How does The Grapes of Wrath relate to the world today?

Question

I need a universal connection or some type of personal connection to the story

Answer 1

The Grapes of Wrath is a classic, and also one that I have never read.  However, there are numerous free on line resources that can help you with your study of this novel, most of which analyze the story, discuss themes and symbolism and other literary devices, and give character sketches.  If you do a search you will find many helpful resources.  Additionally hundreds of questions have been asked here on Y!A about The Grapes of Wrath so do a search for it in the Yahoo Answers search window and you will find lots of Q’s and A’s that should help you.    

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/grapesofwr...

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/t...

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitN...

http://www.latw.org/acrobat/grapes.pdf

http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guide...

Answer 2

Gosh, I hardly know where to begin.

Let's see, how about with "the owners"?

Check some statistics on the revenues of the Wal-Mart empire, and the personal wealth of the Walton family themselves. Then look into what the average "associate" of a Wal-Mart store makes and how they get treated on the job. Find out how many employees depend on the state for health insurance and learn that Wal-Mart receives enough corporate charity that they pay no state taxes at all to help offset that cost.

This link might give you a place to start:

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/

Then, just so we don't pick on Wal-Mart alone, I suggest you check out the pay of the average corporate CEO and contrast it with that of the lowest paid people in his company. Investigate that income gap and find out that it is the largest it has been since 1929.  You may also want to investigate how many of those low paid employees are even working on American soil.

How about the banks?

Predatory lending practices over the previous decade have left many people bankrupt and homeless. The banks did all right though, and now they'll get bailouts. The people they chumped are bottomed out, with nowhere to turn. Everybody else's interest rates have risen.

How about just the poor in general?

You could read Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By In America.

http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-G...

You could check out the changes in unionization in the last twenty years. You could explore mass layoffs of tenured workers in order to facilitate their replacement with the young and inexperienced who are, consequently, cheap. You could count up how many manufacturing plants have been closed so that production could be accomplished more cheaply elsewhere. You could also examine the corporate pillaging of pension plans and retirement packages that took place during many of those closings.

You could look into the percentage of poor youth who join the military to improve their lives and that of their families. You could learn that when they come home they come home to benefits that are drastically reduced, in real dollars, from what a veteran was considered to have earned on his return from Vietnam. You could find out that many returning veterans can't find a job, can't afford a home, are not receiving the health care or support that they need.

You could examine the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the poorest citizens of New Orleans. You could find out where that diaspora has settled and discover whether their lives have improved or deteriorated. You could ask why New Orleans is still in a shambles and ponder the question of whether the same would be true had a similar disaster stricken Beverly Hills.

You could research the figures on how many more homeless children there are in shelters than there were ten or fifteen years ago. You could look at unemployment statistics, keeping a careful eye on pay scales, because if the job you get to replace the one you lost only pays half as much, it just doesn't quite count as a lateral move.

You might check into food shelf usage, and the availability of donations to those resources.

All in all, I think it should be pretty easy to find some universal paralells. It should be pretty easy to see that much of the world's misery still rests on the backs of the many poor for the benefit of the few wealthy.

On a purely personal level? I always help turtles cross roads.