The folks with the National Steinbeck Center recently completed a trip on Route 66 before the 75th anniversary of the publication of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.”
The group has posted a slew of videos in the last few days. But this stands out because it’s a gut-punch of how the Great Depression and the subsequent migration of impoverished Okies affected everyone:
The clip serves notice that “The Grapes of Wrath” may have been a novel, but there was nothing fiction about it. It was all too true, which probably was why it drew criticism from many quarters when it was published.
People tend to forget that the among the most vocal against the book (and the ‘Okie’ concept) were people from Oklahoma. Most looked down on their fellow residents who left the state and headed west, many calling them weak and immoral. Others noted that the ‘strong’ ones stayed behind and ‘fought’ it out (depression, dust bowl, et al) while those who weren’t went west. Today in Oklahoma, well, its easy to connect the dots there politically. I understand there are even movements to disown Will Rodgers and Woody Guthrie because of their ‘radical’ political beliefs. You’d think they’d be proud of those guys, and at least feel sad for those who left during the 30’s.
Yep. I also suspect a lot of folks who protested hadn’t even read the book, and were hearing stuff secondhand about how “The Grapes of Wrath” was somehow denigrating Oklahomans, when nothing could be further from the truth.
But in my nine years in Oklahoma, I NEVER heard anyone denigrate Will Rogers, ever. Not even close.