The Grapes of Wrath
The Dust Bowl was a period of extreme drought in the 1930s that caused huge dust storms to sweep through the American prairies. It intensified the impact of the Great Depression, especially after towns in states from Texas up to Nebraska practically emptied out as families migrated to states like California for jobs and fresh air.
The characters in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath who flee West are migrants who have been displaced by natural disaster. The protagonist, Tom Joad, leaves prison to find that his hometown in Oklahoma is practically deserted. He has to journey west in hopes of finding a fruit-picking job with his relatives, only to encounter discrimination, back-breaking labor, and starvation. As the effects of global warming intensify, millions of people, much like Tom Joad, will become climate refugees.
This book was banned in California’s Kern County almost 100 years ago due to “obscene” language. People in that county also publicly burned the book after they felt that the author had unfairly portrayed the county and failed to mention Kern’s efforts to help migrants.
