argumentative, thesis essay

Bohlen 2

Keaton Bohlen

Professor Gillette

History 1306 Term Paper

28 March 2021

The “Okies” and Their Journey West <—Please make sure that the reader knows The “who, where, when, what” information in the title of your paper. Here your topic is so specific, just what you have is sufficient. But then you also need to indicate, in a few words what the thesis of your paper is. What is it that you are claiming in this paper? That usually comes after the regular title, then a colon : then the short 3-5 word thesis

During the Great Depression, the American and worldwide economy was imploding imploded. These economic circumstances drove thousands of Americans to homelessness, and left millions more starving and unemployed. The states in the Midwest region of the United States were hit especially hard as a massive dust storm plagued the land for years, spanning from Oklahoma to Nebraska. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck provides a look at the dreadful the circumstances and nearly hopeless outlook on life of an average Okiesingular] looking to provide for theirmust be singular] family as they flocked west. In addition, Steinbeck provides insight regarding the disdainful attitude of native Californians, such as shopkeepers and landowners, towards these migrants.<--here, in your introduction, you need to indicate your thesis. In this case, that is as easy as adding such words as “dreadful,” “nearly hopeless,” and “disdainful.”

“Okie” is a term that describes what is typically a poor farmer from a state such as Oklahoma fleeing the dust bowl in the mid-1930s. nineteen thirties. Their journey began in their home state. As the Great Depression ravaged the American economy, the Dust Bowl only made things worse for farmers in the Midwest. Drought and overuse of the land had dried out the soil. Wind would picked up dust from the dry soil and created a massive dust storm, leaving said land the region essentially uninhabitable. Eventually, theOkies moved West in search of work. While they had escaped the circumstances facing them at home, their hardships were only just beginning. They were sweaty and cramped as they packed themselves and their families in one car with all the possessions they could manage to bring with them. As they drove, they would pass fields of fresh crops ready to be harvested that they knew they could not touch as their stomachs rumbled at the sight of something to eat. In one instance in the novel, Steinbeck describes the paradox:contextualize the quotation before giving it] “And in the south he saw the golden oranges hanging on the trees, the little golden oranges on the dark green trees; and guards with shotguns patrolling the lines so a man might not pick an orange for a thin child, oranges to be dumped if the price was low.” At night, these families would stop in “Hoovervilles”put quotation marks around at least the first instance of using a word that is obviously informal] to rest. These were essentially impromptu cities lying on the outskirts of established cities. Families would gather in tents or corrugated paper shacks and live there while they searched for work. Work was hard to find, though, and most if not all the money the Okies made in one city would be spent on gas in search of more work. Most people in this camp were underweight and weak from malnourishment, and many people got what the residents of the Hoovervilles coined “black tongue.” Black tongue occurred when one reached a point of malnourishment that became fatal, causing their tongue to turn black as they died passed. Motivated by the fear of family or even themselves dying of black tongue, some decided to sneak onto the farmers’ fields and steal crops or seeds to start their own farms, or even creating discreet farms of their own on the property.

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Even if one managed to find work, it did not guarantee them any money or prosperity as the workers were heavily exploited by the landowners. Because the landowners saw the okies as a threat, they did everything in their power to keep them down. They started by exploiting the payment of the workers. Knowing that the okies were desperate and would work for any amount of money, they paid them much less than they would pay the average worker. Also, they began to sell the crops back to the farmers, essentially taking back the money they paid the workers. In some cases, farmers would even sell food to the farmers on credit, “A man might work and feed himself; and when the work was done, he might find that he owed money to the company.” In addition to exploiting them in terms of their wages, they became violent as well. The townspeople would attack them when they were in the main part of the city, and sometimes they or police would raid the Hoovervilles, “Every little means, every violence, every raid on a Hooverville, every deputy swaggering through a ragged camp put off the day a little and cemented the inevitability of the day.”

As for the views of those who were from California, the okies were generally disliked. Despite my use of the term, okie, it is a derogatory term for these people that was created by the people native to California. As previously stated, the landowners especially were threatened by the okies. This is because they were afraid of the power they could have if the unified together and revolted against them. In the eyes of the landowners, they were no different from the Lombards, or the Turks, “What if some time an army of them marches on the land as the Lombards did in Italy, as the Germans did on Gaul and Turks did on Byzantium.” The shopkeepers disliked the okies as well. They did not like the okies because they had no money to spend at their stores and generally brought trouble, as many okies resorted to theft in these desperate times. In addition to the shopkeepers and landowners, the townspeople did not want them around either. The townspeople disliked them because they saw nothing to gain form the okies as they had nothing to take, and generally nothing to contribute to the city. Another reason the okies were disliked by the townspeople was because okies were working for wages that were so much lower than theirs, the natives had to take lower wages to be able to keep their jobs.

In conclusion, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, provides insight on the lives of the okies during the great depression. Life was extremely difficult for the okies, and survival meant going to desperate measures. Despite the hardships they faced such as oppression by the upper class or malnourishment, the okies managed to keep a positive outlook on life and make ends meet by any means necessary. In addition, Steinbeck informs the reader on the dynamic between the okies and the people native Californians who greatly feared and disliked them.

Not much point for me to keep editing your paper—you obviously are a very good writer and know what you are doing! 96/A