John Steinbeck’s most well-known book, The Grapes of Wrath, came out in 1939. It stirs up pity for the sufferings of migrant farmworkers and brings to mind the severity of the Great Depression. The novel gained notoriety as a classic in this country.

During the Great Depression, Oklahoma experienced the Dust Bowl, a period of drought and dust storms that disrupted livelihoods and destroyed crops for farmers. Young farmer Tom Joad, who served four years in prison on a homicide conviction, was just released on parole. When Tom gets home, he runs across Jim Casy, a former minister that Tom knew when he was younger. Casy no longer expounds on virtue and sin; rather, his highest ideal is the equality and unity of the human soul.

Tom and Casy return to the Joad farm together, but they find it to be deserted. The two men are informed by a neighbour who has remained behind, Muley Graves, that the farming people have all been forced to leave their homes by the banks and landowners who have taken possession of their property and are now cultivating it with tractors. Muley informs the soldiers that they may locate Tom’s family at the residence of Uncle John, Tom’s father Pa Joad’s brother.The Joads are packing their car to go for California when Tom and Casy arrive at Uncle John’s. Pa Joad tells that the family is travelling west to take advantage of fruit-picking jobs that were offered on handbills.

Once on the road, the Joads become friends with Ivy and Sairy Wilson, a migrant couple, and soon after, the grumpy Grampa Joad passes away after a stroke. Up to the California border, where Sairy becomes too unwell to continue, the Wilsons go with the Joads. Tom’s older brother, Noah, leaves the family at the border and decides to live independently.The Joads get depressing news about a lack of jobs and prejudice against “Okies” in California as they travel there. These rumours are confirmed to be true as the family enters the state, and their struggles continue. During the family’s journey through the Mojave desert, Granma Joad passes away.

The family must live in Hooverville, a filthy tent city (named after President Herbert Hoover) where migrants are subject to the whims of dishonest contractors and dishonest deputies.Connie Rivers, the partner of Rose of Sharon, Tom’s pregnant sister, deserts the Joads at this camp. Tom and a friend from the Hooverville fight with a deputy when they attempt to bargain with a contractor for higher pay. Tom runs away, and Casy accepts responsibility for the altercation; the preacher is detained after being apprehended.The Joads depart from Hooverville in search of safety at a more opulent government camp. The camp is run by a group chosen by the refugees themselves, not by a police presence. The Joads find some solace and friendship at this camp, but only Tom can find employment.

Tom learns one day that the crooked deputies and the avaricious Farmers’ Association are planning to create a disturbance at a forthcoming dance. This will reduce the bargaining leverage of the workers by giving the parliamentarians a pretext to dismantle the camp. However, Tom and a few other men stealthily stop this onslaught, saving the camp.The Joads’ money from the camp is insufficient to support them. While other migrants are striking outside the gates, they are hauled in to labour at a peach-picking complex after leaving to look for work elsewhere.

Tom learns that Casy was in charge of setting up the strike. Immediately after Tom and Casy get back together, police arrive and one of the officers murders Casy in front of Tom using a pickaxe. Tom responds by killing the officer and running away.While Tom hides nearby in the bush, the Joads head off to gather cotton and live in a boxcar. The family has enough money to eat reasonably well, and Tom’s younger brother Al has been engaged to the Wainwrights’ daughter. As Rose of Sharon gives birth, the Joads are compelled to stay in the boxcar due to the sudden arrival of severe rains rather than seek out a midwife or travel to a hospital.

After Rose of Sharon’s baby is stillborn, the family flees to a nearby barn to avoid being swept away by floodwaters. They discover a boy and his starved father there. When Ma Joad notices that Rose of Sharon is nursing, she convinces the rest of the family to depart, leaving Rose of Sharon alone.When Ma Joad notices that Rose of Sharon is nursing, she orders the rest of the family to leave so that Rose of Sharon can feed the famished guy.