On October 29, 1929, a devastating situation occurred. Fourteen billion dollars were lost in a single day. In the following weeks our country lost thirty billion dollars. This action was one of the major beginnings of the Great Depression. Frightened, the banks began to withdraw their loans and wanted the money. People were afraid of what the future had in store and wanted to get paid. Farmers, especially in Oklahoma and some surrounding states, have been hit hard. They were going through a drought. The drought meant they didn't get enough crops, and without enough crops, they didn't get enough money to pay their bills. Families were thrown onto the streets with nowhere to go. California was a state that had crops and needed workers. Landowners sent out thousands of flyers. When these fliers reached desperate drought-stricken families, they packed up everything they could and headed west. These men wanted to work, but they had nowhere to work. They thought they had found the solution to their problems. However, once they reached California, it became clear that their work would be hard and there was very little of it. In Grapes of Wrath, it's about a family that has experienced all the problems first hand. Once they reach California, they hope for miracles. Every time they find a nice place, something makes them want to leave. Towards the end of Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck it talks about how the world changed during the Great Depression through three important messages: the function of a family, political statements and we will always continue to survive. Grapes described how a family's dynamics had changed. During the 1900s the world was in a position where the patriarch was the head of the family. Their job was to provide for the family and represent the strength of the people who belong to the family. They represent the leader. At the beginning of the book it talks about how men had to decide, women stood behind them and waited for their decision. Once men lost their jobs, once they could no longer provide for their families, they gave up. They no longer knew how they would live and women took on a new role. “Focused on Steinbeck's religious and natural symbolism and the role of his female characters, which previous critics had considered stereotypical and one-dimensional.