The Dysfunction of the American dream in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath

  • Hussein Nasir Shwein . Al- Qadisiya University /College of Arts/ English Department
Keywords: : The American Dream, Freedom, Equality, Individuality, Social Classes

Abstract

This study aims to look into John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath's critique of the American Dream. Through focusing on such central marks of the American Dream as freedom, equality, and individualism, it will have stated that the Joad family does not fulfil the American Dream of classes and castes. The book was published during the Great Depression, a time of widespread poverty and unemployment in America. The aim is to characterize the American Dream and lay its foundation. In addition, the "self" and "other" pair will be used as a test instrument. Based on a thorough examination of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, it is attempted to define and describe recurrent themes and to create the concept of American Dream in this novel with its hierarchy. Steinbeck is respected as the foremost versatile craftsman of contemporary American fiction. He may be an author commendable to be compared with  the novelists Anton Chekhov and Anatole France. This paper will address the unfulfilled dreams of the Joad family, who begun their trip from Oklahoma, putting everything they possess into a truck to California.

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Published
2023-02-12
How to Cite
., H. N. S. (2023). The Dysfunction of the American dream in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Al-Qadisiyah Journal For Humanities Sciences, 25(4), 578-590. Retrieved from https://journalart.qu.edu.iq/index.php/QJHS/article/view/579
Section
Articles