What is the plot of 'The Grapes of Wrath'?

Answer 1

Tom Joad is released from prison after serving time for manslaughter, and returns to find his parents' farm deserted. Finding his family nearby, he discovers that they are planning to leave for California. Like other Oklahoma farmers, they have seen their crops ruined by the Dust Bowl. Eastern banks and corporate farmers are repossessing the land, and the Joads have little choice but to look for work in the orchards and fields out west. They are joined by a former preacher, named Jim Casy, and a couple they meet on the road. En route to California, they discover the roads are choked with thousands of similarly-situated refugees, and that money is tight. They begin to suspect California may not be the answer to their problems. The elderly Joad grandparents, symbols of the old ways, die on the road to California. One of the sons, Noah, leaves the family en route to fend for himself. Upon arrival, they find there are dozens or scores of applicants for every job, and there is little to no hope of finding a stable community in which to live, or even of a steady income that can purchase the food they need to live. Their family is broken apart as the pregnant Rose of Sharon's husband, Connie, leaves to seek better opportunities. In response to the exploitation of this labor surplus, the workers begin to join trade unions, and the surviving members of the family are involved in strikes that turn violent. Tom Joad, the protagonist, kills a man, and must become a fugitive, promising that no matter where he runs, he will be a tireless advocate for the common man against the powerful. Rose-of-Sharon miscarries at the conclusion of the novel, and the family is still defeated. However, Rose-of-Sharon commits herself powerfully yet licentiously to help the other members of their community by choosing to breast feed a starving man, therefore doing the only action that isn't futile against the power of society.