Saturday, August 21, 2010

Debate About Justice in Grapes of Wrath

A very sad debate comes up in chapter five of Grapes of Wrath. This debate is the difficult question as to whether or not a certain piece of land rightfully belongs to the people who actually own it or to the men and women and families who toil and give their blood, sweat, and tears to the land.

Of course, living in the money-driven society that consumes our current generation, our minds have been trained to tell us that of course the land belongs to whoever rightfully owns it due to paying a sum of money and making it legally theirs. However, if we take a closer look at the sad situation, those of us with kinder hearts tend to question with our souls and our consciences whether or not this is truly right. Yes, the bank does indeed rightfully own the land by all matters of the law, but the cold, cruel bank is only interested in money and making more of it. None of the members of the bank probably ever even set foot on the land or spent a drop of sweat being invovled in what goes on on the land. They are simply and unseeing shadow who governs the land because those who love it will do anything to protecet it, including borrow from the bank that they consider monstrous. Those bankers and those affiliated with them simply want to suck the land dry of its nutrients maliciously and then sell it to unsuspecting families dying to move to areas that people selfishly lie and tell them will be a good new life for them.
Those same men who protect their land are the ones who spend their very lifeblood toiling and laboring over that unyielding land every day of their lives, and it is all they have. So by the system of law, the land belongs to the bank, but by the system of principle and justice, it should truly fall to that of the farmer.

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