num_pages: 534
description: John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression follows the western movement of one family &amp; a nation in search of work &amp; human dignity. Perhaps the most American of American classics.The novel focuses on the Joads, a poor family of sharecroppers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought, economic hardship, &amp; changes in financial &amp; agricultural industries. Due to their nearly hopeless situation, &amp; in part because they were trapped in the Dust Bowl, the Joads set out for California. Along with thousands of other "Okies", they sought jobs, land, dignity &amp; a future. When preparing to write the novel, Steinbeck wrote: "I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this [the Great Depression &amp; its effects]." The book won Steinbeck a large following among the working class, perhaps due to the book's sympathy to the workers' movement &amp; its accessible prose style. The Grapes of Wrath is frequently read in American high school &amp; college literature classes. A celebrated Hollywood film version, starring Henry Fonda &amp; directed by John Ford, was made in 1940.
language: English
title: The Grapes of Wrath
titlecomplete: The Grapes of Wrath
characters: Ma Joad, Pa Joad, Al Joad, Uncle John Joad, Jim Casy, Grampa Joad, Granma Joad, Ruthie Joad, Noah Joad, Tom Joad, Connie Rivers, Rose of Sharon Joad Rivers, Winfield Joad
genres: Fiction, Historical, American, Classic Literature, School, Literature, Classics, Novels, High School, Historical Fiction
ratings_count: 881022
places: California, Oklahoma, Route 66, The United States of America
awards: awardedAt: -946742400000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: Novel, awardedAt: -978278400000
name: National Book Award
category: Fiction, awardedAt: -978278400000
name: California Book Award
category: General Literature (Silver), awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Audie Award
category: Classic
publisher: Mandarin