No Job, No Home, No Peace, No Rest

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Do desperate situations allow us to see an individual’s true colors?

The beginning of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath exposes the diverse facets of human nature. On one end, people can be completely self-centered by only helping themselves. On the other, they can choose to aid others even when they only have so little to offer. In Chapter 2, although the truck driver carries a “No Rider” sticker on his windshield, he still offers Tom Joad a lift because “sometimes a guy’ll be a good guy.” As he stands in his cheap clothes hitchhiking his way from town to town, there is no doubt Joad is headed down a road of hardship. The truck driver relates to Joad’s struggle, as he himself works endless hours in solitude and aspires to improve his future by attending school. In Chapter 6, the good-willed nature of people is represented again through Muley’s behavior. He shares his food magnanimously upon reuniting with Tom Joad and Jim Casy. For a man in such downtrodden times to share a portion of his food is quite a feat. Muley doesn’t think twice about the situation at hand; “If a fella’s got somepin’ to eat an another fella’s hungry –why, the first fella ain’t got no choice.”

Willy Feeley, on the other hand, reveals the malevolent aspect of human nature. Although he does care about his own family, on a larger scale however, he is an example of individual self-interest. He is seen as a traitor to his own people by working for the “machine,” not reflecting for a second how he has been disloyal to the members of his own community. He chooses to ignore his feelings of what he is doing is wrong, and focuses on the good intentions of his actions. Our personality is not the aspect of human nature that is changing, it is our disposition that changes along with what the environment elicits. In distressed periods, we must adapt and draw out what part of ourselves best suits us to survive.

It is truly astonishing to see how a given situation or environment can play a huge how people behave. From a psychological standpoint, we are capable of behaving either way. However, it is the freedom of choice that reveals who we can be. We can choose to be greedy, selfish and leave a fellow man behind. On the other hand, we can choose to help one another without regretting the consequences. With any luck, what kind of person we expect to be is who we turn out to be. Facing adversity is when we are truly able to see ourselves.

On a less serious note, I also came upon Grapes Of Wrath inspired music by Bruce Springsteen and a cover by Rage Against the Machine. Enjoy!