1.+Purpose+&+Summary

Author's Purpose John Steinbeck’s purpose for writing, //The Grapes of Wrath//, was to prove that although individuality is necessary in life, it is important to be able to depend on others and work well together. When people work together, collaborate with one another, and use their own individual strengths to overpower others weaknesses, they can create a strong front capable of much more than that individual could do alone.
 * **collaboration**
 * **use of individual strengths to overpower others individual weaknesses**

Summary of the Chapter In chapter five, the banks are evicting the farmers from their land because they aren’t making a good enough profit off of tenant farming. The actual owners of the land are sent to tell the farmers that they are being evicted, and kick them and their family out. Many of the farmers did complain, but the response they got was that the bank wasn’t human, so there was no sympathy for it to give, but rather commit acts of inhumanity. After listening to the farmers complain they have no where to go, landowners recommend they head out west to California. Without much time passing men show up in tractors to tear everything down, men that could possible have been a farmer’s neighbor, but they didn’t care, they needed money to feed their families and this made good pay. This of course angered the farmers even more, and they fought harder, until they realized that there was no beating the inhumane bank.
 * **banks evicting the farmers**
 * **farmers try to argue it but are told they can't beat the bank**
 * **advised to head out west to California**
 * **broke up the community and people began fighting for themselves**

How the Chapter furthers the Author's Purpose Steinbecks chapter five, "A Plea for Change," relates back to his original purpose through the link of teamwork. Had the community stood up and fought the banks is it possible that they would never have been evicted. Rather than having people decide that to worry more about their own individual economic and family issues, they should have battled through it as a community.

Discussion Questions
 * **Do you think that if the community stayed together and fought the bank that they could have won?**
 * **Had they lost, how do you think it would have changed the journey?**
 * **Had they won, do you believe that the community would then rely to much on each other and not be individual familes?**