Examples Of Police Brutality In John Steinbeck's Grapes Of Wrath

Muley is a man who has refused to leave his land, despite being told he no longer owns it. He goes on to describe the police as hunters, and he is being the hunted, as if he was nothing but an animal. As Muley begins to talk with Tom and Casey he also discusses his mistrust for government.” Further along in the story, Ma is forced to beg police to let them pass as they are attempting to enter California; the police are given the characteristic of being the barricade of hope. Another example of police brutality occurs when the police come into the camp the Joads are staying in, and after Floyd attempts to stand up for fair pay, a fight breaks out, and the police begin shooting at Floyd without a care, and shoot an innocent woman instead without remorse. They then proceed to burn down the camp, to eliminate the migrants attempts to live there. One last example that can be discussed, occurs near the end of
The suffering of the migrants in many ways can be contributed to man themselves. During the time of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowel great social and economic circumstances dived people in “the rich” and “the poor.” Investors in the farmland of the countries’ bread basket did not care about what they did to the tenants as long as the land was being farmed. As soon as tenants were kicked off their land, the land was being torn down and the people were replaced anew. Rather than having compassion for the thousands of people without work, food, or a home, the migrants were ridiculed and abused. These migrants were treated as lesser beings, even below the small farmers in California in which they would have once been considered equal to. Migrants were starved and left along the sides of the roads with little to no shelter. Those with wove past those without as if they weren’t even there; the line drawn between classes was forever