California -- Not the Promised Land
By Travis Statham, with comments by Sarah Carey and Aaron Baek
[1] A particular scene in Grapes of Wrath catches the viewer’s attention as one in which the problems with finding work in California really begin to appear. The dreams of the promised land of California get squashed by the realization that finding worthy work is much harder than any flyer made aware. While hanging around Hooverville, the Joad men get their first chance at work when a fruit-picking contractor appears in a fancy convertible to hire some pickers. However, the chance is ruined when several of the workers begin to question the contractor, and one in particular named Floyd demands to see credentials while warning the others. His plea is unanswered as the contractor uses force to stop him. The scene exemplifies the problems that Okies faced in California as they looked for scarce work but were met with dictator-like farm contractors who took advantage of the cheap labor, the uneducated people, and the use of police force. Ford demonstrates the heroic qualities of a worker in the form of Floyd.
[2] The importance of this scene is showing how the troublemakers of society are actually incredibly important, honest, and smart -- willing to stand up for the rights of others as well as their own. Floyd is the center of this scene, as well one a few minutes prior that shows the Joad family entering Hooverville, which is basically a ramshackle town for Okies. As they crawl along the mud road, they encounter a large number of dismally starving people, but at the top of the hill, the camera finds a woman in white. A man in white walks up to her and stands there with a look of compassion on his face. The viewer doesn’t know it yet, but that man is Floyd. Ford is inserting him as an extra into this prior scene to give viewers a look at his face so that when they see him later, they are more inclined to like him. Ford also ends the camera pan from that previous scene on Floyd so that his face is the last one you see among the other forgettable Hoovervillians.
[3] The contractor’s appearance is met with immediate optimism by the Joads. The Joads are inexperienced at finding work, and they, like the viewer, don’t know the subtleties of picking fruit in California. Ford has them speak first so they appear to be innocent. However, it is easy to tell the contractor is up to no good since he can’t name a wage rate and he has a sheriff with him to help maintain order. If the contractor were honest, he wouldn’t need force to back him up, since written contracts must be honored. The camera pans around the convertible as men ask the contractor questions. We see that no one is volunteering to work. All the men have hats on their heads, which throws dark shadows across their eyes. The hats make the bright scene darker than it is, as if there is malevolent evil at work here. We also see the sheriff in the passenger seat calmly smoking a cigarette. He’s an ugly man with a sinister mustache, and his hat shadows his entire face as he looks upon the crowd.
[4] Floyd suddenly speaks up. The camera is positioned directly in front of him, and we realize that Floyd does not have a hat. All of the camera shots before were a little wider, but this one is right up in Floyd’s face. The light shines directly on Floyd’s face, outlining his truculent yet wise features as he stands to protect the righteous. Floyd asks for a simple contract that says “where and when and how much you will pay.†But the contractor says “Now listen, smart guy, I’ll run my business my own way.†The contractor knows that he is in the position of power still since he is offering the work that everyone craves so badly. That position becomes degraded as Floyd denounces the entire farming system as he sees it. The contractor, knowing he doesn’t have the proof that Floyd wants to see, resorts to his secret weapon, the cop in the passenger seat, and has the man “agitate†Floyd.
[5] This is a pivotal point in the film; Floyd is standing up for the rights of Okies. He wants justice and fair wages, even a contract, all things from an ancient era. Ford is summing up the reality that the rights of the people are not represented here, that they have no rights anymore, that America has lost its democracy, and the rich are exploiting the poor. It comes as a shock to the viewer, who hoped that the dust bowl was the only region where the plague of moral decay was occurring, but here in California, it was happening again. (see comment by Aaron Baek)
[6] The contractor’s response of using force against Floyd’s heroics shows that the rich and powerful are committed to keeping the system the way it is. Ford has cast the sheriff as a corrupt looking man. We see that the rich are using the most dishonest and sloppiest cops as their protectors and that the cop’s disarray is proof that there is no justice anymore. Once a society’s police stop upholding the law, then the society begins to crumble. This scene demonstrates the values of good against evil. As if to drive the point home, Ford has the contractor say, “You fellas all know not to listen to troublemakers†as the cop walks over to arrest Floyd. Tom and Casy seem to follow the contractor’s words because they beat up the cop, who is the real troublemaker. They have answered Muley’s cry of “Who do we shoot?†(see comment by Sarah Carey)
Comments
Travis works in Muley's "who do we shoot?" line from earlier in the movie and relates it to the situation with the cop and the agitator. That line was a very powerful one, and one put in place to make the viewer think for themselves about who is to blame. Travis seems to identify the corrupt policemen as the source of the evil, as the "real troublemakers." I think that Ford meant for it to go deeper than that. The cops are merely a symbol of the corrupt system. To me, they represent the flawed government policies that have put these people in their harsh situation in the first place. Ford gave this corruption a physical form in the film that people could understand. I think it is not necessarily that Ford meant to accuse the police force, just that he meant to point out a flawed system that had failed its people, symbolically, beating them down and taking away their freedom.
Travis, another way of looking at this pivotal scene is that it shows us that the Okies are willing to sacrifice their right of democracy in fear of people with power. Your statement that reads “America has lost its democracy†needs to be qualified as this scene proves that the Okies not only forfeit their rights of representation to the wealthy contractor but also succumb to the exploitations he puts upon them. During this scene, the viewer sees a chance arise for the Okies to exercise democracy when the contractor comes in offering “fair wages and a working contract.†If the Okies united together under Floyd’s rally demanding proof of the contractor’s claim, the voices of the people would have been heard. The contractor could have backed away from his oppressive ways and even provided a fair working contract for the workers he would have hired. However, when Floyd attempts to rally supporters to create a coalition of workers to follow this cause, he finds himself facing the contractor alone. Tom, realizing that Floyd is in a deep predicament, attempts to defend Floyd when he is singled out by the contractor and his accomplice. Because Tom has not been exposed to the surrender mentality, he is able to defend Floyd without hesitation as the rest of the Okies watch passively. Through this incident we can conclude that the Okies have had opportunities to make their voices heard but choose not to be heard. The actions that Tom exhibits could have brought about great change if the people followed, but moral injustice outweighed moral justice during these times. It was not that “America lost its democracy†but that Americans forfeited their right of democracy by not fighting against the oppressions they faced.
