Social Stratification In The Grapes Of Wrath And Animal Farm
Social stratification is something that has plagued the human race since societies formed. Social classes in some form can be found in all countries and cities throughout the world. As the impact of this stratification in America has become more apparent to me in recent years, I have found myself contemplating this issue more and more. The comments of texts I read, namely The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and Animal Farm by George Orwell, have lead me to a plausible method for exploring this subject, in considering the question: How do John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath and George Orwell in Animal Farm use character interactions in their novels to comment and reflect on the social stratification in society? In order to answer this question,
…show more content…
In Animal Farm, the animals organize into a communist regime, in an allegory to Bolshevik Russia, ultimately failing with the attempted creation of the equality attempted in the implementation of Communism. In the real Bolshevik Russia, as described by documentation from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (1993-1994), the economic status and treatment of citizens of Russia were directly correlated to their membership, or lack thereof, in the Communist party (Hamlen, 945). This manifests in the novel when Napoleon, serving as a dictator, takes credit for the idea of building a windmill for the benefit of the entire farm, to which all animals agree. However, he never offers any of his own laborial services in achieving the completion of this windmill, while the rest of the animals struggle throughout the novel to build the windmill. The association can be drawn with Napoleon being the top of the Communist party with the animals like Boxer being non-members, and Napoleon being disabused of responsibility that is thus being transferred to Boxer and other laboring members of the society (Hamlen, 945-946). With this, Orwell uses how the characters interact within this communist setting to demonstrate how inequality, or in other words, social stratification, emerges as an issue within a society with the goal of total equality. Hence, Orwell portrays a bleak perspective on the prospect of trying to achieve equality in lieu of social stratification. In contrast, The Grapes of Wrath takes place within Depression Era America, where social stratification was preexistent, and the conditions of the lower classes, particularly migrant farmers, were deteriorating rapidly due to the mechanization and commercialization of farming, effectively displacing them and leaving them homeless and jobless
In Animal Farm, the animals organize into a communist regime, in an allegory to Bolshevik Russia, ultimately failing with the attempted creation of the equality attempted in the implementation of Communism. In the real Bolshevik Russia, as described by documentation from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (1993-1994), the economic status and treatment of citizens of Russia were directly correlated to their membership, or lack thereof, in the Communist party (Hamlen, 945). This manifests in the novel when Napoleon, serving as a dictator, takes credit for the idea of building a windmill for the benefit of the entire farm, to which all animals agree. However, he never offers any of his own laborial services in achieving the completion of this windmill, while the rest of the animals struggle throughout the novel to build the windmill. The association can be drawn with Napoleon being the top of the Communist party with the animals like Boxer being non-members, and Napoleon being disabused of responsibility that is thus being transferred to Boxer and other laboring members of the society (Hamlen, 945-946). With this, Orwell uses how the characters interact within this communist setting to demonstrate how inequality, or in other words, social stratification, emerges as an issue within a society with the goal of total equality. Hence, Orwell portrays a bleak perspective on the prospect of trying to achieve equality in lieu of social stratification. In contrast, The Grapes of Wrath takes place within Depression Era America, where social stratification was preexistent, and the conditions of the lower classes, particularly migrant farmers, were deteriorating rapidly due to the mechanization and commercialization of farming, effectively displacing them and leaving them homeless and jobless