Class Conflict

Depicts the struggle between the wealthy landowners and the impoverished migrant workers, a central tension in the novel.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Owners vs. The Tenants

The Dispossession The Meeting The owner men come to tell the tenants they must leave. The tenants argue that the land is theirs by birth. The owners say the bank owns it. The Power Imbalance The tenants are powerless. They have no money, no lawyers. The owners have the law and the police. The conflict is unequal. The Result The tenants are forced off. The tractors move in. The class divide is clear. The rich get richer, the poor are displaced.

The Strike

The Resistance The Wage Cut The peach pickers strike against a wage cut. The owners bring in strikebreakers. The conflict is direct. The Violence The owners use vigilantes and police to break the strike. Jim Casy is killed. The workers are defeated. The Lesson The strike shows the power of the owners. They control the means of production and the state. The workers cannot win without unity.

The Cotton Picking

The Temporary Truce The Work The Joads pick cotton for a small farmer. The pay is low but better than nothing. The class conflict is muted. The End of Season When the cotton is gone, the work ends. The family is again without income. The class system offers no security. The Cycle The migrants are a reserve army of labor. They are used when needed and discarded. The class conflict is structural.

early in the story, during the eviction

at the Hooper ranch

during the cotton season