The Grapes of Wrath is one of the best accounts of a period in American history because of it’s accurate portrayal of everyone involved in the Depression. This book pointed out the evil deeds committed by every level of society. The actions of the wealthy, and the small business owners were historically accurate. The portrayal of the Californians toward the Okies was correct. Even the way Steinbeck showed the ignorance of the Okies can be viewed as demeaning. All of these things presented in this book occurred in American history. To censor this book is to deny the truth of the depression.
John Steinbeck especially showed the evil actions of the wealthy during the depression. He writes of the horrible way the rich treated the poor, “The bank isn’t like a man... it’s a monster”. He uses this to describe the way the wealthy forced the poor off their land. Steinbeck also writes of the incredible waste of the wealthy. He describes how the masses starve, and the owners of the land waste it to turn a profit. He writes, “The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all.” Steinbeck also writes of the injustice of how the small business owners take advantage the poor. The used car salesmen is the best example of this. He writes of how the used car salesmen use every underhanded trick in the book to turn a profit at the expense of people that have no where else to turn.
The way Steinbeck handled the treatment of the poor degraded the Californians. First, Californians didn’t call the poor by name they dehumanized them by referring to them as Okies. The police in California are one of the best examples of how discrimination worked in CA. A cop is responsible for the wrongful imprisonment of Jim Casey and later for his murder.
The way Steinbeck showed the Okies can be seen as discriminatory. Even thought he sympathized with their plight, he still showed them as ignorant. The description of the children flushing the toilet for the first time showed this ignorance. It was also seen with Connie leaving Rose of Sharon. He shows the unfaithfulness of the poor. Even Tom is shown in a negative way. At the beginning of the story he is shown leaving prison for murder.
Steinbeck calls to light all of these injustices and in doing so provides a controversial book. The wealthy want to see the book taken out of schools because of it’s portrayal of them as a heartless monster. The Californians are also shown as heartless and even cruel to the migrants. He shows the conditions and lifestyle of the poor. He manages to anger everyone involved in the novel.

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