4.+Civilian+Justification

Civilian Justification

"The Grapes of Wrath" is a novel that has countless examples of injustice. In chapter nineteen, not only is Mexico's land stolen but the dignity and dreams of American civilians are stolen as well. Wealthy farmers show many acts of injustice by paying hard working laborers very low wages. The farmers used this extra money to hire deputies to patrol their land so the "Okies" could not revolt or have a way of entering the farms and stealing food. **There are a few ways individuals in this chapter confront injustice. The civlians only want a few things: a decent wage, food for themselves and families, and a place to live. Many civilians know this is impossible though, which resorts them to confront injustice by breaking the rules and doing whatever they can to survive. Many of the "Okies" decide to use the land farmers leave wasted to build "secret gardens."** "And the little green carrot tops were kicked off and the turnip greens trampled."(pg.235)These secret gardens were not meant for competion against farmers, they were made for one reason- survival. This quote showed that the civilians were planting very few items that could not compete with the big time farms, they were just made to give people something to survive off of. **The next example of how an individual confronts injustice is when a man tries to pick a piece of fruit for his starving little boy.** "and guards with shot guns patrolling the lines so a man might not pick an orange for a thin child." **This shows that the "okies" will risk anything including being shot to fight against the corruption of the wealthy land owners and even though they know its wrong to steal from the farmers they do what they think is right for their families. If you were in their situation would you have stolen the fruit and created secret gardens even though you knew it was illegal?**

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