HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA
FOOTHILL COLLEGE
Dr. Y. De Luna
Project II
Film Analysis and Report
Main Page:
Historical Links:
Subject: The Grapes of Wrath
A Twentieth Century Fox film drama presentation; produced
by Darryl F. Zanuck
in 1940 from the popular and
powerful, 1940, Pulitzer Prize
winning novel
written by John Steinbeck
and published in 1939; starring
Henry Fonda as Thomas
(Tom) Joad and Jane Darwell
as Ma Joad; and directed by John Ford. Jane Darwell and John Ford won Oscar’s,
she for best
supporting actress in her portrayal and he for best
director. Other Academy
nominations were for Best Picture, Fonda for Best Actor, Robert L. Simpson for Best Film Editing, Edmund H. Hansen for Best Sound Recording, and Nunnally Johnson for Best Screenplay Writing.
Subsequently this
popular film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Concepts/Ideas
1. I expect to see the some of the events that has led to creation of dirt poor and destitute people that are being evicted from their homes.
2. From John Steinbeck’s writings published in the San Francisco News in 1936[1] I am looking for vigilante actions of the banks or land companies.
People
1. I expect to see the Joad family identified in History 10As text book on page 343.
2. I will be looking for other poor people, perhaps neighbors of the Joad’s.
3. There should be a few law enforcement officers present throughout for evictions, highway and cities that are traveled through, border crossing etc.
4. There should be other races involved rather than just the ‘Dust Bowl’ migrants or ‘Oakies.’
5. I would like to see a prominent politician or two.
6. I want to see who forms the vigilante groups that are mentioned in the text.
7. I am interested in the Ranch and Farm owners that instigate the awful conditions that Steinbeck implies in his series of articles mentioned in our text and referenced with footnote 1.
8.
I want to see the Union organizers; how they are
portrayed and perhaps find some supporting information on them.
Central Message:
1. The law is not fair, it is not logical and it is motivated by money. Without collective bargaining those on the lower rungs of the social ladder will be abused by those above them much of the time. Those who have no compassion and are motivated only by money and as always with money comes power. Sad to say but there remain many, far too many, that are of that mind-set as we breathe.
2.
There is a theme on the family unit portrayed. Weak in my opinion but it is at least
conceptually presented and there is merit.
Had the family not stuck together where or what would have
happened? What happened to Muley and his
family? Casey had no family, but was
welcomed to join this family and became a part of it. Ma is clearly the head of the family and its
strength. She does her job.
Effectiveness
of the Film
To judge the effectiviness of this film I think one has to try to view from
a perspective of the time that it was filmed.
In my opinion this film is very poor by todays standards. However the story is still strong and
powerful. It was impossible to get the
entire message across in the time alloted.
This story requires more time to really hit a home run.
I feel that my description in number one above regarding the central
message is the base of this film. What
is logical about displacing thousands of people and allowing them to starve to
death? How many people starved to death
during the great depression? It is a
difficult statistic and at best it is only guesswork but look at this picture (the picture of the Alabama family circa
1935) and see what you think, these
people are near starvation.
President
Herbert Hoover declared, “Nobody is actually starving. The hoboes are better
fed than they have ever been.” But in
Okay, so most of us will agree that it is not logical,
certainly there is no one who would say it is fair to let a child starve. Motivated by money… I rest my case because it
is a no-brainer … look at the Southern Pacific Railroad, this company boasted
that it threw 683,000
vagrants off it’s trains in 1931 alone. Was the motive compassion?
The film certainly shows the results of the greed but it
provides no answer to how and why these people became the monsters they are
portrayed. Obviously that was never the
intention of the film. The book does
give a little more juice in this area but neither explores that causation that
I think is very important to the story.
In all fairness to Steinbeck it is many years since I read the book and
I should be more freshly aware of its contents before commenting on them. Neither have I found any evidence of
Steinbeck’s collaboration on the film.
It is an interesting link that I would like to explore further when I
have the time.
I tend to be far too critical when assessing these older
works (being old too one might expect to be more generous) but I have to give
them credit for their time. I don’t see
anything wrong with that. Film making
was in its infancy. They have learned
and grown tremendously. It was a very
good drama. What can one say, look at
the awards?
My description of the family unit element as being weak may
be in error. I am not capable of making
that judgment reliably. I live in a much
weaker family than I would wish for (but I am not wishing). My parents were divorced in 1945 just after
my father returned home from the service.
My mother’s mother had died at a young age (24). My father’s family was large and intact but
my father was a wanderer. The depression
and the war both played parts in my family strength, or lack of it. I left home when I was 15 years old and came
to
Ma Joad did all she could do to keep her family intact and
she certainly had some degree of success.
When she said to Tom near the film’s end something like this, “Tom, we ain’t never been the kissin kind,
but….” Then Tom comes and kisses his
Ma. In the beginning of the film when Tom got out of prison and she only shook
hands with him I thought that very strange.
But I have been in
Minorities in California
The only
minorities I saw in this film were the migrant farm workers from the Dust Bowl
apparently. If there were other
minorities in the film I missed them.
1.
When
the Joad’s first cross the river and gas up at needles. The service station attendants exhibit what
natives (?) think of the “Oakies” with these disparaging remarks. “Them oakies got no sense and no feelings.
they ain’t human. A human being wouldn’t
live the way they do. A human being
couldn’t stand to be so miserable.”
2.
When
Ward Bond talks with the Joad’s in
3.
The
case of the labor contractor offering work in the first migrant camp and being
challenged by one of the oakies who had fallen for the same pitch twice before. The labor contractor is no whiter than the
oakies, so here the discrimination is not skin-color, but he is dressed nice,
has a car, and has the ear of the police and thus with his word alone the
policeman creates a charge against the minority migrant farm worker who is an
oakie.
4.
Next,
the policeman fires a pistol with no more regard for these human beings than
for a heard of wild pigs. He shoots and
severely injures an innocent woman, without regard or remorse or even the courtesy
to assist a severely wounded person. A
blatant case that exhibits the law’s regard for minorities in
5.
On
the way to the Keene Ranch the Joad’s are confronted by an angry mob of
citizens of some sort. Surely many had
to be of the same background. Yet they
blatantly discriminate against the Joad’s, simply because of where they are
(near a camp in a dilapidated jalopy with all their belongings) they are
branded and clearly a minority. Ever
notice how the guy with the least money is the minority. Give that same oakie a fistful of $100.00
bills and what do you think he is then.
Could be governor now, as long as the money holds out. I submit the only thing that really makes a
minority is lack of enough money.
FORWARD
Because of the study we are currently engaged in I believe I have become
more ‘attune to’ a much broader
perspective. John Steinbeck’s position
of importance in California is unchallenged.
Much of his work depict the hardships, trials and tribulations of those
unfortunate people that became migrant through dire neccessity after being
displaced from their homes in the East. The
text devotes several pages in chapter 26 to Steinbeck
Please take the time to closly study the two pictures that follow. The cover from The Grapes of Wrath and a dust cover that was used on the book. You
may not see what I see in the face of the man and you may not feel what I
feel by viewing the dust cover drawing but a few moments of reflection may
give you a different perspective. What
would we see if we had no knowledge as in the eyes of a young child? Will we see differently with more knowledge?.
Prior to reviewing the film for this project I do not think I ever viewed
it in one setting. I know I have seen
portions of the film many times. I feel
innately familiar with most of the situations in the film and in the book. I read
the novel many years ago but I was not impressed with it and in fact inwardly I
attempted to avoid it I suspect.
Propably the avoidance stemmed from a fear I was unaware of. Thankfully that fear, if there was one, no
longer exist, I pray. My life has
progressed to a wonderful state in which I enjoy a very high level of serenity
much of the time; fear no longer has that subtle ominous effect on my life, again I pray.
I was born in 1938 in Northwest Arkansas and I am gratefull that I did not have
the direct experience depicted in this film.
I know these times existed and they were much like the film portrays
them from everything I have learned in my lifetime. My life span, being only slightly removed
from the period in question, experienced many similarities and ramifications of
this dreadful period of history.
Obviousley I was directly exposed to those who had lived these
experiences including my parents. My
parents had also suffered displacement but in a kinder way than those in the
film. Kinder because our extended
family, some in Oklahoma, some in Arkansas were slightly better off than the
many of those whom had little other choice than to join those long and hopeful
treks to California. Perhaps, only
perhaps, this nurtured a fear within that I was not keenly aware of.
Life, as most of us now see it, is a series of redundnat events. There are only subtle differences in major
outcomes. Almost anything that is said,
has been said. Unless you invent new
words, in all probability, you are not likely to make original statements. I once heard a speaker say that anytime he
heard something profound from someone else that he would use their saying (words)
and give those he had copied from full credit; for the first several uses;
then, the words were his, by osmosis. Almost
daily I reflect on someones quote or saying.
One that has had a an impact on my thinking since we have been engaged
in this course is one attributed to John Steinbeck and it is very relative to
this film review, this history course and to life itself. It is from a journal entry in 1938 Steinbeck wrote; “In every bit of honest writing in the
world,” he noted “…..there is a base theme.
Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to
each other. Knowing a man well never
leads to hate and nearly always leads to love…. always that base theme. Try to understand each other.” .... I have seen a slight variation of
the words but only slight. To me this is
a very powerful concept and I will endeavor to keep it prevalant in my life.
I wonder what might have happened to the course of history had this simple human
courtesy been applied to the indigenous Californians;….to
the Chinese, to the Mexicans, the Japanese, the Filipino, to the Oakies and
Arkies? As a people we only know what we
choose to know based on what we see, touch and feel. Seldom do we seek to understand the plight of
others. Do we allow ourselves to become
comfortable while gross human suffering surrounds us? Do we entrust others to make decisions that,
perhaps, we should take a stronger position in?
Are we allowing ourselves to become entangled in a society of greed and
misunderstanding that we can easily see has only recently preceeded us? Do we care?
The
Film
The film, The
Grapes of Wrath, was produced in 1940, the same year that the book, written
by John Steinbeck, from which the film is based was awarded the Pulitizer Prize. The running time of the film is 128 minutes.
A study of the plight of the many, mostly sharecroppers, who became
displaced from their homes during the Great Depression and
the Dust Bowl years of,
primarily, the 1930s. The Joad family is
the subject and the story begins as Tom Joad has been released from prison, on
parole, where he has been, four years, serving a seven year sentence for
manslaughter.
The Opening
of the Story
Tom hitches a ride from a
truck driver after a little wrangling and finagling. The trucker drops Tom near his home and there
he meets up with Casey, an ex-preacher that no longer feels able to preform the
duties of the clergy. Together they head
for Tom’s house only to find it deserted.
(I noticed that the inside of the
house did not have finished walls, only the framing lumber and nothing covering
the walls. In reality they would have
more than likely papered the walls with old newspapers.) The two men hear a noise and discover Muley,
an old neighbor that is a bit touched, or so they say. Muley explains to Tom that his family is with
his Uncle John. He explains how the
bankers have had the sharecroppers evicted from their farms, and even how some
of their own kind, Joe Davis’s son was driving the tractor that leveled Muley’s
house, have joined up with the Shawnee Land & Cattle Co.. Destitute and desperate many are going to
California in search of work. Muley
shows the two guys how to hide out in the cotton patch when a car races up to
the farmhouse in search of Muley; Muley warns the guys to keep quiet.
Arriving at Uncle John’s the next day everyone is happy to see Tom,
assuming he busted out of jail initally.
(I noticed that inside Uncle John’s house the walls were papered with
newspapers unlike the previous house of Ma and Pa Joad that had no paper on the
walls.) The characters are somewhat
established at this time but it is still a little hard to follow and figure out
who everyone is. Tom’s sister Rosasharn,
has married Connie and is pregnant.
Grandpa and Grandma are old and devious.
It was Granpa that was hollering “jailbird—jailbird” and laughing and
dancing when he realized Tom Jr. was back.
Tom Sr. appears of broken spirit and Ma Joad is clearly the strength and
head of the family.
The plan is to head for California.
The entire family has been picking cotton and pooled two-hundred dollars
of earnings. They spent seventy-five
dollars on the old truck and after groceries and supplies have only around
one-hundred dollars to make the trip.
They have planned and prepared a budget for the trip having garnered
information from others about the journey enough to create a cursory budget/plan.
The
Trip To California
The Joads are up early for the trip.
The truck had been loaded with their meager belongings and all that
remains is to get everyone aboard. There
are thirteen, by my count, people in all that are going to be riding on this
truck, only two are not Joads’, Connie Rivers, Rosasharn’s husband, and Jim
Casey the former preacher. At the last
minute Grandpa has a change of heart and decides he no longer wants to leave
his home an his dirt. The family has to drug
him with some of the soothing syrup they used to get the kids to sleep. It works and they load him on the truck. Ma Joad reflects on memories while the
episode unfolds.
The trip to California begins, in the early morning and judging from the
cotton field that Tom, Muley and Casey slept in a couple of nights earlier I
would guess the time of year to be late August or September. My barometer for that estimate is the cotton
bolls looked ready for picking when Tom, Casey and Muley hid in the cotton
field on the first evening. When they
arrive in California the time frames seem to suggest it is a little earlier,
perhaps even July. The year is around 1935
- 1936. Steinbeck has purposely delayed
revealing some of the characters and these time frames for reasons of his own
literary style. I read that he labored
several months on the structure of the book.
Al drove the truck onto the paved highway near Salisaw just west of the
Arkansas state line and they head toward Oklahoma City where they will
intersect with the main street of America, U.S. 66 and that highway will carry
them to within a couple of hundred miles of their destination. They make Oklahoma City and a little beyound
and near the end of the day they pull off at Bethany for the night. Granpa is discovered dead and they assume the
cause of death to be a stroke; he is buried with a note that Tom composed and
placed in a fruitjar upon his chest.
This here is
William James Joad, dyed of a stroke, old, old man. His fokes bured him because
they got no money to pay for funerls. Nobody kilt him. Jus a stroke and he
dyed.
Tom complains that the government might have more interest
in a dead man than the living.
There are a lot of signs along
the road. ‘Water’ is an important theme
that develops from the signs such as “water 15¢” and “Camp 50¢” lots of signs
in the movie. Another camp, assumedly
another night, has Pa talking with a migrant from
Next there is a returning migrant who scornfully admonishes the Joad’s enthusiasm and tells of the overprinting of the handbills advertising for 800 pickers. He tries to tell the Joad’s what it took him a year to find out, he says. Then he tells of the children starving to death and the coroner saying on their death certificates that they died from heart failure. The man describes the symptoms of malnutrition all in the effort to warn the Joad’s that not all was what it was cracked up to be in California. One feels the man is desperately trying to convince the Joad’s so that they will not have to endure the hardship he has suffered.
Pa and all the men are a bit shaken by the testimony of the returning migrant. Pa asks Tom and Casey, “Do you think he was telling the truth?”
Casey: “He was telling the truth alright, the truth for him.” “He wasn’t making it up.”
Tom: “Do you think it is the truth for us?”
Casey: “I don’t know.”
The next important scene appears to be in
There are several more scenes during
the trip west and all build on compassion or with a flavor of disdain
concurrently. It only takes the Joads
about four and a half days to reach California at the Colorado River near
Needles. This information is not in the
film and only by referring to the book would one know. Upon arriving at the river the men show
elation and head into the water to both cool and wash themselves. It was a celebration of sorts.
Next there is a mild confrontation with an Agriculture Inspector near
Barstow. Ma Joad convinces the Inspector
that Granma is very ill and the Inspector allows them to continue on without
causing them to unload their truck. A
few hours later the rich Tehachapi valley is in view and the beauty of
California is first seen and enjoyed by the Joad family. Ma Joad breaks the news that Grandma is in
fact dead and has been for some time.
Next the family is confronted by a nice policeman (played by Ward Bond in a
this very minor roll) who says that he too is from Oklahoma, been here two
years and is very friendly with the Joads.
He does warn them that they should be off the street and out of town or
they will face legal actions. He also
must burst the bubble of the handbill by explaining that he had seen ten
thousand of them. The policeman did say
he thought the guy that printed them, or caused them to be printed should be
locked up.
Hooverville
Transient Migrant Camp
With only the one-gallon of gas the Joads arrive at the migrant camp. It is a scene of desperation and
disillusionment but they feel they have no other choice at the moment. Everyone is hungry and one would assume the
vehicles are all out of gas or at least nearly so. The Joads set camp and Ma proceeds to cook up
some stew while a throng of hungry children gather around.
After the family is fed Ma tells the hungry camp kids to help themselves to
what is left and at Ma’s command they scurry to find something to hold the
food.
A purported contractor arrives in camp asking for labor but not willing to
say the rate of pay. One disgruntled
worker questions him and explains that he had twice fallen for this type of
false promises. He demands to see the
contractors credentials. Of course the
contractor will not give a promise or his license and brands the migrant that
speaks up as a trouble maker inciting others to riot. The contractor gets a sheriff and levels
false charges on the man. The man
resists when he is accused of busting up a used car and when the sheriff
attempts to arrest him he slugs the sheriff and runs to escape. The sheriff draws his gun and fires wildly
striking an innocent woman and severly injuring her or perhaps killing her. Casey tackles the sheriff and Tom knocks him
out. Casey convinces Tom to hide in the
willows until—“I whistle four times and then it is all clear.” Soon the place is swarming with police, Casey
accepts all responsibility for trying to stop the sheriff from shooting and he
willingly surrenders, intent on protecting Tom.
Casey is hauled away. Tom is
hiding in the willows where Casey had directed him.
While hiding Tom overhears a plot to burn the camp out and gets back to the
camp and convince the Joads to load up and get out. In the meanwhile, Connie had skiped out on
the family leaving Rosasharn distraught and feeling abandoned. Tom tries to console his sister but they have
to get away from this camp. They do get
away from the camp but we are not shown how they got more gas or when. They have made it back on the road and now
they are confronted by an angry mob that admonishes them to get out of town and
don’t come back until it is cotton pickin time.
Keene
Fruit Ranch Migrant Camp
The next day while fixing a flat on their truck a fellow name Spencer pulls
alongside in a shiny convertible and offers them work at the Keene Fruit Ranch,
about forty miles up the road, just this side of Pixley. As they arrive there are hundreds of workers
wandering around along the road side, but saying nothing. The Joad’s are waved through the crowd but they
are confused by the silence. Tom has an
instinctvly bad feeling about the situation.
The gate is opened for them and this is even more perplexing. There are a lot of shotgun toting guards,
private policemen. They are very rudely
treated by some Ranch boss who asks if they want to work? Tom replies with a “sure, but what is
this?” The guy says, “none of your
business.” … Name? They are assigned
cabin number 63 and it is indeed a step up from where they were the night
before, but still a real mess inside. Ma
sets about getting things cleaned up and organized.
Next a bookeeper (real nasty fellow) comes asking a bunch more questions
and taking down their truck information to check against a list of known
agitators. Ma and Rosasharn are cleaning
the joint while the men join a group of bucket carrying slave like people apparantly
heading to pick fruit. Next the family
is having dinner and Ma is complaining about the price of food. I have not seen them get any money since they
spent their last on gas at the first camp.
Obviously they have had to get some money somewhere to keep going. Of course, today they worked and earned a
little. Ma says they charge extra at the
company store and there ain’t no other place to buy anything.
Meanwhile Tom is trying to find out what is going on outside the
fence. He is warned strongly to stay
inside his cabin and not be caught outside unless it is for personal
business. They are nothing short of
enslaved at this camp. The treatment of
the migrant farm-workers was so very terrible that many people refuse to
believe it actually happened the way it is depicted
in the film. Sad to say it did happen
this way.
Tom waits for an opportunity and then slips away. He comes upon some tents down by the
riverbank and hears Casey’s familiar voice and they are again united. Casey explaines that they did not jail him
but just ran him out of town.
Asking about all the people outside the ranch Casey explains how the owners
use the extra workers to keep the labor price low. They are paying so little that you cannot
leave the ranch without oweing the ranch for being there. Casey predicts that as soon as the strike is
broken the owners will cut the already low 5-cent price in half. That will be one-ton of peaches picked and
carried in for one-dollar. That is not
enough money to buy enough food to stay alive on for one person. Casey and Tom have a philosophical discussion
but only resolve that they do not have an answer. Casey muses to Tom that the owner
representatives already think that he is a leader of this union organization
because he has asked a few intelligent questions. Casey is amused at his label of being a union
organizer.
Suddenly they hear sirens and dogs and armed guards hollering. They run across the shallow river water to
hide but are spotted by the guards.
Casey pleads for common sense—“think of the children”—he says to the
club carrying thugs but is chopped down by one in mid sentence --- a deadly
blow was struck and a kind man is murdered.
Tom becomes enraged and grabs a club and retaliates killing the guilty
thug with one mighty swing, but not before being smacked rather smartly to the
face. Tom was not recognized but the
thugs knew that they had wonded him in the face and he should be easy to spot.
Tom makes his way to cabin no. 63 and tells Ma of the events. Ma, after hearing Tom’s explanation merely
says, “I wished ya didn’t do it, but ya done what ya had to do.” This line paraphrases Steinbecks’ quote in
the novel, “A man got to do what he got to do.”
Knowing that he will be identified Tom tries to bid farewell, but Ma, using
all the pity she can muster chides Tom into staying and keeping the family
together.
Tom and Ma overhear a new family moving in and commenting on the wage today
being 2-1/2 cents just like Casey said it would be. Tom laments: “That Casey, he might have been
a preacher, but he seen things clear. He
was like a lantern. He helped me to see
things, too.” Soon the guards are
looking for the killer in the camp. They
quiz no. 63 and question where the other fellow in this group is? Al responds by saying, “you mean that
hitchhiker fellow? the little short guy with the pale face? Aw shucks, he took off this morning when he
heard the picking rate had dropped.”
Without further incident the family is able to get off the Keene
Ranch. They run out of gas at the top of
a hill and coast down into the third camp.
A clean self-governing Department of Agriculture camp.
The
Farmworkers’ Weedpatch Government Camp
This is a nice camp but it does not provide jobs only a place for workers
to stay. After the difficulties the
Joads have encountered getting here it is almost to good to believe. In this camp the workers themselves form the
committees that govern their community.
Steinbeck, in the novel, calls this camp weedpatch while there
are other depictions that call the camp “Wheat Patch”, I have not been able to
substantiate the Wheat Patch name and the camp still exists today under the
name weedpatch. Weedpatch is also the
name of a small town in Kern County near the weedpatch camp.
Aside from the waitress and men in the truck stop back in New Mexico and
Ward Bond as the policeman in the California town and the returning migrants
there has not been a lot of kindness and humanity exhibited in this film to
this point. As the Joad’s arrive at the
weedpatch camp they are greeted by an administrator that has a remarkable
resemblence to FDR. Kindness abounds
here and one gets the feeling that there is a bit of salvation after all.
There is a dance each Saturday evening and there are other social
activities here. But the best thing is
that this is a nice place, with sanitary facilities that match the need. Fresh running water and there are no
restrictions on coming and going. Of
course the tin-stars or rent-a-cops plan a riot to try to entrap some of the
people there but their plans are twharted by cleaver leaders who have been
tipped about their ruthless and sneaky plans.
It appears they still suspect the Joad’s may have been involved in the
incident at the Keene Ranch. At the
Saturday night dance Tom dances with his mother and sings. Four suspicious fellows are spotted and the
committee keeps an eye on them and when they attempt to start trouble they are quickly
twharted. In the meantime by prior
arrangment a group of deputies plan to break-up the riot started by their thugs
and therby have reason to enter the camp without a warrant. On cue they arrive with bells and sirens only
to find everyting in perfect order to their astonishment.
Later that night Tom spots a couple of deputies that have sneaked in the
camp and are looking at the Joad’s truck.
Tom realizes that he must go a different way. Tom muses the reasons and causes that he must
pursue. Tom now understands that he must
carry on Casey’s mission of seeking and understanding. It was Casey that made the light shine on
things he did not understand and now Tom must somehow develop that light and
continue on to where others wait in need.
That there is much to be done and only a few to do it. That Tom now has a mission is a pinnacle
event in this story. The epics that had
to evolve before the mission became visible is the miracle; but the question of
how this higher power arranges events and situations to reveal a persons inner
meaning contains a mysterious sequence of events having no clearly defined
order or interperable meaning.
As Ma now reflects on what has happened she resolves that she shall never
be fearful of anything again. The family
loaded in the truck they are headed to Fresno for twenty-days of work. Ma is sad that hers son must go away, but
proud that the remainder of the family has survived what seemed to be sure
destruction at times. As the leader of
this family she can hold her head high.
She has maintained their dignty through the most adverse of
situations. Together they faced each
mountain and perserved even when the odds were heavily against them. Their reward is now the pursuit of a new life
with new hope and new dreams. Most of
all the knowledge that they can face huge obstacles and still survive. This is surely the most valuable tool one can
possess because life can take sudden and unannounced detours.
Conclusion
Early on I posed the question; do we
care? Well, it is a bogus question. We all care, truly we do, it is just a matter
of degrees. Now we are talking a
different subject. It cannot be resolved
as a subject but rather must be attacked by individuals. If we care enough we can make a difference
but we have to sell the thought to other people. Did Hoover care? I will bet you all the tea in China that he
said he cared. The solution to many
problems are simple if we can only clear our eyes enough to look. Previously I used the example of Hoover’s
ranch near Fresno and my experience working with a gentleman that had
personally tried to get work there in 1933 or thereabout. My friend swears there were posted signs at
the armed and guarded gates of the ranch, just like those depicted in the movie
of the Keene Ranch, that stated “white men need not apply.” My friend was young then, could he be
mistaken? Did Hoover just like other
immigrant minorities better than oakies?
Is it safe to assume the only white men applying would be oakies;
right? This link is an article (very
long and very revealing) by the Washington Merry-Go-Round
in 1931. I just have to sneak in this
one paragraph from the above link (accept my caveats) but it is strangly
revealing.
It was in these circumstances that Herbert Hoover
developed the habits of autocracy which have so handicapped him in the White
House. Because he had the power to command, he never developed the power to
lead. His word was law. Once, expounding his views on labor troubles to a
friend, he told how he had always found that chaining a Chinese coolie to a
stake for a day in the hot sun was conducive to good discipline and a minimum
of strikes.
The verification
of sources of anything found on the internet is a problem not too easily
overcome… It is often difficult or inpossible to verify sources in a reasonable
manner. I am of the opinion that if the
document is hard to verify it most likely is not too valuable and may be nothing
more than someone’s rambling attack. But
to the question of caring. I care very
much, but I have failed to do anything about it. Therein lies the test.
The other important question is in understanding. Understanding is, for me, often a difficult
task and requires a lot of effort. It,
understanding, does not just happen because one wills it. It requires in depth study. Often the act of understanding is so
consumming that one must learn to effectivealy multi-task in order to achieve
results while trying to understand something or someone. To understand a person we will have to
understand many things that link to that person. But this is a valiant effort.
It is easy for me to understand the plight of the Joad’s because I have
lived so very close to their realities.
When I came to California it was a much different place than the Joad’s
found. However I was not seeking farm
work and I had a house to live in. Not
too much money, but enough to buy gas and eat in a diner. Sometimes only a little money raises one
above minoritie status. The houses they
lived in back in Oklahoma, I have lived in houses only slightly better than
that. I lived in houses that had
newspaper for wallpaper. I have helped
to paper those walls. We even made our
on wallpaper paste from a mixture of cornstarch and some other household
staples, I do not recall the formula.
Things change as time changes. The
Californians were suffering themselves, many were unemployed or only working a
few hours a week. They resented any
threat to their job and that is exactly what each and every other unemployed
person is; potentially.
Pick up any newspaper today and there will be multiple incidents reported
of some sort of racial discrimination.
Today for instance in the Los
Angeles Times, section B1; an article headline beneath a picture of a
minority couple reads Alleged Racial
Incidents Shatter Security of Santa Clarita Valley. It will not stop, it
will rear its ugly head each day, just as greed and dishonesty rear their ugly
head each day, but because of Tom and Casey and you and me and a million others
that care and are trying it is a whole lot better than it was in 1935. Thank God.