Materialism and Inhumanity in John steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl

B - THE TRAGEDY OF THE SURVIVORS

Steinbeck tries to show what really makes man, that's why in 1938 he wrote in a journal : «There is a base theme. Try to understand men; if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hatred and nearly always leads to love.»^2(*)7

From this quotation, one can actually see that Steinbeck privileges the importance of man with his moral qualities. The moral values that Steinbeck advocates are not achieved because those who survive the hazardous passage to the Promised Land in The Grapes of wrath find their life becoming worse and worse due to the selfish nature of materialistic landowners. In Steinbeck's novel : The Grapes of wrath, the authorities that control Californian agriculture avail of the great number of migrant farmers to reduce continually the wages. This fact worsens the situation of small farmers. Thus, cultivators are compelled to give up their lands because they are no more competitive. This exploitation as one can see, stems from a mistreatment towards farmers who are badly paid and victim of corruption. Therefore, farmers have nothing to do but accept those meager salaries which allow them to provide only their nutritious needs. That salary can't afford farmers to satisfy their needs as one can see in The Grapes of Wrath, because three Dollars per day is not enough to look after themselves (chap 24, p380).

It is necessary to wonder the value of work because the strength of labour is a kind of goods. Farmers are compelled to exchange their strength in order to stay alive. It is interesting to notice that Steinbeck goes further about the analysis of the working value. As for Steinbeck, a man should be paid according to the value of his work but rich landowners forget this right and go so far as to consider migrant farmers like machines. In other words, the salary they paid them is destined only to preserve their strength in order to be able to keep on working and being exploited. Steinbeck shows more concrete details which permit to see the atrocious exploitation of poor farmers. This frame of mind to get much more money leads rich landlords to create merciless situations. And through The Grapes of Wrath, property-owners preferred destroy the harvest instead of selling at low price. The wealthy owners as well as the pearl-buyers resort to callous tactic to increase the dependence of migrant farmers.This atrocity is noticeable through rich landowner's acts in The Grapes of Wrath who preferred let their harvests rotten and kept out of farmers' reach. This circumstance generates the shortage of fruits in the market while increasing at the same time the price of fruits. Consequently, many people die due to this heartless economic policy because it prevents farmers from satisfying their basic needs.

Similarly, in The Pearl, pearl-buyers wanted to get Kino's precious jewel. In reality, there are not many buyers, there was one boss and he kept his agents in separate offices to give a semblance of competition. Thus, each of the pearl-dealer pretends to bargain the pearl with a very low price. This tactic is only a way to depreciate the value of the pearl whereas pearl- buyers' real aim is to acquire the valuable pearl very cheaply. Therefore, competition prevails among pearl buyers. Thus, pearl-dealers resort to deception so that the boss could promote them and they could make more money. Through The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, the excessive insatiability of people is both the origin of uncaring economic policy and insensitive acts. On this account, the value of life is debased to the detriment of material success. The affluent landlords use ways and means to implement their strategy. Consequently, anyone who opposes the way their business runs in the country is marginalized or considered as Steinbeck says «a red» or troublemaker. This disregard is clearly illustrated in this paragraph :

«Well, you and me got sense. Them goddamn Okies.

Got no sense and no feeling. They ain't human.

A Human being wouldn't live like they do.

A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable.»^2(*)8

In other words, poor farmers are victim of disdain because rich landowners do not consider them like human being. Likewise, when farmers try to organize themselves into an association in order to claim their rights, they are also punished for that act. Landowners consider farmers' attempt to join together as a menace for their stability. That is the reason why Casy is savagely killed when he tried to gather farmers in order to strengthen their efforts (chap26, p426). This situation creates a hostile climate towards the two antagonistic classes. Therefore, farmers are evicted from their lands which divide them into two groups. On the one hand, most of farmers accept those meager wages proposed by rich landlords because they do not want to let their children starve to death. On the other hand, a group of farmers refuses these little salaries. This negative response makes them marginalize because they have some preoccupation larger than those poor salaries which can't afford them to satisfy their elementary needs.

It is in this regard that Steinbeck blames the property-owners for their heartless behaviors because rather than allow small farmers the rights to exist landlords promote competition for material comfort, selfishness, mechanization of the land. In a word, a money-oriented world that incites rich people to be insatiable with intense desire to become richer without taking into account moral principles. This avidity is noticeable through this paragraph:

«The bank--the monster has to have profits all the time.

It can't wait. It'll die. No, taxes go on. When the monster stops growing, it dies.

It can't stay one size.» ^2(*)9

In this paragraph, Steinbeck compares this ruthless organization with the rights of those who work the land. Steinbeck shows how landowners were cruel. Thus, these farmers consider the land as an integral part of them and finally hope to die in it. The connection with the land is so strong that Ronal Mackin and David Carver affirm that «peasant farmers are conservative and resistant to the change in their methods of cultivation».^3(*)0

The refusal to adapt to the mechanization process constitutes a source of cruel divergence. Thus, one can see that poor farmers are not prepared to abandon their former methods of cultivation whereas rich landowners yearn to industrialize the agriculture in order to gain more profit. Consequently, this tense situation encourages rich landlords to adopt brutal ways to achieve their financial wishes. Following Steinbeck's reasoning, one can see that poor farmers are so attached to their properties that a possible loss of their lands is synonymous to death. This fact illustrates Muley Graves' behavior who couldn't accept the loss of his lands. That is the reason why he becomes mad and has no envy to live anymore. It is obvious to notice that the dispossession from their lands creates psychological frustrations. It is in this respect that Ted Gurr in his novel : Why Men Rebel, examines the psychological frustration-aggression theory. Thus, he argues that the primary source of human capacity for violence is frustration and aggression. As for Ted Gurr «frustration does not necessarily lead to violence, but when it is sufficiently prolonged and harshly felt, it often does result in anger and eventually violence.»^3(*)1 Like Steinbeck, Ted Gurr explains this loss with his term «relative deprivation», which is the discrepancy between what people think they deserve and what they get at this time.

In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck explains that the mechanization of the land brings about a shortage of manpower in the plantations because machines replace farmers. As a result, farmers become jobless. Basically, the dispossessed laborers deliberately leave their homes for another place known as California in the hope of earning their living through the strenuous work in the plantations. These laborers were economic migrants whose dreams of better existence are unavailing in «a Hooverville» (chap19, p258).

Being certainly a witness of this degrading human behavior, Steinbeck starts feeling a loss of moral values because people worry about material achievement. Instead of denouncing only these materialistic behaviors, Steinbeck tries also to bring a solution toward these insatiable conducts which obliterate American people from their moral principles .Thus, Steinbeck puts in parallel two behaviors in order to suggest the conduct to adopt for a more pleasant coexistence. Steinbeck is the epitome of a thirties period man who lived in a bewildered state which lacked of ethical values. As a thirties writer, Steinbeck cannot be indifferent about the momentum of people's materialistic behavior. That is the reason why Steinbeck's work is labeled by Lyle Boren an American congressman as «a lie, a black, infernal creation of twisted, distorted mind.»^3(*)2

The hardness of his style is reflected through his writing which exposes a sense of homelessness and placelessness during the thirties. Steinbeck's both novels, The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl provide us with issues regarding the deep wound that stresses a painful lack of home during the thirties in America due to an excessive greediness of people. In both novels, the protagonists go to exodus in order to protect their life because of people's wicked behaviors. The Grapes of wrath presents the American society during the thirties whose inhabitants are constrained to exile by a ruthless economic system. Knowing what land means for them, migrant farmers live now in a campground which brings about a feeling of frustration and hatred.

The wrong is that, this place (campgrounds) cannot be regarded as home in the true sense of the term. It is a fallacy to take the term «home» as its face value as merely a dwelling place. It has deeper meaning that pinpoints a sense of selfhood, of belonging. By this term we mean a place where one lives with one family in love and harmony or a particular country where the inhabitants are united by moral tenets, social norms, etc. Home provides the key to live humanely in security, to strongly feel a sense belonging despite the ravages of modernity. According to Steinbeck, the sense of home is practically non-existent in the thirties due to their materialistic behavior that cannot call a halt for competition to wealth, loss of self, individualism, internal conflict, in brief, an animal way of living which is caused by selfish interests. The migration eventually worsens the sense of homelessness. So, in one's own place or country, one can be paradoxically homeless without having to be completely detached from the place. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck elucidates a lack of home during the thirties in America. Steinbeck is an American who lived in a country that is socially weak and divided by individual interest. This social unrest is reflected through the separation of Muley Graves' family (chap 6, p48). A family is a unit of the society, in other words, a society in microcosm. Within the framework of his country the bonds of kinship are not consolidated by the negative aspect of materialism. But with the introduction of machines in the field of agriculture, small farmers lose sadly their lands. Therefore, this loss forces them to look for another job in order to start a new life because they are intimately attached to their lands. The notion of land is pregnant with meaning because farmers are too close to their inherited lands and to give up their lands is almost the same as the loss of their dignity. With a longing for modern property, landowners are oblivious to the primary importance of moral values. In a world based on this attitude, contentment is determined by material achievement.

It is clear that Kino is addicted to the treasure in The Pearl. Thus, Kino sees his home invaded by greedy people who exacerbate his life and oblige him to leave his house for security reasons. In The Pearl, Steinbeck underlines the danger of materialism that blights a sense of belonging. The Pearl story points out a family who is completely cut off from his house due to voracious people. This exodus is as well noticeable through The Grapes of Wrath but it reminds also the removal of the thirties. In The Pearl as well as in The Grapes of Wrath, the protagonists of the two families are forced to undertake a journey (the case of Tom Joad and Kino). Here these people are victims of deceitful forced migration that causes their loss. In either case, the Joads leave their motherland instead of subjecting to permanent inhumane treatments. Neither Kino's family nor the Joads can take pride in a place of their own where they can live as it should be regardless of the continuous influential acquisitiveness. Kino feels diminished in a society that adopts deeply materialistic behaviors and brutal ways to get money. It is clear that Kino's family in The Pearl and the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath moves up their community because they have difficulty preserving their lives that are constantly in danger. Therefore, the process of eviction is strengthened by the intense wish for social success. It is in this regard that Steinbeck goes so far as to qualify rich oppressors' misbehavior like inhuman acts because it breaks apart families.

These oppressors like all oppressors first have to dehumanize poor people in order to better exploit them. In reality, it is always easier to exploit people once you debase them just as the black people were degraded under the slavery. This is what provokes the murder of people between themselves in order to survive. The perpetual temptation of killing each other is also visible through the people of La-Paz village in The Pearl who uncaringly do their entire utmost to take Kino's treasure.^3(*)3

In The Grapes of Wrath, there was a permanent sequence of corruption on the freeway as well as a blatant mistreatment. These cruel actions among human being mentioned at this point are a sort of obstacle against human evolution not in terms of economy but in terms of morality, self-respect, love and unity. Therefore, this confrontation means the loss of human values which breaks morally human development. For instance, Muley Graves quite in the beginning of The Grapes of Wrath talked with Tom about the unfair destruction of their houses ^3(*)4. One can see that Muley Graves loses both his prosperity and dignity which is the most important thing in human life. The injustice of his dispossession is also considered like a tragedy as one can see through The Pearl story which is an allegory of materialism and its horrible consequences. All these facts demonstrate the danger of prosperity in a society where people think every method is good to reach one's goals even if it is necessary to use violence. That terrible behavior is also noticeable through Casy's murder in the episode where he tries to mobilize farmers in order to unite their force.^3(*)5

As a result, John Steinbeck makes himself the satirical eyewitness of the high society. His work causes bitter critiques of the «American Dream», that's to say, the thirst for money and power which affect his community. This fact is also described with precision by his contemporary Lewis Sinclair through his novel: Main Street^3(*)6, in which he denounces the absence of spiritual and intellectual values of American middle class who makes only material success a priority while behaving fiercely towards their fellow citizens. In the same way like Sinclair, Steinbeck puts into stage a society which complies blindly with material values without regarding moral norms that are the most fundamental principles of life. In this regard, the unsuccessful illusion to achieve the American dream motivates some landowners to go beyond the limits of the norms in order to search firmly social success. But, the desire to reach the absolute need, that's to say a life in which one has all he requires is far from possible.

The illusion of American dream is also visible in The Great Gatsby, in which Scott Fitzgerald shows Gatsby's whole life was spent trying to attain at all cost money and status so that he can reach a certain position in life and the rampant materialism that characterizes her lifestyle^3(*)7. Thus, Scott Fitzgerald as well as Steinbeck shows how easy money and relaxed social values have corrupted the American dream. Landowners and pearl buyers' extreme need to reach their personal interest turns American dreams into a fatal and unattainable goal. This objective is nothing but the cause of endless dispute between American people. In this regard, landowners' acquisitiveness brings about the poverty of farmers as well as their hasty migration. Therefore, this situation leads farmers to focus thoughtlessly on how to find way to earn an honest wage in order to feed their own family. This fact is the motive of migrant workers' rush who are obliged to hurry up in order to look for a work, like picking or lifting anything. In short, the main importance is to meet one's children's needs.^3(*)8 In fact, Steinbeck describes quite in the outset of The Grapes of Wrath what he qualifies as the regretful history of California due to its brutal settlement. Thus, when the whole wealth is controlled by a minority of people, it will be taken forcibly by poor people. It is in this respect that Steinbeck foretells the conclusion of this accumulation of wealth will cause the decline of rich owners. It is interesting to notice that Steinbeck relies on Marxist predictions that capitalist domination creates its loss through its own victory. In other words, the excessive materialism of landowners leads to their ruin. Thus, refusing this fact to occur again rich property-owners establish a ruthless system that grasps farmers as it is clear in this part :

«And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval,

the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact:

When property accumulates into few hands it is taken away.»^3(*)9

Through this economic warning, rich landlords take all preventative actions to avoid a possible revolving of the situation. It is in this purpose that one can remind Paul Samuelson's speech in front of the American Congress saying that «Economics is such an inexact science and the future is so unpredictable»4(*)0. In other words, moneyed classes are animated by self-interest. That is the reason why they care simply about the way of protecting their interests and forget the after-effects of their misconducts towards underprivileged people. In this regard, prosperous people forget what misappropriation of resources can cause. Rich landowners create a situation in which they enhance themselves whereas poor farmers have nothing to do but adapt to this circumstance or they will be crushed by the state of affairs. This fact is all the more valid since we're facing the same situation nowadays. It is clear that there is a feeling of disparagement in The Grapes of Wrath because rich owners belittle migrant farmers as if they were different from them. Thus, wealthy landowners' ambitions to consider themselves superior to small farmers bring about a feeling of dehumanization toward poor farmers. Therefore, this offense causes a frustration toward farmers because their prides are ignored. This misconduct obliges poor cultivators to react against that misbehavior. In fact, early in The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck shows as well the anger that induces poor people to action. This incentive is visible through the dispute between a tenant farmer and a tractor-driver:

«There's some way to stop this. It's not like lightning earthquakes.

We've got a bad thing made by men, and by God.

That's something we can change. Another farmer, on the road, says,

I'm not going to stay in place and watch my children starve» ^4(*)1

Here Steinbeck shows that the destruction of farmers' land is not only caused by natural circumstances but by landlords too. Thus, migrant cultivators have no solution to this hard situation and this fact raises the possibility of revolt. For Steinbeck, landowners adopt degrading conducts as well as insensitive money-making attitudes that can be never satisfied. In The Grapes of Wrath, the «bank» which symbolizes rich property-owners is inhuman and the bank owners with huge lands are as Steinbeck says a «monster». Steinbeck goes so far as to compare the intrusion of tractors into the land like somebody who is not sensitive about human emotions. In other words, Steinbeck demonstrates how tractors are callous comparing to farmers' deep affection towards their lands. Thus, Steinbeck equates the tractor like a «corpse» in order to show how this experience is insensitive. But the most horrible image is when field owners poisoned oranges and threw away potatoes in the stream in order to raise the prices. This nasty method starves to death many families, as it is well illustrated through this paragraph:

«The roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price...

Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground.

The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be»^4(*)2

Those horrible acts degrade the personality of landowners so much so they seem to return into the «state of nature» as Thomas Hobbes says^4(*)3. It is in this regard that Steinbeck says «a sorrow weeping cannot symbolize,» and he goes so far as to call it «a crime beyond denunciation.» From this paragraph above, landowners lose all sense of life and plunge into an extreme animosity for the simple fact to be prosperous. In the same way, the doctor in The Pearl betrays his profession at the cost of getting unfairly money from Kino's misfortune. From those acts, Steinbeck deliberately demonstrates the callousness of these people who are in a world where material success is the priority next to a certain oppression of one towards the others. In a society based on this attitude, happiness becomes a matter of successful competition, and this is the method of choice in the animal world. The stronger eat the weaker. Thus, life becomes a matter of aggressive offence and successful defense. Thus, the authorities' behavior toward migrant survivors in The Grapes of Wrath is so tough that they are often victim of violence and trickery, as in chapter twenty where the Mayor is likely pushed into madness by the police and subjected to constant torture which drives him insane. In other words, the police do not want also migrant farmers to stay in California because they can find relief and organization which can constitute a menace for landlords. The reason for their stern behaviors is nothing but an attempt by the police to prevent migrant workers from settling in California because when they give them the opportunity they could vote and have political power. In this regard, they can threaten people in the dominant power. Thus, one can become aware of this saying «Give a dog a bad name and hang him» is pregnant with meaning here because any farmer who does not comply with rules is marginalized and prevented from working anywhere. Thus, life alternates between savage victory and abject defeat. That is the reason why migrant survivors have no rights and sometimes are victim of murder as one can notice through Casy's assassination in The Grapes of Wrath. (chap26, p. 426)

In the same way, the pearl-buyers harassed Kino's family so far as to attempt to kill him in order to get his great pearl. According to Steinbeck, the result of people's excessive greediness is the uprising of poor classes. Thus, Kino's family in The Pearl as well as the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath suffers from perpetual domination and heartless acts on behalf of rich people. Therefore, all those cruel acts reveal the dehumanizing quality of the bank intrusion. Likewise, the sale of migrant farmers' possessions in chapter nine of The Grapes of Wrath is also a shameful process because they have nothing to do but sell their properties at low prices in order to survive. Steinbeck sheds light on the connotation of the sale saying that : «you're not buying only junk, you're buying junked lives.» This fact is another example of the humiliating effects of materialistic behavior. The situation is hopeless because migrant survivors are forced to give up those objects that have sentimental values out of necessity and finally are filled with bitterness and loss. Therefore, all those bad acts are tantamount to the failure of human personality by a system in which landlords adopt acquisitive behaviors as well as preventing poor farmers from living decently. This greed leads to ignoble behaviors that one can qualify as animal conducts.

The fact of decision-makers to ruin migrant workers' life is another example of the degradation in human nature. It becomes clear that rich owners oppose to treat migrant farmers worthily because if they do so they will require more as the saying goes «The more you get, the more you want». The landowners, refusing the content of the proverb happen, use dishonest plans to reverse migrant workers' organization. The chapter twenty-two in The Grapes of Wrath shows property-owners use deceitful strategies to break the government camp while sowing the seeds of discord within the farmers. These policies permit to create some fights that allow the deputies to enter farmers' camps and interrupt Weedpatch (the government camp). Therefore, rich owners are in favor of the dissension of farmers. Steinbeck protests against big capitalists who promote the idea of making excessively money to satisfy one's personal interests. Landowners seem unaware that low salary and unemployment contribute directly to the collapse of family. In fact, this kind of society takes more into consideration man from his material possessions than from his moral values. This fact creates more often the separation of family because when farmers can no longer support their children they prefer leave together or apart. To a certain extent, extreme materialism causes the breakdown of family unit. Steinbeck shows through Grandpa's death that grand parents are essential references to the construction of children's personality. Through the breakdown of families, Steinbeck demonstrates how the importance of the family is minimized. This fact creates psychological troubles which break the unity of poor people's family. In fact, rich owners forget that beautiful buildings do not make a country, it's rather men with their moral values that constitute a well established society.

Steinbeck examines the impact of materialism on morality. Therefore, materialism brings about jealousy and opposition which drive as well people to adopt worthless behaviors. In others words, materialistic people tend to adopt the rule of the strongest. In this kind of situation, everyone covetously tries to gain as much profit as possible. This selfish conduct engenders a spirit of unfair competition for wealth. The fact of uprooting the noble human values, that's to say, what makes up human being as a real man endowed with reason and which permits either to think or to make a distinction from animal is put in derision by landlords and pearl-dealers successively in The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl. It is in the same way that Steinbeck expresses his disapproval of the disregard for moral values. Thus, when we go out of our way we risk endangering what really constitutes the foundation of human dignity. And this misbehavior is clearly seen through The Pearl in the episodes before and after the discovery of the precious pearl. The discovery of the pearl reveals the disloyal conduct of the La-Paz community towards Kino's family. The desire of La-paz community goes so far as to try to assassinate Kino in order to take the pearl. Thus, this community loses its moral references which are the guarantee of a continual peaceful life in society. In The Grapes of Wrath, greed drives landlords as far as a certain point in which they are not able to control poor farmers anymore. Consequently, everything happens as if people are runners with the same point of convergence: profit and earthly satisfactions. Therefore, ethical orientations are flouted and relegated to the background because their places are no more in a kind of acquisitive society. Thus, wealth constitutes a source of perpetual conflicts and goes so far as to jeopardize people's life. This danger is also noticeable through this paragraph:

«He was terrified of that monster of strangeness they called the Capital.

It lay over the water and through the mountain, over a thousand miles

and every strange terrible mile was frightening»^4(*)4

Through this paragraph, one can see that money, instead of bringing happiness, creates a danger for the people who detain it. Thus, wealth is associated with monster and those who desire to get money can't help resorting to violence to get it. Likewise in The Pearl Steinbeck shows that the simple fact to obtain a treasure can bother one's life as it is visible through the example of Kino who puts in danger his family while keeping the pearl. On this account, landlords as well as pearl-buyers behave cruelly because of money. Now it is not a matter of fulfilling one's basic needs anymore but to monopolize uncaringly the greatest profit. Thus, antagonism begins because rich landowners want to reach at all cost their financial objectives. In other words, rich property-owners try to preserve their leading positions while poor farmers strive to improve their living conditions. Therefore, this tense situation drives both classes into struggle. Most of the time that opposition leads to atrocious deeds, I mean people go so far as to kill each other for material success. However, in the American society, people believe in what they acquire hence the idea of self made man. As for the development of human being, this philosophical approach through the American vision has the particularity to turn the American culture into an individualistic society. It is interesting to see the American society as Steinbeck describes through The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, is a country where people's imperative is to hasten to get rich by all means. This fact creates disordered situations in which one cannot identify any more the moral values that make up the root of the society. Thus, in The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath, a great many so called successful people (the Landowners or the pearl-buyers) believe that life is a business and they arrange their conducts and behaviors accordingly. Consequently, in such a society only money can buy happiness.

It evident that vicious behaviours are the fruits of a process by which man's personality tends to transform into an animal nature. This misconduct constitutes a menace for poor farmers as well as for rich landowners. In other words, this inhumane behaviour is tantamount to build a society on bad foundation. Tom's reaction against the «intruders» is a perfect illustration because one cannot get rich illegally at the back of poor people and get in return their obedience and respect. (chap.26, p.426)

Motivated by a feeling of obsession to material achievement Kino goes so far as to kill one of the «pearl buyers»^4(*)5. This passion to keep the pearl drives him into animosity. This state of cruelty is the product of a materialistic society that reflects only its negative aspects. It is in this respect that Steinbeck demonstrates how the American society suffers from constant scarcity to subscribe to ethical references. These orientations represent the bases capable to mobilize the people into collective living. Thus, Steinbeck shows that it's not only the lack of moral values which is the origin of people's nastiness but by a phenomenon that draws aside moral values in favour of references that refer to aggressive competition and personal efficiency. The phenomenon of making money as a priority is characterized by quick and short options: selfishness, exploitation and assassination. All these misdemeanours lead inevitably towards brutal behaviours. Following Steinbeck's viewpoint, it is necessary to cast a glance around oneself to realize unfortunately among those who privilege respects, honour and kindness are often victim either of betrayal or murder. Thus, the opposite acts of generosity, altruism and sincerity constitute the new references in order to become rich. Paraphrasing this quotation «when one is able to gain or have wealth that he does not work or merit through cheat, hypocrisy and lie, finally that person does not require to work»^4(*)6. It is what Steinbeck wants to show through people's insensitive acts. The Grapes of Wrath as well as The Pearl describes an open society whose progression is determined by its own ability. The American vision as Steinbeck portrays here is the way to climb the social stairs, that's to say, from a poor person to a wealthy man. It's somehow the American dream in practice. In The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, self-respect and good manners are wiped out by rich people's intolerable and acquisitive behaviors. Property-owners' malicious behaviors towards migrant farmers are the objects of obsessive materialism. Thus, landlords' real concern is how to achieve social success. This materialistic way of life motivates also some poor people to focus on their self interests. In this regards, one can see clearly that the concept of extreme acquisition as it is said by T. S. Eliot in his novel: The Wasted Land «The acquisitive world rather than the creative and spiritual instincts are concerned.»^4(*)7 In other words, a world where the basic relation between the individual and his fellow-men is no more based on cooperation and common sense. The world, however developed by its material progress, suffers from a lack of moral values. this extreme materialism of the American culture caused many people's disillusionment in the years following the First World War as well as their exodus to Europe, among them Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein...who are collectively called «The lost generation».^4(*)8

In the nineteenth century, American people were interested rather in material progress than in the development linked to spirituality, love, solidarity and dignity. And John Steinbeck belongs to the period of disillusionment. Thus, Steinbeck puts his story and characters in a naturalistic environment where man is victim of the materialistic life. The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl evoke misery and instability of the family in a system that privileges only material possessions. Actually, Steinbeck's work takes its source from the beginning of the agricultural system in the United States which provokes a rising exploitation of farmers and their exodus.

The author of Tortilla Flat and The Pearl describes farmers' pain and the way they are atrociously treated by rich landowners. Rich property-owners undermine poor farmers in order to discourage them. These situations make migrant farmers separate and adopt cruel conducts. Thus, some people behave out of cowardice or selfishness. For example, Connie Rivers through The Grapes of Wrath and the others combine dishonesty and cupidity like The Doctor in The Pearl. On the top of these bad conducts, there are also callous strategies through the inflation of prices to better exploit migrant farmers. Those cultivators, victim of all bad fate go so far as to behave abnormally because of strong discouragement and humiliation. Therefore, poor farmers adopt self-protective conducts that allow them to support rich owners' assaults. And as the saying goes «it's the last straw.» In other words, migrant farmers have nothing to do but revolt because a few people control the wealth and use unjust acts towards them. Through these misconducts, Steinbeck shows his disapproval against this extreme acquisitiveness of American people. Thus, Steinbeck lays the emphasis on the relationship between rich landowners and small farmers but also the racial discrimination toward Mexicans in southern California.

In The Grapes of Wrath, it is as well interesting to remark at a certain level, rich landlords express a xenophobic feeling toward their workers. As we know, xenophobia consists in affirming a hierarchy between people. Through analogy, this attitude reveals a discriminatory behavior against a group of people. This favoritism is visible through landowners' attitudes and acts toward nomad farmers. Landowners regard migrant cultivators different from them. Thus, farmers become at the same time the perfect victims and constitute a menace. The fact of being afraid of nomad farmers arouses a suspicious conduct on behalf of landlords. But this distrust is manifested under different forms. For example, the rich Californians express a feeling of disdain toward farmers. Thus, wealthy landowners go so far as to feel themselves superior to migrant farmers. That is the reason why rich property-owners do not welcome farmers. All these unfair conducts are due to financial reasons and personal interest. Therefore, the more rich owners get money, the more they change and become less selfish. Through the agricultural system, selfishness becomes an intimidating and destructive force that thrusts prosperous people to be dishonest.

At certain level of interpretation, The Grapes of wrath and The Pearl represents the pride of rich people. Thus, Steinbeck underlines the acute materialism that causes only misery and human debasement. After the establishment of new agricultural policy which is the result of American people changing behavior. Farmers and landlords change both economically and morally. The agrarian system accentuates the division of the American society into two antagonistic classes.^4(*)9 In other words, every class tries to enhance its position. Through The Grapes of wrath and The Pearl, one can see that most of people grant more importance to material success. The American authority's main concern is how to get material possessions. That's why they resort to horrible methods to reach their objectives. In reality, it's always easier to exploit people once you starve them just as the Amerindians were treated and evicted from their native lands. The unreasonable persecution of authorities towards Mexicans and American farmers leads Steinbeck to put his pen in order to denounce those misdemeanors. In The Pearl, Kino and his family far from being depressed or unhappy have a great sense of love and cohesion for each other. But their quiet everyday life is turned upside down the day when Kino finds a great Pearl and hopes to achieve his dream. As one can see, Kino's dream turns to nightmare. In other words, dreams lead to desires, then, desires incites to greed and finally greediness leads to violence. In the same way, excessive materialism leads to selfishness which, in return drives landlords to act fiercely. Thus, the unrealistic dreams of farmers have often material significance because there is a complex link between optimism and materialism which are more often conflicting. The emphasis on material achievement which is essential to the idealistic fulfillment of American Dream has always been the worst side of the American society. This fact creates at the same time a sense of fear that troubles this optimistic vision. Consequently, wealth becomes not only a means but the primary objective of American life. In this respect, extreme materialism becomes terrible but the scariest aspect of materialism leads American people to aggressive acts. And as one can see, material wealth continues to act as the central element in the conflicts and tensions that happen in the American society and particularly in the world. In The Grapes of Wrath, the exploitation of farmers takes a ruthless form because migrant workers are treated worse than livestock. In others words, dead people have more significance than those who are alive. This fact is noticeable in the episode where Grandpa is dead.^5(*)0 Thus, Grandpa's corpse is more important than migrant farmers' life because a late man's burial allows Californian authority to gain money. In this regard, Steinbeck shows how American materialism is merciless. This intense acquisitiveness makes rich people callous because rich landowners appropriate the whole harvest while letting farmers the strict necessity (thirty cent per hours) so that they can survive in order to be able to keep on working for landlords.

Nowadays, money controls everything. As a result, whoever detains it has the possibility to make or to have all required things. This reality constitutes one of the first origins of moral values decline. Consequently, ethical values vanish gradually to the detriment of rising acquisitive behavior of people. In this regard, this strong concern with material success causes a lack of moral qualities while privileging a perpetual quest for wealth. The Grapes of Wrath as well as The Pearl gives a large account of Steinbeck's personal experience. Steinbeck presents the materialistic behavior of American people as the primary cause of pain and the signs of notorious inhumanity. This fact is also visible in Paul Morand's novel:The Journey at the end of the Night ^5(*)1 which is both a protest against materialism and shows the dark face of the American society. Paul Morand rises against the social order to adopt a more reasonable viewpoint while underlining absurdity, injustice, poverty and selfishness between human being. Thus, these following elements are the result of people' excessive greed in the American society. This hard quest for money is the justification of hardhearted behavior between people. This misconduct creates also harsh insensitivity between rich and poor and generates sometimes horrible acts. Consequently, all these misdeeds converge towards an egotistic acquirement of profit to the detriment of the weakest.

A constant conflicting situation is effective throughout Steinbeck's The Pearl and The Grapes of Wrath because wealthy people want regularly to get rich to the disadvantage of poor people. But, poor cultivators strive at all cost to refuse this state of things in order to improve their conditions of living. Hence, everyone cares about one's own interest. Thus, what really matters is to accumulate more profit. Steinbeck shows how American society adopts a materialistic behavior. This yearning to acquire more wealth presses on property owners to resort to violence in order to achieve their purposes. Similarly, the cruelty that rich landlords use towards small farmers was destined only to have more profits. Yet, the profit drawn from this ruthless exploitation is sometimes used towards futile purposes as Steinbeck illustrates through this paragraph :«The money was spent for arms, for gas to protect the great holdings and spies were sent to catch the murmuring of revolt so that it might be stamped out.»^5(*)2

In other words, rich landowners' profit comes from the mistreatment toward small cultivators. As one can see, this profit is used most of the time to buy weapons or to secure their social position. Thus, many rich owners are guided by a feeling of excessive pride and greediness. This egocentric feeling rouses insensitive actions such as speculation, competition and sometimes fraudulent ways of getting money. The financial desire thrusts rich landlords to organize themselves into vicious and restricted circles in order to elaborate deliberate ways to multiply their wealth and secure their social status. In this regard, these self-protective methods go so far as to debase poor farmers' life. In addition, the excessive covetousness of landowners is the result of the opposing relationships with poor farmers. Thus, if everyone is content with the strict minimum, that's to say, satisfy one's basic needs: eating, drinking or other necessities, there will be no more enough animosity between people. But it is this strong desire to acquire more property that enlivens rich people to get together in order to achieve their personal interest. This yearning is enhanced by a feeling to accumulate the biggest profit in order to keep a good social status. Therefore, this state of things causes a tense relation between rich and poor. In other words, wealthy landowners act like an animal, that's to say, landlords adopt a life in which they care only about themselves because farmers represent an obstacle to their survival. Thus, on the one hand, this intense quest for profit does not allow poor farmers to get used to this materialistic way of living, although the pursuit for material prosperity constitutes a rightful activity. On the other hand, some people, being unable to fulfill their basic needs, are obliged to use immoral acts to satisfy their selfish needs. But, this quest for material comfort goes so far as to get another meaning further than legitimate doings. Therefore, material wealth becomes the source of all cruelty that Americans endured during the thirties. In Grapes of Wrath, rich people deprived poor farmers from their lands, landowners in return exploited workers, and the food burnt and buried. All these transgressions impel Steinbeck to wonder what really determines human being. All along The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, Steinbeck draws a simple line through the American people, one that divides the rich from the poor and identifies this division as the primary source of wickedness and pain in America as well as in the world. The purpose of creating protective associations is also a way for rich owners to unite their force and discuss to the adequate policy to break migrant farmers' associations. Thus, the freedom of organization is scorned. And as we know, the liberty to associate is something fundamental for workers. But, when this right is forbidden, one can say that human rights are disrespected and farmers as victim are almost reduced to slave.

In fact, it is this excessive materialism which is the source of social troubles such as crime, poverty, oppression and genocide. The main concern is that materialism is unable to offer a peaceful existence. The life of Landowners in The Grapes of Wrath is a descriptive illustration. Although their lives are determined only by having material possessions, they do not have a calm life. In this respect, materialistic behaviors create a situation in which everyone focuses on one's selfish interest. This fact is dangerous because the constant existence for a society depends on one's conformity to moral values. But, the incapacity to adjust ethical values in response to new changes in the society is sometimes attributed to the excessive materialism of people. This is what happens to the community that John Steinbeck describes in The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl. The chapter nineteen is an illustrative example as it is visible through this paragraph :

«A horde of feverish American poured in, with such great hunger for the land they took it over.

They imported Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and Filipino workers who became essentially slaves.» ^5(*)3

Steinbeck points out the fact that migrants' great suffering is caused not by bad weather or mere calamity but by their fellow citizens. Though, historical, social and economic circumstances separate people into rich and poor, Steinbeck shows how American settlement in California had been done. Thus, the new settlers struggled sternly to conquer new lands. Through the paragraph above, Steinbeck describes his city as «the product of land-hungry squatters». In other hand, Californian landowners see this historical example as a threat because they think that migrant farmers' arrival may cause the history to repeat itself. Thus, landowners erect a system in which migrant farmers are treated like animals in order to protect themselves from such danger. Materialism presses landowners to forget the principle of universality, that's to say, honour, dignity, and solidarity. Yet, if an action is right or wrong for a group of people, it has to be true or incorrect for everybody. The same case should happen between landlords and farmers. But, if we analyse the paragraph above, one can see that if American settlers act heartlessly it's because of wealth. Thus, landowners' previous misdeeds prevent them from being at ease and live placidly because they are afraid of reprisal. The reality is that these property-owners do not apply to themselves the same principles they use toward farmers. In other words, landowners prefer use unworthy acts to get money rather than care about farmers' lot. Thus, in The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, rich people believe that the fact of resorting to selfish and hypocrite behaviors to achieve one's objective is somehow normal. This deplorable code of conduct between rich people is considered as natural because it is the prime condition that allows wealthy landowners to reach their personal goals.

The tragedy of this misbehaviour is that the affluent landlords try to justify this excessive materialism because the necessity to possess sufficient means guides the process of their life. In this respect, the gap between rich and poor becomes greater. One can see that the history of American society is a history of struggle between rulers and dominated, operators and exploited, meaning there is a relation of might between poor farmers and rich landowners as it is visible along the narration of The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl.

In The Grapes of Wrath, there is a huge inequality between a wealthy minority and a hard-working majority. In spite of this unfair division between rich and poor, landowners continue dishonestly to become rich at the expense of small farmers who became poorer. Therefore, rich people control the whole material possessions and do their entire utmost to make small farmers always dependent. Thus, rich landlords use callous ways to maintain this fact. The extent of atrocity that farmers endure is so hard that the solution was to «adapt to oneself» as Steinbeck says. Thus, it is clear that nobody was able to do anything against this state of things as it is well illustrated in this paragraph:

«It's not me. There is nothing I can do. I`ll lose my job if I don't do it.

And look - suppose you kill me? They'll just hang you, but long before you're hung,

there'll be another guy on the tractor, and he'll bump the house down.

You're not killing the right guy.» ^5(*)4

In other words, one can notice that farmers have nothing to do except adjusting to the changing environment in order to survive as Steinbeck suggests otherwise their life will be in jeopardy. One should know the root of this materialistic conception in order to better explain the cruel behaviour that incites rich landowners to enslave farmers. This domination is exercised over different ways either directly by individuals. For example, the pearl-buyers in The Pearl who force Kino to buy his pearl or indirectly by associations of rich people through private companies like «The banks» in The Grapes of Wrath. This misappropriation of resources by a small minority has some consequences. First of all, in economic field rich owners focus on how to make more financial profit than care about the collective need of farmers. Thus, wealthy-landowners create unjust policy by which small companies are not able to adapt themselves. It is in this regard that Steinbeck says through The Grapes of Wrath, that «big capitalists build a hard situation for migrant farmers in such way they won't be able to provide their own needs that's to say, they will be bankrupted. That is the reason why a lot of people become without shelters and sleeping sometimes in camps, streets or in their cars». (p.478-479)

It is also manifest to remark another form of cruelty on behalf of landowners. In fact, property-owners not able to sell their products anymore are obliged to destroy tons of food whereas thousand of people die of hunger. Thus, landlords prefer rather starve people than sell their harvest cheaply. Likewise, rich landholders privilege a system in which the prices of goods are rising. On the one hand, this unjust strategy makes poor farmers incapable to buy fruits whereas on the other hand, landowners resort to the method of increasing the quantity of harvest which creates an over-production in the market. Consequently, little farmers become non-competitive.^5(*)5 In the social field, the division of American society in two main social classes with conflicting interests becomes greater. In the first place, rich landowners possess the resources of production whereas farmers have only thoughts and physical capacities. For example, the Joads or the Wilson family who are obliged first to work to get a wage that allows them to stay alive. This fact is noticeable through Karl Marx's analysis in The Capital saying that «in capitalistic society, proletarians are obliged to sell their labour force to provide their own needs.»^5(*)6 In other words, farmers have to barter their strength in order to live. According to Marxists, this state of things opposes human beings between them particularly though class struggle. The motivation is that poor people want to improve their living condition whereas rich people try to acquire more profit. Therefore, this class struggle will continue as long as the excessive materialism responsible for this social division lasts. For this reason, the author of The Grapes of Wrath and In Dubious Battle shows how materialism leads to absurd situations such as disdain and oppression which are the result of thoughtless acts. It is this inhumane conduct that Steinbeck condemns in parallel with poor farmers' collective interests. With a great sense of humanity, Steinbeck enlightens the tragic story of his community through the Joads' destiny in The Grapes of Wrath as well as through Kino's family in The Pearl. Steinbeck demonstrates that money has a strong influence that coerces people to use sometimes brutality. This incentive is visible through the pearl-dealers who after vain temptations force Kino to kill one of them. Thus, materialism can keep man from behaving like a human being. And according to pearl-buyers, the quest for money has a great significance that even necessitates violence. The greediness of La-Paz village is visible through Kino's pearl which becomes also everyone's wish. Thus, Kino has what the whole community needs.^5(*)7

The feeling of contempt that rich landlords had towards migrant cultivators in The Grapes of Wrath is also manifest in The Pearl. Thus, in The Pearl, the doctor is incapable of emotion. Thus, he is guided by a despicable feeling rather than by reason. The disregard of the doctor toward Coyottito is visible through this paragraph:

«'Have I nothing better to do than cure insect bites for `little Indians'?

I am a doctor not a veterinary...»Has he any money» the doctor demanded.

«No, they never have any money».

I, I alone in the world am supposed to work for nothing

and I am tired of it. See if he has any money!»^5(*)8

In this paragraph, Steinbeck shows how the doctor is very attached to money so far as to transgress the oath of his profession. Thus, his only concern is how to get wealth. As we know, everyone has one's own imperfection. It is just the way of human nature. Thus, the common weakness that everyone shares is the quest for money. But most people get caught up in the selfish illusion that money is able to solve all their problems. This is what happens to Kino's community as well as landowners through The Grapes of Wrath. One can see that money has the force to change considerably people. This change of behaviour is noticeable through two levels. Firstly, Kino grants a great importance to the pearl. Thus, «the pearl has, as Kino tells his brother Juan Tomas, become his soul. If I give it up I shall lose my soul.» ^5(*)9 In other words, Steinbeck shows how man loses his consciousness so far as to adopt malevolent acts. It is clear that the ambition of rich landholders and poor farmers converges towards a common target: money. This same purpose is to maintain a social status for landlords and get a decent living for poor farmers. Thus, this couple of objectives is opposing. That is the reasons why rich and poor behave selfishly so far as to use appalling acts that do not honour human nature. Thus, material comfort which should be considered as a mean of exchange is regarded as the first priority of life. This strong consideration of money goes so far as to be against moral values. Through The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl, one can see that social success provokes nothing but misery and fatality.

All in all The Grapes of Wrath and The Pearl present futile communities that are systematically fragmented by an extreme materialism. In the former novel, Tom Joad is overcome by a feeling of despondency and disappointment of human nature. Most of the characters in the novel are painfully upset by a feeling of cruelty around them. The Joads' characters and Kino's family become disillused in their places. The attempt to move their places ends in failure. Their quests for survival become tragic, for they are downgraded and mistreated like animals by people's selfishness and materialistic disorientations. In this respect, man's quest for a decent life cannot come true unless they turn back their brutal conducts and moderate their yearning to get money. This was the only way that can orientate the thirties American society to all-round development. In short, Steinbeck points out the capacity of money and the fascination which it exerts on people. Admittedly, it is not an offense to have some money but the latter was useful for the honor of individual, honor in the sense where it is necessary to be well equipped, care one's family and well nourish. But now, it is essential to accumulate more money by all possible way to satisfy one's personality. Thus, money becomes a means of showing one's financial power, which is undoubtedly the source of dehumanization of social bond and deep discomfort. In the two novels of our study, we are in presence of a society where people are obliged to show what they represent in financial and material terms. This is what Steinbeck explains through the relationship between farmers and landowners, poor and rich because some people desire collect much money to dominate the others. All that leads to deviant attitude and behavior comparing to the moral tenets which had been established for the safeguard of social cohesion. Thus, according to Steinbeck, it is in the order of things to look for money in order to live decently. But, when this search for money becomes an obligation and takes frightening aspect, consequently, this situation generates disastrous condition. This situation of mistrust constitutes the main problem because it is the personality which determines the act.

However, in a remarkable style, Steinbeck conveys clearly his viewpoint face to a ruthless situation of his period and society. The critical phase of this period is an acquisitive society combined with a despicable behavior towards one and another. This misdemeanor leads American people to remove the authentic moral values which really make man.

* ²⁷ Demott Robert, The Working Days: The journals of the Grapes of Wrath 1938-1941, Ohio University Press, 1989, p. 10

* ²⁸ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 242

* ²⁹ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 33

* ³⁰ Ronal Mackin and David Carver, A Higher course of English study 2, London, Oxford University Press, 1976, p 15

* ³¹ Ted Gurr, Why Men Rebel, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970, p 24.

* ³² http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/johnstei.htm. 15/04/07 à 15h 36

* ³³ John Steinbeck, The Pearl, op. cit., p. 68

* ³⁴ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., pp. 47- 48

* ³⁵ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 426

* ³⁶ http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-mainstreet/themes.html 22/04/06 à18h 06

* ³⁷ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, New York, Collier Book, Macmillan Publishing, 1925, chap IV, pp 65 - 66

* ³⁸ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 48

* ³⁹ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 254

* ⁴⁰ Jean Marie Chevalier, Introduction a l`Analyse Economique, Paris, Edition La Découverte, 1994, p. 82

* ⁴¹ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., pp. 40 - 41

* ⁴² John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 476

* ⁴³ Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, or The Matter, Form, & Power of a Common-Wealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil, London: Andrew Crooke, 1651 Chap. XIII. p. 117

* ⁴⁴ John Steinbeck, The Pearl, op. cit., p. 58

* ⁴⁵ John Steinbeck, The Pearl, op. cit., p. 68

* ⁴⁶ P. M. Carpentier, Lamar, Les Etats Unis: Civilisation, Edition  Hachette, 1967, p. 21

* ⁴⁷ Www. Encyclopedia Microsoft. The Wasted Land. Encarta 2005. 22/05/06 à 17h 37

* ⁴⁸ Http://www.american%20literature.com. 05/06/06 à 20h 52

* ⁴⁹ Http://www.abu.cnam.fr/cqi-bin/qo?manifeste2 Karl Marx. 05/07/07 à 17h 46

* ⁵⁰ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op.cit., p. 153

* ⁵¹ Http //: www. Encyclopedia. Microsoft. The Journey at the end of the night 1888-1976. Encarta. 2005. à 16h 12

* ⁵² John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 269

* ⁵³ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p 254

* ⁵⁴ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 40

* ⁵⁵ John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, op. cit., p. 12

* ⁵⁶ Michel Beau, "Le Capital, Bible de la Pleade, Karl Marx" : Histoire du Capitalisme, le Seuil, 1981, p 96

* ⁵⁷ John Steinbeck, The Pearl, op. cit., p. 34

* ⁵⁸ John Steinbeck, The Pearl., op. cit., p.17

* ⁵⁹ John Steinbeck, The Pearl., op. cit., p. 73