The industrial economy adversely affects the farmers, forcing the banks, portrayed as monsters, to foreclose on unprofitable land. In The Grapes of Wrath, the need for improved farming techniques becomes significant when the drought makes crop cultivation difficult. Over time, more efficient labor practices and the use of machinery seeped into the area of agriculture, displacing many farmers. The Second Industrial Revolution shook the structure of American life in the early 20th century, as a large number of people migrated from farms to major cities to fill the demands of the new economy. It also parallels a philosophy, embraced by Steinbeck’s friend Ed Ricketts, in which people see nature as giving “their own lives…meaning and worth” (Astro 72). This theme has roots in American romanticism, as intellectuals like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau explored how land ownership and hard work equate to independence. The heartlessness of tractors and the detachment of landowners disrupt the farmers’ connection to the land. Steinbeck depicts the land as having a soul, and performing manual labor on that land provides a deeper understanding of life. The farmers derive wisdom from the land it helps with their thought processes and decision making. When they lose their land, that identity starts to dissolve. The land gives them an identity, a past and a future.

Steinbeck uses the land to ground his characters’ sense of self. Environmentalism & the Attitude Toward Land Use

The grapes of wrath blurb