As Jonathan Swift once said: "Nothing is more difficult for those who abound in wealth than to conceive how others can be in need . » The Great Depression was a time of considerable grief for countless people in the United States. A crumbling economy and suffering industry, coupled with harsh weather conditions, have caused widespread unemployment and forced multitudes of people to leave their lands. Entire plantations were destroyed due to lack of harvests and families were forced to migrate thousands of kilometers in search of a new and better life. However, not everyone felt the harsh consequences of this dark era. Many of the larger companies and banks that fared better helped to deepen depression among the population by forcing people who could not pay off their mortgaged land to leave the country. These “big dogs” could not understand the situation and desires of ordinary people. The cruelty that these people, who eventually became migrants, faced at the hands of others, is at the heart of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck focuses on presenting the hardships and cruelty that migrants face through the central character of his novel: Tom Joad. The Joad family as a whole represents a great example of the type of family that endured hardship during this trying time. Steinbeck moves Tom from a selfish, self-centered character to a fully realized and well-rounded character through his presentation of events to Tom and the effects of events in Tom's life in order to show the corruption of human nature. Steinbeck's presentation of specific events in Tom shapes his personality and perception of the world, specifically the intricacies of human nature. The first obstacle Steinbeck presents to Tom is the truck...... middle of paper...... Review. Ed. Janet Witalec. Flight. 135. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Information Resource Center. Internet. January 9, 2012. Ditsky, John. Critical essays on Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Boston: np, 1989. Print. Ditsky, John. “The Grapes of Wrath: A Re-examination.” Southern Humanities Review 13.3 (Summer 1979): 215-220. Rep. in 20th century literary criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Flight. 135. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Information Resource Center. Internet. January 9, 2012. Owens, Louis. “The Guilty Joads: De-Sentimentalizing the Grapes of Wrath.” Critical essays on Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Ed. Jean Ditsky. Boston: G. K. Hall and Co., 1989. 108-116. Rep. in 20th century literary criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Flight. 135. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Information Resource Center. Internet. January 9, 2012. Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. 1939. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. Print.