Pour lire cette chronique en français, cliquez ici.
In preparation for our exceptional road trip across the Southwestern U.S., I was excitingly browsing through a travel guide to learn more about the potential destinations of our itinerary, and write down all the must-see places, activities and scenic roads I didn’t want to miss.
In the course of my readings, I came across a page dedicated to the Historic Route 66, which reminded me of a Chuck Berry song that had me silently hum: “Get your kicks on Route 66“. At the bottom of the page, a boxed-text punctuated by a heart thoroughly advised to read the book “The Grapes Of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, a poignant read that won the Pulitzer Prize. Enough reason for me to purchase and devour it, I firmly decided.
The story unfolds in the United States during the Great Depression (economic depression in the 1930’s) and tells the unfortunate odyssey of a family of sharecroppers forced by the bank to leave its Oklahoma land that has been damaged by the Dust Bowl (severe drought and dust storms that ruined the American Great Plains), to move to California, following Route 66, the Mother Road, as called by Steinbeck in the book, in the hopes to find a stable job and better living conditions.
In this context of crisis, farmers’ expulsion allowed the banks to reimburse their debts and enabled the Government to undertake work in order to revitalize the economy.
Through this poignant story, Steinberg exposes the social plagues contributing to an inequitable and brutal world, and presents with brio his vision of a fair society: he vehemently criticizes individualism and capitalism which leads to the increase in wealth of the well offs who never hesitate to step on the people to achieve their ends, and violently repress any attempt to fight or rebel against the injustice of the system.
The author expresses his negative views on religion, denounces police blunder and highlights the fact that fear is always the driving force of human baseness. He stresses the importance of living in the present and claims that the key to happiness lies in the unity of men and women in the service of their community.
Steinbeck brilliantly paints the portrait of the different types of personalities that make up our society and subtly suggests anarchy as the only way to a fair world, a world where all humans are equal and mutual aid is the motto.
Very few literary work have had such a deep impact on me. I will never forget the humbling lessons learned from this one.
You can get this book from Amazon here.
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