Chapters 10-17: Family Discussion Reflection

Research

 

Summary: To prepare for my family discussion, I read an article that was discussing the "forced migration" of farmers from areas such as Texas and Oklahoma to California, during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. The article discussed how push factors (such as failing prices of livestock and crops) and pull factors (such as handbills advertising work in California) led to this mass migration. It also discussed the disappointment upon arrival due to high work wages and competition for limited jobs.

 

Evaluation: This text relates to the story because the Joad family is undergoing this migration during these chapters. This text gave me a deeper insight into the reasons behind their migration and what they experienced upon arrival. It allowed me to further analyze the Joads' experiences in the story.

 

MLA Citation: "Desperation Road: Great Depression Migration." Red River Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. <http://www.redriverhistorian.com/desperation.html>.

 

Philosophical Questioning

 

As I was reading these chapters, I thought of some deeper level questions to use in my family discussion. They were as follows: 

1) What is the importance of land/home to a person's life? What effect could losing this land have on a person?

2) How have acts of selfishness and greed, within small businesses, affected the lives of humans from the time of the Great Depression/Dust Bowl until today?

3) What are the positive and negative aspects of migration on a state? How do most people view migration and why? What influences their views on migrants?

 

Reflection

 

The most memorable moment in my family discussion was when my father was speaking about views on migration and he said, "Most people acknowledge that migration is good for the state, yet they look upon migrants unfavorably." America is a country built upon migration and the hardworking nature of these migrants, yet jealousy of the jobs that the migrants assume leads to people resenting them and treating them as inferiors. This comment made me take a step back and realize all of the flaws in the way that we treat migrants and analyze the reasons behind this mistreatment.

 

In this discussion, I was surprised by how prevalent some of the issues of the great depression still are today. For instance, my father explained to me that there are still many small companies that work with the government to take away homes from poor people by unethical ways that are unfortunately legal. Just like the car salesmen took advantage of the farmers desperate to get to California by cheating them with bad deals when they didn't know any better, businessmen today use people's ignorance to trick them and use them as pawns in their cons. Due to all the corruption today, people are much less likely to trust and be confident in one another, which has led to a much more disconnected and disheartening world.

 

For the next family discussion, I think that I will attempt to connect my questions to each other more. All of my questions sparked interesting discussions, however they seemed to be separate disjointed discussions, rather than flowing together like the last family discussion did. The topics were not integrated to an overall theme, which I will attempt to achieve next time. 





Chapters 1-9: Family Discussion Reflection

Research

 

Summary: This afternoon I read an article published by the Library of Congress discussing the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The article stated that in the 1930s, the Great Plains region suffered a severe drought that resulted in a dramatic increase in dry-land farming. This led to overgrazing and the destruction of large areas of grassland, which caused an increase in bare land and, consequently, environmental damage. Strong winds ensued, bringing clouds of dust with them, and farmers were forced off their land and into harsh poverty-stricken lives.

Evaluation: This text relates to the reading because it provides background knowledge to the setting of the story. Grapes of Wrath is set during this time period and follows the lives of people dealing with these situations. By reading this text, I understand further the actions of the characters in the reading, and how they are feeling internally as well.

MLA citation: "Dust Bowl During the Great Depression." Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities
/presentations/timeline/depwwii/dustbowl/>.

 

Philosophical Questioning

 

While reading, some deeper questions came up for me that I decided to use to prompt my family discussion with my father. They were as follows:

1) Who/what do you think the "monster" was in the Dust Bowl and Great Depression?

2) Who/what do you think the "monster" is in todays times? Or is there not one?

3) What importance does family have in times of poverty and socio-economic struggles?

 

Reflection

 

After completing the discussion with my father, I had many lingering thoughts and feelings about the subjects we discussed. The most memorable moment of our discussion was probably when we were discussing the third question and my father started speaking about his own childhood. He spoke about how his family was very low class and poor growing up, but that because his family life was so rich, it never felt that way. He told me of memories of his father making a cold chicken meal seem like the most elaborate feast a family could have, and of all the love and support his family offered. It really made me rethink the definition of poverty and the importance of family.

 

I was surprised by how much my fathers comments impacted my thoughts and how much they helped me to develop my ideas further. I would have something planned to say, and then my father would make a comment and my viewpoint would switch entirely. He brought up many things I most likely would have never thought of without him. For instance, he made a simile of the bank being the monster during the Dust Bowl to Frankenstein by saying that both were created by humans, but were not controlled by humans. When he first said it I wanted to laugh, but then when I thought about it I realized how true it really was and it shifted my perspective quite a bit.

 

For future family discussions, I think that I need to have deeper questions, or add on follow-up questions to my questions. While our conversation was very interesting, both my father and I ran out of things to say quite quickly for each question. I would like to dig deeper into the analysis rather than just answering the question next time, and I think that better-phrased questions would encourage this.