Grapes of Wrath :: essays research papers

Migrant workers went through a lot of struggles. They went through life and death situations, prejudice, and one of the most important things of all they had to keep their family and people together and keep believing that they would make it to a better life. The things they go through while immigrating change their views on life forever. Some for the good some for the bad. â€Å"They said, these god dammed okies are dirty and ignorant. They’re degenerate, sexual maniacs. They’ll steal anything. They’ve got no sense of property rights† (Steinbeck 363). One of the hardest things that immigrants went through was prejudice. Cops and towns men where always after the okies because they where dirty and didn’t have a stable home. The immigrants from Mexico experienced the same hardships. The farm owners hated them. They just wanted them to do their job and leave. The farm owners didn’t care that they had a family to feed, they wanted to screw them over and pay them as less money as they could. It’s weird how the same prejudice is still around. No matter how nice a person is if they don’t dress the same or have the same interests they are disliked. â€Å"As usual there had been violent incidents on the picket line. A union member had been run over† (Del Castillo, Garcia 84). People everyday that went on strikes put their lives on the line. They knew there was a threat when they protested. It was a life and death situation. Fight for your rights, or keep working for the minimal amount and not be able to support your family. Every immigrant has tough choices to make. In the early days they had to make life and death choices. In both stories they have strikes to give the immigrants what they deserve. In the grapes of wrath as well as Cesar Chavez, somebody dies from a strike. â€Å"The heavy club crashed into the side of his head with a dull crunch of bone, and Casy fell sideways out of the light† (Steinbeck 495). Casy died because he protested against how much money people should earn. The men came after him and the rest of the protesters. They killed them in fear of having to raise the prices. Casy was tired of working for 2 cents an hour. He could live off that. The only choice he had was to protest.