Indeed, Oklahoma congressman Lyle Boren denounced the book as “a lie, a black, infernal creation of a twisted distorted mind.” Eleanor Roosevelt rallied to its defense saying: 'The book is coarse in spots, but life is coarse in spots.' There are indications that Steinbeck believed using nonfiction sources to ground the novel’s fictional migrant scenes would help fend off the expected storm of criticism after publication. When Steinbeck dedicated The Grapes of Wrath to his wife and “To Tom who lived it,” he was referring to Tom Collins. Archival Vintages for The Grapes of Wrath details the relationship between the two and how Steinbeck’s commitment to write the novel evolved out of experiences “on the road,” especially their attempts to rescue thousands of squatter camp families during the floods February 1938.

Steinbeck frankly admitted mining information from the reports to write the novel. Tom Collins’s reports and background on the official Arvin Migrant Camp are available in digital form from the EDSITEment-reviewed website, the National Archives. While conducting that research, Steinbeck met and traveled with Tom Collins, the manager of the Arvin Migrant Camp (informally known as “ Weedpatch Camp.”) The relationship Steinbeck formed with Collins evolved between 19, with the two traveling over the San Joaquin valley to gather information and offer aid to migrant families in crisis. The impetus for writing The Grapes of Wrath came out of John Steinbeck’s experience researching and publishing Harvest Gypsies, a seven-part San Francisco News series about the plight of agricultural migrant workers in California. What details did Steinbeck choose? How did he use them? What purpose was he trying to achieve? Guiding Questions Comparing the reports to The Grapes of Wrath offers students a rare look into a writer’s process of converting nonfiction material into fiction. It is exact and just the thing that will be used against me if I am wrong.”Įighteen of Collins’s reports are available from the EDSITEment-reviewed National Archives. Aware of the criticism the novel’s passion and partisanship were likely to arouse, Steinbeck noted in his writer’s journal (published as Working Days), “I need this stuff.

He found an invaluable source in the official reports of Tom Collins, the director of California’s Arvin Migrant Camp. To achieve the authenticity he desired, Steinbeck sought to pile genuine, specific detail upon genuine, specific detail. In a 1939 letter, John Steinbeck wrote that his goal for The Grapes of Wrath was “to rip a reader’s nerves to rags.” Through the novel, Steinbeck wanted readers to experience the life of the Dust Bowl migrants with whom he had spent time. 'I tried to write this book the way lives are being lived not the way books are written.'

The grapes of wrath book