Genre
collection of newspaper articles
Setting and Context
Time: 1930's Place: California, USA
Narrator and Point of View
Narrator: John Steinbeck
POV: third person
Tone and Mood
Tone: questioning, cynical
Mood: pessimistic, worried
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: American migrants coming to California to seek for work to survive; Antagonist: large farm associations, local institutions not taking the migrants' issues seriously
Major Conflict
Due to a drought a lot of people are forced to leave their homes and migrate to California
Climax
The writer concludes that the American migrants aren't going anywhere and therefore need to be treated accordingly
Foreshadowing
Talking about the inhumane treatment of foreign migrant workers the writer foreshadows the way American migrants are going to be treated.
Understatement
Several enthusiasts thinking that white laborers won't easily accept charity and relief understate that those same laborers won't accept to be treated inhumanely
Allusions
N/A
Imagery
Imagery of filth and dirt to describe the horrid treatment of the squatting camps where migrants are staying
Paradox
"...rinse the mud in muddy water."
Parallelism
"It should be understood that with this new race the old methods of repression, of starvation wages, of jailing, beating and intimidation are not going to work; these are American people."
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
"Dignity is all gone, and spirit has turned to sullen anger before it dies."
