Farmers In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

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The technology during the 1900’s was allowing the United States to make more money in different areas in the workforce. This caused unemployment for many people because machines were able to get the job done faster than multiple people could on a daily basis. They faced hard times after World War I especially in the area of agriculture area forcing the government to help them out. Some farmers had experienced hardships while others came across wealth due to new farming machines that were being created over time. Farmers had a long struggle after World War I because of the decrease in the price of food. The price reduction leads farmers unable to support their families because farming was all they knew how to do. Another problem farmers would …show more content…
Technology was starting to become increasingly sufficient in the United States during this time. Many people were against it because it was taking their jobs away causing them to become unemployed. It took time for the new farming technology to become successful but when it did it created wealth to the farmers. The help of tractors eliminated so many workers to let one person to get the job done. In the book The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck writes, “One man on the tractor can take the place of twelve or fourteen families.” (Steinbeck 36) It allowed them to save money on worker wages and save more crops for themselves and their families. The benefit to having a tractor and allowing one man to do the job it could save them enough money to pay back loans to the bank. Paying back the loans permits them to being foreclosed on or having to file bankruptcy. It was no doubt that the wealth these farmers were getting to experience was because of the tractors, wheat reapers, etc. helping them out with the acres of crops they needed to supply by a certain amount of time. The lack of experience the unemployed people had was not the farmers fault. They blame the new technology for taking their jobs but at the same time they should’ve known that was going to happen. For example, everyone went from having to walk everywhere to getting the opportunity to buy a vehicle
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