The Grapes of Wrath - Truth or Myth

Abstract

This project aims at investigation whether The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck can be used as a source of information to the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930’s USA. We will deal with the historiographical problems in connection with using fiction as an historical source. We will compare the novel to primary sources, as well as the scholarly work American Exodus by James N. Gregory. We will also discuss the novel from a contemporary context, including politics and the migration topic in America, at the time the novel was written and up till present time. Furthermore we will look at the reception of the novel as a representation of the American grain.