The gas station on route 66 offers a few important moments. The first moment being the death of the Joad's dog. This even is foreshadowing for the journey to come.
The second is the conversation the family has with the gas station attendant after he accuses the Joad family of not having enough money to pay for gas. After insulting the family the attendant explains that migrant workers stop at his station often to beg for gas but his business is failing thanks to the corporate gas stations that moved in and he cannot give charity gas to travelers. In an attempt to bring in more paying business the attendant painted the gas station yellow to match the corporate gas station but he had very little luck with the painting ploy.
This discussion works to point at capitalism as the root of all the issues in these peoples lives. Capitalism forced the attendant into a situation where he is only slightly better off than the Joads, and in return he became bitter and insulted the Joad family, who has suffered quite a bit already. It is a snowball effect that starts with the greed of capitalism.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment