Grapes Of Wrath was published in 1939 by John Steinbeck following his experience living with migrants during the great depression. Written as a piece of Journalism, it was soon greatly criticised for the "unreal" picture Steinbeck was apparently painting. The book was banned and burned as people saw it as a book of lies, it was thought to be communist proganda. It is still quite a controversial book and even today there are arguments as to whether the book is indeed acceptable as a form of Journalism.
Although the characters and the events are ficticious, the book was written for effect to give a voice to the voiceless. The characters were architypes and the events were written to reflect reality. Steinbeck had been touched by the plight of the migrants and had therefore wanted to do something about it in the form of a novel. Grapes Of Wrath has been desbribed as a type of campaign Journalism due to it's nature. The soul purpose of the novel was to open the eyes of the ignorant as to the conditions the poor had to endure during these hard times. However, research done showed that conditions were not quite as bad as Steinbeck illustrated but the sheer fact that this research was carried out shows the impact the book made on society.
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