33 pages • 1 hour read
John SteinbeckThe Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath
Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 1936A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Article 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Article 4 Summary
Steinbeck next dove into discussion of the two official migrant camps that the federal government had established in California, though it planned to build eight more. The government offered basic facilities such as showers, toilets, an administrative office, and a simple recreation center. There was clean water and toilet paper. A resident manager remained on-site. Instead of paying rent, migrant families committed to helping maintain the camp at least two hours a week. A women’s organization known as Good Neighbors sewed clothing and quilts for community members and maintained a children’s nursery so that their mothers could work in the fields while their children were looked after. Members of the Good Neighbors greeted new arrivals to the camp. Steinbeck cited from a manager’s report on a new camp family that arrived with little food and filthy belongings: “The Good Neighbors at once took the family in hand, and by 10 o’clock they were fed, washed, camped, settled and asleep” (42).
There were no outside police, as the community policed itself by offering punishments—like restricting access to the community dances—for mild infractions and then recommending a camper be removed for more serious violations. None of the campers were receiving government aid, so although the federal government spent approximately $18,000 constructing the camp, it spent comparatively little once the camp was set up. The workers in this camp were noticeably better-spirited than those outside the camps. The vast majority had been farm owners or farm laborers back in their home states like Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. In the camp, families maintained vegetable plots on the camp for their own sustenance. Since the children stayed in one place instead of moving up and down the state, they were able to regularly attend school.
Steinbeck challenged the four most common reasons why some Californians opposed the camps, which included policing in the camps, extra expenses associated with putting the migrant children in school, land values being affected by the migrant camps, and the likelihood of strikes being organized by people in the camps.
Article 4 Analysis
Through data, reasoning, and anecdotal examples, Steinbeck made an effective case for the expansion of the federal camp system for migrant farm workers. His main argument lay in how the camps offered migrant workers an opportunity to reclaim their dignity. Steinbeck defined dignity as “a register of a man’s responsibility to his community” (39), and there was a strong sense of community in the camps. The community policed itself and ensured that its members were taken care of through organizations like the Good Neighbors, which was effective, in part, because its members had suffered the same hardships as the migrant workers that they were serving: “These Good Neighbors are not trained social workers, but they have what is perhaps more important, an understanding which grows from a likeness of experience” (42).
Steinbeck believed that migrants wanted to work hard; if given the opportunity, the workers would become valuable residents of the state of California. He quoted one worker who said, “If it’s work you got to do, mister, we’ll do it. Our folks never did take charity and this family ain’t taking it now” (43). Steinbeck’s reasonable defense of the migrant workers gave way to a more impassioned critique of large-scale growers who opposed the camps out of fear that they would enable the workers to organize: “Any action to better the conditions of the migrants will be considered radical to them” (44). This statement reflects Steinbeck’s pro-worker leanings and his dislike of the exploitative nature of the large agricultural corporations in California.
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