The Nature of Man

In chapter fourteen of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck devotes his attention to expressing his philosophies of Man and how they relate to the migrant workers as they travel across the country. The chapter is divided into two parts. The first part talks about one of the most important qualities of Man: he is willing to fight for a cause. The second part talks about what must happen to move a man to fight for a particular cause.

Steinbeck says:

For man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.

This sets the theme for the first part of the chapter. He is saying that Man puts a sense of value on all of the things he does. When a man works to build or create something to meet a specific need or desire, he puts a part of himself into that finished product. In return he gets something back from his work. It gives him pride and satisfaction. Then, when his work is destroyed by men corrupted by power, the man pushes on with his life, refusing to give up. He will come across some set backs, but they will not push him back all the way once he takes that step forward. The man may even step in the wrong direction, but that will not stop him. Man will continue to fight for a better life, because that is the nature of Man. Even when those powerful men drop "bombs" on him trying to keep him down, he will continue to fight. They can kick the man off his land, take his money and property, and even starve his family to death, but they will not destroy the Man. Man does not need to fear these bombs dropping on them, because as long as the "bombers" are dropping bombs, then they have not beaten Man. Once the bombers have no more need to drop the bombs, then the spirit of the Man is dead. Every time one of these bombs are dropped and Man is forced to take that half-step back is proof that the spirit is still alive. When Man becomes unwilling to suffer and die for a concept, then he stops being human. This characteristic is what makes us greater than the rest of the universe.

The second part of the chapter says that as long as a man is alone, then he is helpless. It is when the "I" becomes "we" that Man finds his strength. When men unite in a common cause, they cannot be stopped as long as they are united. They start helping each other. If one of them needs something that the other has, they will share it. There is a special bond that forms between men who must endure a hardship together. If the powerful men in society wish to keep these men down, they must keep them apart. They must cause them to suspect each other and hate each other.

There is more power in a "we" than there is in an "I." The men with money and power have something that other men need, whether it is food, money, or land. These men can never be anything other than an "I" because to be a "we" they must share what they have. The "we" are more powerful than all the money that the "I" can have. These powerful men see the men that are worse off as the cause of their problems. In reality, they are the result of that man's greed. These powerful owners cannot see that. They only see the problems of the "I."