The antagonist in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is the entity of “the bank.” Throughout the novel it is “the bank” that is blamed for ridding the Oakies of their land and their pride. 3. The conflict of the story is that the Great Depression is causing many farmers from the southern states of America to loose their jobs. Consequently, millions of families were forced to migrate to the western state of California. It is there that the families hope to find work and make enough money to provide for them.
When Richard Oden was not able to return to work fast enough after getting a major surgery, unfortunately, “to help support his family, Oden had to dip into his 401(k) fund, paying a penalty for premature withdrawal” (Wallechinsky, para 8). If someone suffers a completely unexpected complication that affects their working ability for a certain amount of time, they are basically kicked out on the street. Being laid off makes it incredibly hard for a citizen to get back on his or her feet. It is almost as if someone has to be perfectly healthy and free of accident vulnerability to have a good
“I saw what real power was that day,” Swartz recalls. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was for that kind of purpose.” Timberland began shutting down operations one day each year so the company’s thousands of employees could get paid to take part in various company sponsored philanthropic projects, such as building homeless shelters or cleaning up playgrounds. The company started giving employees 40 hours of paid leave annually to volunteer at charities of their choosing. But the emphasis on social responsibility does not come cheap. The all-day event alone costs about $2 million a year in lost sales, project expenses, and wages for employees.
Kyle Close English 100 Professor Potratz 4, December, 2013 Poverty and Starvation In the united states there are about 4.6 million people on food stamps that are unemployed and go threw a day to day fight and struggle to stay alive and provide food for their family. Ever since the 1980s America has slowly see the decline of the middle class. Americas economy is getting better but is still not good. Parents go through a daily fight and struggle to keep food in their family's stomachs, keep them healthy, and trying to find a job to provide for their family. Food stamps used to be able to help people but it seems today they are causing more of a problem.
Many soldiers returning from the great war (expecting to get their old jobs back) caused a great surplus of workers. The farmers that didn't go to the city (to find work) go together to form the national progressives (third party for farmers) and they created the Maritimers rights movement to promote their interests. Not only were the returning soldiers faced with job loss but they were also faced with the rising prices, strikes, the new role of woman, and the prohibition (ban of liquor) making their settling in a lot harder. The strikes were pointless because it resulted in people getting charged, workers losing their jobs and nobody even payed attention to them. The ban of liquor didn't last long either.
He says, lwhen discussing the impact of the burglary on his family, “when you are a recent immigrant, it’s easy to feel targeted. Friedman explains that this was due to the fact that in Diaz’s time, “…your threats and opportunities in the cold war system tended to grow out of who you were divided from.” Diaz’s family struggled in America, due to money issues as well as being treated differently. Diaz’s father keeps losing his job, and he makes it clear that it’s not a great job to begin with. His mother does not work and must support her kids off of her husband’s not-to-great pay
Due to the fact that illegal immigrants don’t have a legal status in the country, their options of jobs aren’t much they have to settle for low paying jobs that others with a legal status wouldn’t do(Medrano). According to Lourdes Medrano in 2004 the movie “A day without a Mexican” made many people to their eyes of how effected the country would be if the people who performed all the farm work in out in the fields in the scorching sun would not return. Not only would it affect the employers who day after day relay on their work but it will effect the economy as the agricultural industry would decrease. After all , each individual is going to have their own opinion on whether illegal immigrants should be able to remain in the country or deported. While some argue that they should be deported others believe they shouldn’t.
It is so wrong from companies and steel mills to just close the doors and shut down everything. People need to make money to support their families. Another thing that is uncalled for is the banks taking everyone’s money. I believe that the workers can keep working without their bosses. Most of them have been in the factories so long once they get back into their work they will know exactly what to do.
About 800,000 people left their Great Plain states in search of better life in the west, California(13). Since not only farmers were affected by the “Dust Bowl” but also everyone connected to the strength of the farm communities were affected. The land that they were predicting was their land of their dreams, California, wasn’t much so due to the competing for jobs. Some of the migrants had to compete for jobs or getting horrible jobs with extremely low wages. Though aid was provided to the effected people in 1935.
Effects of the Great Depression Everyone throughout the United States took a big hit from the economic collapse in the 1920’s. It was called “The Great Depression” because that’s simply what it was. It was the worst time in the U.S. economy to date. Farmers, obviously unemployed men, women and children had to do whatever they could to survive. Farmers had an especially hard time during the Great Depression because many of them had taken out loans to pay for more equipment.