16 in their paths, including the farm house. The statement goes as the following
expression: “We all got to figure. There‟s some way to stop this. It‟s not like lightning or
earthquakes. We‟ve got a bad thing made by men, and by God that‟s something we can change” 8
God create something to human, so human maintain and take care of what God‟s create. But sometimes every human just use their power to crushed and
destroyed what was God‟s create, depriving others and grab their independence. The entire families that lives in the house has gone to work picking cotton to earn
more money to buy a car and make a journey to California. The man who works the tractor knows what he is doing is destroying many lives but it is not his fault.
He was not the one who took away their house, land and poverty. The owner, the banks, big business and the companies were the ones behind it all. The only thing
they saw was dollar signs. The mentality of people show when they went in survival mode. When people are put into these types of situations their true colors
are showed.
3.2 Patience on Suffering
Joad spent four years in the McAlester State Penitentiary after killing a man with a shovel, because he has being good while in prison, he has been out
from the jail. As he returned to his homeland, he comes across Reverend, Jim Casy, his childhood preacher. They make their way to the old Joad families farm,
only to discover that it is completely abandoned. Joad cannot imagine that his lives were going to be changed. Joad had to make decision to move out, to the
new land with his families.
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17 The tenant farmers are the people who cultivate someone else
‟s land, giving the land owner a share of the crops, that in the end they have been forced
off of the land by the land owner or the banks or the monster. The drought has made the land dry up and the dust storm has made farming impossible. There is no
money to be had in the farming business. The condition of American before economic crisis are stabile then the condition pictured as :
“I remembered. I sure did pick a nice time to get paroled. I othing I was gonna lay aroun
‟ an‟ get up late an‟ ate a lot when I come home. I was goin‟ out an‟ dance, an I was gonna go tom- cattin
„-an‟ here I ain‟t had time to do none of them things
” 9 This quotation proves that before the great depression, the most American
are in prosperity. They can fulfill their needs, have enough food, nice house and a good cars. Their lives are sufficient.
Nowadays, the economy is a mess, the land owner have realized that one tractor can doing the work of an entire family and requires less money to operate
and maintain. Then they have to forced the tenant farmers off of the land. Families have collected all of their belongings and they have clear off their home. The
home was several generation that have been in some of families on it. Then they had begun to move to California.
The people who left their land were not only the farmers but also the professionals too. In their journey to California, they meet the people who just
come back from California. From them, the Joads get the little view about California. The rumored that there is a lots of space and jobs of growing the plant
out there. They would get the job with the good salary to buy something, like land, house and cars. They made decision to go to the hope land after got the
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18 brochure that is brought by the people who get a job as grape or orange pickers.
And the Joad ‟s decides go to get a job as grape or orange pickers in a new land,
California. They have the good view in California. They hope California will give them the prosperity and wealthy. They have a good view that in California
everything is well. “Well, I am, kinda. But I ain‟t othing near the fella I was. Jus‟ let me get out to
California where I can pick me an orange when I want it. Or grapes. There‟s a thing I ain‟t never had enough of. Gonna get me a whole big bunch a grapes off a
bush, or whatever, an‟ I‟m gonna squash „em on my face an‟ let „em run offen my chin.” 10
But after they are all in California, they are all rejected from Californian‟s people.
“Well, hell, I don‟t know nobody here. If I‟m gonna ride aroun‟ much, I‟m gonna get married. I
‟m gonna have me a hell of a time when we get to California” 11 California is not as beautiful as they think. California does not give what
they want. They afraid of lower paid and lose their job. They people who had come back from California also suggest
the Joad‟s family to going back to their land. Because even they get the work, they are will paid with the very low salary.
And they have no other choice, except receive the situation. “Somepin it took me a year to find out. Took two kids dead, took my wife dead to
show me. But I can‟t tell you. I should of knew that. Nobody couldn‟t tell me neither. I can‟t tell ya about them little fellas layin‟ in the tent with their bellies
puffed our an‟ jus‟ skin on their bones, an‟ shiverin‟ an‟ whinin‟ like pups, an‟ me runnin‟ aroun‟ tryin‟ to get work-not for money, not for wages” 12
They work not for the wages anymore, but for food. They have no choice because they are forced from their land without enough money, starving, and
jobless. It was not amazing that when the economic crisis came, the jobless also
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19 increased. Then next quotation bellow reflected how difficult for the people to get
food in California : “My wife an‟ the kids an‟ her brother all took an‟ went to California. They wasn‟t
othing ‟ to eat. They wasn‟t as mad as me, so they went. Bought an ol‟ Chevy an‟
took what they could. Fella came a- passin‟ out han‟bills say good wages in
California. So they went. They wasn‟t othing‟to eat here” 13 Quotation above explain that the they are starving. There‟s nothing food to
eat, they cannot bought what they want to eat. If there is food, the amount is little, and must be distributed among the other family members. Some of them also eat
the unusual food, like frogs, prairie dogs, etc. They must eat these kinds of “food”
or will die starving. “For a while I eat frogs an‟ squirrels an‟ prairie dogs sometimes. Had to do it. But
now I got some wire nooses on the tracks in the dry stream brush. Get rabbits, an‟ sometimes a prairie chicken. Skunks get caught, an‟ coons, too” 14
To survive in their bad situation and do not have enough money to buy a food, the people ate the food that should not good to be eat. They ate everything
for keep on survive and alive. They people who had come back from California even suggest
Joad‟s family going back to their land. Because they get the work, but they are paid with
the very low salary. And they have no other choice, except receive the situation. The people in California actually do not want the Oklahoma
‟s, because they hate them. They also give a name for Oklahoma
‟s immigrant as the “Okies”. These Californian
‟s are afraid that something happens when these Okies come to their State and the Okies are take their job. California is not the hope land. Most
of them scramble the jobs, like picking the harvest of cotton and fruits with low wages.
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20 “In California they got high wages. I got han‟bill here tells about it. Horeshit I
seen folks comin‟ back. Somebody‟s kiddin‟ you” 15 But the Joad
‟s family does not give up because of the information. They keep the journey to the California because they do not have any other choice.
They believe in California they will get the guaranteed life. In their trip to California, they have to face the chain of investigation from
the polices who check their stuff. One officer put down the license number and raised the hood. The police knew that they are immigrants. The people in
California actually do not want these immigrants because they hate them. “They were hungry, and they were fierce. And they had hoped to find a home, and
they found only hatred ” 16
Cali fornian‟s hated them because they were soft and the Okies strong.
They were fed and the Okies hungry, and they had heard from their grandfathers how easy it is to steal land from the soft man if you are fierce and hungry and
armed. In the towns, the storekeepers also hated them because they had no money
to spend, there along road a storekeeper ‟s insult them, and no admirations to
people in California. And in the town also men in little bankers, hated Okies because there was nothing to gain from them. The workers hated Okies because a
hungry man must work, and if he has not work, the wages will be not paid automatically, gives them less wages for his work; and then no one can get more.
The children also feel sad because of this nickname. They are not happy when they go to school, other children call them with
“Okies” too. Their shoes and clothes are rag while the other children are wearing nice suits and shoes
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21 “Our kids ain‟t happy in them schools, well a raggedy kid with no shoes, an‟ them
other kids with socks on, an ‟ nice pants, an‟ them a yellin‟ Okie. My boy went to
school. Had a fight every day. Done good too. ” 17
The great depression cannot be separated from big business, companies, or every people who have power to get what they want. They take everything from
poor people. Their home, their land, their propserity and their freedom to get a better life in their own land. For people who have power, they just care about how
much money and profit that can be made. The great depression resulting many problem. But there are some of
people must be survive even if in their bad situation. And most of them moved to California. But actually, California is not a hope land. Most of people are rejected
from there. Californian‟s are afraid Okies people get their job and Californian‟s will be paid lower.
These owner or big companies are also made to create a very advantageous condition for the industrial sector in America. They also give a
recommend to a goverment to made monopoly in factories business in domestic market. The land was just another thing to help them make money. They do not
care about the effect and people ‟s feeling, because they only cared about profits.
When machines come in and take over a man ‟s job, all the personal care and
personal touch is gone as long as the land was producing and providing money. If it wasn
‟t, then the bank would dump the property and move into another area of land and get rid of all the people there.
People had no real respect for the food they ate because they usually had no part in growing it or killing it. They lost the benefits of providing for
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22 themselves and not relying on someone else to provide food for them. People do
not grow their own food, or make their clothes, they rely on big business to provide it all for them and then people go out and buy it all. People do not get that
feeling that they accomplished something as with farming does. Farmers work the land all year, getting it ready for the next season. With buying everything
nowadays, people do not show the respect that some items deserve.
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23
4. CONCLUTION AND SUGGESTION
