the small farmers off of their land. "One man on a tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families" (Steinbeck, 44). This causes a conflict because the Joads are being forced to leave the land their familes have lived on for generations. A second conflict between the Joads and society starts when they leave their farm for the west. Almost immediately after they leave Oklahoma, they start to feel out of place, and later are directly ostracized by people in the west, who start calling them "Okies", and making their lives worse in any way possible. "Them goddamn Okies got no sense and no felling. They ain't human. A human being wouldn't live like they do. A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable. They ain't a hell of a lot better than gorillas" (301). This quote shows the incredibly low opinion the people in the west held of the people emigrating from the Midwest.
The quest for work shows another aspect of the Joad family's conflict with society in the west. There is such a poor balance of workers to work, that even if they are lucky enough to find work, it will barely pay enough to feed their family. But the problem isn't a shortage of food, it's that the economy is