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History 8
Sour Grapes
In 1 a novel by John Steinbeck was published that had a profound effect on this nation. That book was The Grapes of Wrath. This book is studied in every high school in California and many around the world. There are even places in California that are dedicated to the study of John Steinbeck and his works. This book was so successful it won the Pulitzer Prize in 140 and helped Steinbeck to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 16. Yet for all its apparent success, this book was not well received in some areas of the country. This book is considered to be the most accurate novel depicting the life of the migrant workers as they traveled to California from their ruined farms in the draught ridden middle America in search of work. The book tells the tale of the Joad family and its struggles against the unfair treatment they receive while looking for work. It shows the workers being exploited and taken advantage of in an effort to feed their families and stay alive. They were subjected to inadequate and filthy facilities. They were often driven from the towns by the local police. They were denied entrance to other towns in search for work. A large part of this book was based on the real life camps that Steinbeck lived in while researching The Grapes of Wrath as part of the Federal Writer's Project. It also depicted the local land owners as miserable misers who didn't pay the migrant workers enough money to live. Many people have confirmed that this was an accurate portrayal of how these people were treated. In an interview with Kathy Durham on March181 Eual Murmduke Stone stated "Oh, they treated them like dogs, they was treated like dogs. They (the farm owners) only wanted them to get their crops picked". "It (The Grapes of Wrath) was all true" (1).Steinbeck stayed in the Arvin federal migrant camp in Kern County and it was the basis for his depiction of the weedpatch camp in the book. While this book was a work of fiction, the people of Kern County saw it a brutal and unjust attack on their community.Buy sour grapes term paper
With bitter and swift revenge the citizens of Kern County, in particular, The Associated Farmers of Kern County acted. They gathered together on Chester Avenue in Bakersfield California and burnt more than 50 copies of the book calling it "obscene and vile propaganda "(). The counties put extreme pressure on local officials, prompting the Kern county board of supervisors to ban the book in county public schools and libraries, which it did on August 1 1. The Board of Supervisors stated that they were banning the book because of its obscenity. Admittedly there are "dirty words" throughout the book but nothing that the general public would view as obscene. The Board stated in its resolution that the novel misrepresented the conditions in both the county and the whole San Joaquin Valley. It is believed that this was the true reason for banning the book. It made them look bad. W.B. Camp, a prominent rancher of the time and president of the Associated farmers explained "We are angry, not because we were attacked but because we were attacked by a book obscene in the extreme sense of the word" (). This was not the only location in the country experiencing backlash against The Grapes of Wrath. The book was banned in Camden, New Jersey and East St. Luis. Many felt the book was vulgar, immoral and even bestial. (4).
There was great public outcry for the banning of the book and many residents of Kern County believed that the ban threatened the first amendment. Much like today the political climate of 1 was particularly tense. War was raging in Europe and even though the White House insisted on a neutral stance, a feeling of conflict was in the air. There were groups who came to bat for The Grapes of Wrath. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Library Association (ALA) both spoke out publicly against the banning of the book. Raymond W. Henderson, a representative of the Kern County branch of the ACLU, did not believe The Grapes of Wrath should be given to school children and stated that the ACLU was not interested in the truth of the book but said "What we do protest is a public board setting itself up as a board of censorship in violation of the federal constitution." (5) In this time period people had a deep fear of all things considered communist and the threat of violating the US constitution was a very powerful argument against censorship. Librarians also came to the aid of the banned book. Librarians have often been involved in fighting censorship. The professional literature of the period was filled with references to democracy and the role of the library during such turbulent times. "Librarians should be all for democracy," California Library Association President Sydney Mitchell declared in 18 "In the totalitarian state the librarian becomes merely an agency for propaganda, for the dissemination of such information as the authorities care to pass on " (6) It is recognized in the American Library Association'sIntellectual Freedom Manualthat it was the ALA'sinitial response to the censorship attempts against "The Grapes of Wrath that ultimately led to the adoption of the first Library's Bill of Rights"(7).
Despite protests from both the public and library staff, the ban continued for a year and a half. Finally under heavy pressure from the ACLU threats of a law suit the Board finally rescinded its ban in January 114. While the supervisors repealed the ban the book was not returned to the classrooms until 17 when Vernon Bell, a teacher, at Bakersfield High School requested to teach it in his English classes. Now it is taught every year. Despite the status of The Grapes of Wrath as an American classic, the county's official stance was not altered until this past July. The Supervisors passed a resolution honoring Steinbeck and acknowledged the importance of his novel to Kern County and the rest of the nation. The resolution hailed Steinbeck as a chronicler of "The courage and Humanity of the common American during the depression" (8). It also acknowledged the economic, political and cultural contributions made to this country by dust bowl immigrants and their descendants.
From censorship and public distain to celebration and accolades, the book The Grapes of Wrath has come full circle with the citizens of Kern County. . Later editions of The Grapes of Wrath contain this message on the inside cover "it electrified an America still convalescing ideas that many people were, at the least, uncomfortable with this electricity caused the Kern County Board of Supervisors to ban the book in the county's public schools and libraries in August ,1 ().
Works Cited
1. Eual Murmduke Stone, interview, The Grapes of Wrath in Kern County, with Kathy Durham
(Bakersfield Bakersfield College. 18) 7-8.
. Samuel Sillen. "Censoring The Grapes of Wrath," A Casebook of The Grapes of Wrath, ed.
Agnes McNeill Donehue (New York Cromwell, 168) 6.
. Bakersfield CalifornianAugust, 1.
4. "Support of 'Grapes' ban is Urged by Farmers' Group," Bakersfield CalifornianAugust,
1.
5. "Liberties Union to Protest book ban," Bakersfield CalifornianAugust, 1.
6. Sydney B. Mitchell, "The Public Library in the Defense of Democracy," The Library Journal.
15 March, 1 0.
7. Judith F. Kruitz, "The Library serves best…," Wilson Library Bulletin (December 1)
14.
8. "Steinbeck resolution." Online. Internet. 1 November. 00. Available FTP
etext.Bakersfieldcalifornian.net
. John Steinbeck, jacket notes, The Grapes of Wrath, (New York Viking Press, 1) inside
inside cover.
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