John 厂迟别颈苍产别肠办鈥檚 The Grapes of Wrath was first published on March 14,1939. The story of the Joad family鈥攎igrants who left the Dust Bowl to find work on the farms of California鈥攚as a critical and commercial success, selling nearly half a million copies during its first year of publication.
John Steinbeck’s works reflect the issues and ills of the time period in which he lived.聽The Grapes of Wrath, for example, deals with a group of migrant farm workers who moved from field to field. Often, these workers lived in squalid conditions and were paid poor wages. They were forced to purchase their supplies from a company store and then work to pay off their debt, many times without ever seeing a penny of their wages.
As background, present students with information about the and the west to California.
Ask students, “If Steinbeck were to write today about the ills of society, what topics or subjects might he find to address?” Brainstorm with the class a list of possible topics. Have groups of students each research a topic of their choosing and prepare an annotated bibliography of fiction and nonfiction texts that address the topic. The bibliographies can later be used as a school library resource.
In this ,听The Grapes of Wrath聽serves as a backdrop. Students conduct research on issues that the novel addresses, publishing their findings in a multigenre museum exhibit.
Using photographs and other primary sources from the Dust Bowl, dig into these from the Library of Congress. Looking to go deeper? View this unit on .
These investigations help students better understand history as well as the the plot of聽The Grapes of Wrath.
Curious about the 楼凤天堂 and Library of Congress connection? Through a grant announced by 楼凤天堂 Executive Director Emily Kirkpatrick, 楼凤天堂 is engaged in ongoing work with the Library of Congress, and 鈥渨ill connect the ELA community with the Library of Congress to expand the use of primary sources in teaching.鈥� Stay tuned for more throughout the year!
It is the policy of 楼凤天堂 in all publications, including the Literacy & 楼凤天堂 blog, to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, the staff, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.