Counterbalance Between Mechanical Civilization and Ecological Nature in The Grapes of Wrath

Abstract

John Steinbeck, one of the most outstanding writers in the 20th century, published The Grape of Wrath in 1939, laying the foundation for his special position in the history of American literature. This novel tells the story of the peasants’ bankruptcy and escape under the Great Depression of the United States in the 1930s, reflecting the social picture of human destiny and nature in the background of mechanical civilization. Domestic and foreign scholars have done a lot of researches on this novel from the perspectives of biblical archetypes, feminism, and the new historicism. The increasing attention paid to ecological values recently has promoted the studies on the ecological issues reflected in The Grapes of Wrath. This thesis will focus on the era of mechanical production in the United States in the 1930s to profoundly analyze the impact of the rapid development of mechanical civilization on ecological civilization, and further discuss how to strike a balance between the mechanical technology and the ecological environment in contemporary society. 

This thesis consists of three parts. Firstly it briefly introduces the plot and the author. The second part introduces the characteristics of the mechanical civilization and its influence on the United States. The third part will combine the content of the novel to analyze the conflicts between the mechanical civilization and the ecological civilization embodied in The Grapes of Wrath, and to seek a method of balanced development between the two civilizations.

Key words: The Grapes of Wrath; John Steinbeck; mechanical civilization; ecological nature