This paper analyzes John Ford's treatment of family in his 1940 film, The Grapes of Wrath. Made between two world wars, the film examines the changes and uncertainties in the traditional way of life as big business and greed threaten ties of blood and history. In many ways, Ford has created a socially subversive film that, for much of the time, argues for individual action over obedience to authority. Ultimately, however, he suggests that salvation can be found in the form of the larger family of a benevolent federal government. It is an interesting message for a country trying to stay out of world conflict while healing from a devastating economic disaster.
John Steinbeck's powerful novel chronicles the plight of the "Okies," the tenant farmers in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl who were forced out of their family farms by historic drought. Ford's film of the novel focuses on the odyssey of one family, the Joads, as they head for California and its golden promises of redemption.
The film begins with the return of the eldest son, Tom, who was sent to prison for killing a man in a bar fight and is returning home on parole. His family home, farmed by the Joads for 50 years, is being reclaimed by the bank. In a flashback, Tom learns the fate of his family and their neighbors, outraged at the well-dressed, well-fed men who arrive in cars to enforce decisions made by strangers in far away board rooms. He discovers his family at his uncle's home, ready to abandon the farm and head west to the promise of hundreds of jobs.
As they prepare to pile all their belongings and their hopes into a rattletrap truck, Grandpa Joad suddenly throws a fit, refusing to leave. Ma, as her first act in becoming head of the family, spikes his coffee with "soothing syrup," and has the sedated patriarch loaded onto the back of the truck, realizing the importance of keeping family together.
The 12 individuals who begin the journey make up a motley coll...