Greed In The Grapes Of Wrath

“The Grapes of Wrath”

The Power of Human Greed

Historical and economic circumstances lead to the formation of two main social groups in “The Grapes of Wrath”: landowners and tenants. Those who own land fight to maintain authority and control, while tenants struggle to make ends meet. Existing conditions create hostility between both groups and lead to greater income disparity.
Although the worsening situation of the farmers in Steinbeck’s novel results from soil exploitation and disadvantageous weather, one might argue that division into rich and poor inflicts the pain and suffering, not only in the novel but also in the whole world.
One of the main themes in “The Grapes of Wrath” is revealing about the relationship between the
rich and poor. Steinbeck views wealthy people as “monsters” and the poor as their victims. Throughout the course of novel he emphasizes dangers associated with the division into social classes. The author is extremely concerned about the attitude of the upper class toward the poor and the associated social injustice. The Joad family, as many others at that time, is forced to move to California, because land is over farmed and existing drought prevents them from earning enough to make their living in Oklahoma. The wealthy landowners, concerned only about the money, realize that labor intense farming becomes less profitable than farming supported by the use of machinery and decide to evict farmers by destroying their homes. Told there are plenty of employment opportunities in California, the Joads decide to pack and move there. Their journey is very long, and they face many difficulties.
The lower income class, to which the Joads belong, lacks an appropriate level of education and experience. Rich and educated people are aware of this and many times take advantage, hence the bargaining power is higher for them and they use it to swindle poor farmers. In chapter seven, the car deceives farmers by selling them wrecked trucks for artificially high prices. He is able to accomplish that by using easy tricks to decrease the level of noise the cars are make and because of the farmers’ limited time and hence the lack of ability to search for better and cheaper substitutes.
Similarly, people buying possessions from poor farmers: "that seeder cost thirty-eight dollars. Two dollars isn't enough. Can't haul it back – Well, take it, and a bitterness with it."(p.86) Farmers cannot take all the items they own to California and have to accept any price the dealers are offering. They pay as little as they possibly can for the valuable belonging farmers try to sell: "How much? Ten dollars? For both? And

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the wagon- Oh Jesus Christ! I'd shoot 'em for dog feed first. Oh, take 'em!"(p.87)From this one can clearly see that dealers reap farmers off while trying to make them think they are getting a good deal. Moreover landowners lower wages to maintain high profits. Likewise they manipulate the demand and supply to sustain artificially high prices of crops. Maintaining high prices and low costs of production makes their marginal profits remain high. Consequently there is no place for small tenant-farmers, depending on labor intense production, in the business: "money that might have gone for wages went for gas, for guns, for agents and spies, for blacklists, for drilling."(p.284) In his novel, Steinbeck makes clear the contrast between thoughtfulness and humanity of the poor and the cruelty and greed of the rich. Although landowners see only short-term benefits from exploiting cheap labor, the author points out that it might have fatal consequences in the long- run: “companies did not know that the line between hunger and anger is a thin line."(p.284) Landowners do not consider the poor as beings with full human rights, but instead as animals they can cheaply buy and sell at any time which is well illustrated in chapter twenty one "on the highways the people moved like ants and searched for work, for food. And the anger began to ferment."(p.284) Thus the migrants receive very bad treatment from landowners and feel frustrated and overwhelmed most of the time. These examples should help the reader to understand and judge who is to blame for the suffering and fatal situation of thousands of “Okies” during the Great Depression.

Most psychologists tell us we can become and we can achieve whatever we want. While we can be anything we want, the same is not true for everything we want. There are very important reasons for that. First of all, our resources such as time, life, money, and energy are limited. Secondly, our appetite is infinite in the long- run. No matter what we become, gain, or achieve, we want more. Since we cannot have everything we want, frustration and unhappiness are unavoidable, unless we learn how to control our greed. One of the major causes of suffering in the world is greed, also known as materialism. Desire in itself is not wrong. There is nothing wrong with our desire to make this world a better place, but excessive and greedy desire must be avoided. Take the profit made by landowners in Steinbeck’s novel as an example. There is nothing inherently wrong with it as long as it is not hurting other people. In many circumstances the pursuit of higher profit leads to innovation, improved efficiency and more reasonable use of the resources, which is partially true for the case presented in Steinbeck’s novel. Although one can notice that farming efficiency improves significantly due to the use of machinery, at the same time a big fraction of the labor force becomes redundant. Labor is one of the main factors of production and in Steinbeck’s settings remains unemployed.
Unemployment is, economically speaking, wasteful. When the unemployment rate (the percentage of people who are seeking work but do not have jobs; it is also an important indicator of the health of a nation's economy) reaches a quarter of the workforce, as it did in the

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United States during the Great Depression, a quarter of the economy's ability to produce is being squandered. So why are there many greedy people such as landowners in “the Grapes of Wrath”? Possessions can bring pleasure. And pleasure can become addictive. If pleasure is mistakenly associated with happiness, it is not surprising that landowners in Steinbeck’s novel, as an example, pursue it without end. Another reason for greed is fear. For example, Californians are afraid there is only so much material to go around, and if they are not quick enough, “Okies” may take over. This is well presented in the chapter nineteen: ”once California belonged to
Mexico and its land to Mexicans; and a horde of tattered feverish Americans poured in. And such was their hunger for land that they took the land.” (p.231) Putting it in another words, Californians are afraid that ”Okies” will organize and do what they
did many years ago when they came and put out of place Mexicans. Also Although fear can cause greed, ironically, greed causes more fear. For those reasons the migrants’ great suffering in “the Grapes of Wrath” is caused not by bad weather conditions nor simple misfortune but by their fellow human beings’ greed. As stated at the beginning of this essay, the division into rich and poor is the primary source of suffering in the world, and that statement holds true as long as human greed is unlimited