Preview

Grapes Of Wrath Philosophies Of Government Essay

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
897 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Grapes Of Wrath Philosophies Of Government Essay
The Grapes of Wrath: Philosophies of Government
PSY2000 – Ethics
July, 2014

Introduction
The role of government in society has been debated all throughout recorded history. Many of the greatest mind of our past are still affecting the present with their thought and ideas. Thomas Hobbes and Jean Jacques Rousseau are two notable philosophers from two different times that have two different views of the responsibilities of our government.
Rousseau’s view of government is that it is determined by the individual. He believed that this would be an ever-evolving social contract and subject to the intellectual growth of the individual. Rousseau contended that government and laws are a hindrance,
…show more content…
It follows the story of Tom Joad on his return from prison. He discovers that the depression has affected the whole town. The bank has forced his family out of their home. There is little work for him and his family. The movie follows Tom and his family on a troubling journey to California. They find themselves confronted with the hardships of being labeled underprivileged.
The Grapes of Wrath is based on a novel by John Steinbeck. Thomas Hobbes philosophy on man’s nature and the importance of an established government is apparent throughout the movie. Corrupt law enforcement provides no security from crooked landowners, allowing them to pay substandard wages to migrant workers.
Tom is a parolee. He was sent to prison for the murder of a man he had an altercation with. During the trial Tom testified that it was self-defense. What should have been a happy return home was a shock when he finds his family poverty stricken and evicted from their home. He finds them living in a relative’s house. The eventual reunion is interrupted by a subsequent eviction and the family is forced to travel west to California in search of employment (Zanuck,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    For the past many years, people have been trying to figure out the relationship between the government and nature of man. The theories of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau about the connection between nature of man and the government have been debated for many years. These three philosophers have remarkably influenced the way our system works today. Although each theory had its flaws and merits, Jean Jacques Rousseau’s theory is superior in comparison to Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Grapes of Wrath remains one of the greatest angry books. Its dominating idea is that of imminent, overwhelming anger. Steinbeck, as a responsible writer, was concerned with exposing a problem in all its complexity instead of arguing a single solution. In writing his novel, he decided to depict for the readers the insult and deprivation suffered by people like the Joads. To present the story of simple human beings while providing at the same time the social documentation. Steibeck's anger of the whole situation turns into a book to show an example of the fate of Joads and their problems while moving with the mass to…

    • 108 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck took an interesting point of view to America’s Dust Bowl and Westward movement. It is extremely hard to differentiate from condemning America and telling it like it is. When it becomes hard to tell that’s when I look at who eyes he wrote the story through, the poor. With this thought alone the tone was set instantly that Steinbeck was condemning America, however he showed the glimpses of light that celebrated the people of America.…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Whereas Madison asserts that the State has no say over a person’s relationship with the Creator, Rousseau only rejects certain State religions on technical grounds and eventually concludes that society should demand a significant religious test. It is surprising that given Madison and Rousseau’s uniform goal, a stable society, they should come up with such widely varying methods for achieving it. One may be tempted to suggest that, unlike Rousseau, Madison considers individual rights to be more important than the proper functioning of society. Upon closer examination, however, it becomes clear that Madison and Rousseau's general disagreement on State power stems from a more fundamental dispute over how society works. According to Madison, society exists with a certain power and then instills this power in the government, while Rousseau argues that it is the creation of a government which makes society materialize. These disparate views on the directionality of government and society directly lead to Madison and Rousseau’s other…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the beginning of the tale, we find that the protagonist, Tom, is locked up for a 'crime' he could not help. He is released, classified as a…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a novel depicting the struggle and distraught brought towards migrant workers during the Great Depression. The Grapes of Wrath follows one Oklahoma family, the Joads, as they journey down Route 66 towards the earthly paradise of California. While on route to California, the Joads interact with fellow besieged families, non-hospitable farmers, and common struggles due to the Depression. Steinbeck uses these events to show strong brotherhood through biblical allusion, character development, and inter chapters.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grapes of Wrath Essay

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the novel "The Grapes of Wrath", George Steinbeck portrays Jim Casy as a Christ-like figure in many ways. This allows us the opportunity to see Casy as an overall better person throughout the entirety of the novel.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Locke Vs Hobbes

    • 184 Words
    • 1 Page

    Throughout history, people have debated about what government is, and what is the purpose of it. Should the government dictate people's lives and tell them what to do? Should the government be permissive and just allow the people take care of themselves and not step in? Should there be an in between? Two very influential philosophers from the 17th century Enlightenment, John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, are preeminent influences on how people see what a government is and what role it should take. They both were renowned influences in many governments, even to this day. Locke took the side that people are naturally good, and that they should rule themselves. While on the other hand, Hobbes said that humans are naturally brutish and evil,…

    • 184 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rousseau added to the idea of democracy by creating the idea that people are born good but can be corrupted by society, therefore they need to make the laws themselves and willingly obey them. He believed that if left to itself, society would follow these equally created laws and society would maintain its naturally born goodness. He believes that only the general society is capable enough to run themselves with laws created by the people for the people. Much of these ideas are still around today combined with other ideas in our own…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The novel The Grapes of Wrath written by John Steinbeck is a beautifully described tale of hardship and perseverance. Steinbeck started off by placing the scene in the Dust Bowl and then told the story of the Joads family and their journey to California. The Joads were among many thousands of families who lost everything in the Dust Bowl and who fled the country’s heartland to find work.…

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Grapes of Wrath

    • 2467 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The Grapes of Wrath is an American allegory of human suffering that takes place in a dark period of the history of our nation, brought on by the Dust Bowl migration from Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas, during the 1930s and the depression. People experience this tragedy in different ways. The landowner who had to remove the families was torn in turmoil; Steinbeck writes, “ Some of the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel, and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that…

    • 2467 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grapes Of Wrath

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Grapes of Wrath, describes the difficulty of migrant labors during the Great Depression. Written by, John Steinbeck, this novel went on to receive many awards. Generally viewed as Steinbeck's best and most striving novel, The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939. Stating the story of an expelled Oklahoma family and their fight to form a reestablished life in California at the peak of the Great Depression, the book captures the sorrow and anguish of the land throughout this time-period. The bank forecloses on the Joads land, so they decide to move west in search of new jobs. Though the Joads travel west in expectations of creating a restored life, the American Dream avoids them, their journey to California proves to be sorrowful and disappointing.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most people go on a pilgrimage to have a better life. They search for happiness, success, a new life. They want to set these new plans and goals to reach what they yearn for. They have dreams. Part of having a better life is pursuing the dreams you have. The "Grapes of Wrath" , "Into the Wild", and my family were all trying to pursue a dream that they lounged for while on a pilgrimage to someplace new.…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The enlightenment era, can be said, produced some of the most critical ideas that clearly impacted the development of democracy. This intellectual period that roughly lasted from the 17th to the 18th century is responsible for producing some of the most brilliant political philosophers. Amongst these philosophers and philosophes were political revolutionaries such as Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Cesare Baccaria, Baron de Montesquieu, David Hume, and John Locke. The ideas they promoted and would later be adopted by flourishing democracies included the individual’s freedom of expression and religion by Voltaire, the separation of powers and checks and balances by Montesquieu, rights in the field of criminal justice by Baccaria, federalism by David Hume, and the idea of natural rights by John Locke. One of the most critical enlightenment ideas that contributed greatly to the understanding of the role of government was Rousseau’s social contract. This idea was viewed and generally accepted by many contemporary philosophers and seen as genuine and practical. According to Rousseau, legitimate political authority comes only from a Social Contract agreed upon by all citizens for their mutual preservation. The collective grouping of all citizens, or the “sovereign” he states, expresses the general will that aims for the common good. Thomas Paine further explains this point in his essay Rights of man (1791) by writing that government is not a compact between those who govern and those who are governed, but instead it is a compact between the individuals themselves to produce a government.1 According to both, the general will finds its clearest expression in the general and abstract laws of the state2. Furthermore John Locke viewed the Social Contract as a form of giving legitimacy to a government only through the consent of those whom it governs and that the objective of the government is to protect the individual’s natural rights. Paine further explains that a…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life of Pi and Religion

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Grapes of Wrath has many Religious parallels to the bible. The characters are paralleled with people from the bible, some easily recognizable. Also the Grapes of Wrath is during the Great Depression which can be an allusion to the horrible treatments and suffering times the Israelist people had to deal with reflects to this time period.…

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays