Throughout the novel Grapes of Wrath, author John Steinbeck does an excellent job of portraying the struggles of life during the dust bowl. There were many reasons for these problems, including the stress of having to move a family from their homeland in search of work to support a successful lifestyle. These problems were very difficult for any family member to deal with, but were especially severe for the parents and elders of the family. Children were also affected, but not as significantly as parents. Perhaps the most significant theme in Grapes of Wrath is the extreme hardships a family faced when they left their family land and emigrated to find work. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The family's struggles are presented in the first chapter of Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck introduces the setting of the novel as taking place in the Midwestern United States. The dictation in the early chapters of the novel uses dark phrases and dark word choices that describe depressing images of the struggles faced during the dust bowl. These images are especially present when Steinbeck writes: “People came out of their homes and smelled the hot, pungent air…. This depiction of the polluted air and its effects on the people of this place foreshadows the problems that are yet to arise in the rest of the novel. It also connects the relationship between man and nature. These relationships will be shown in every aspect of the rest of the book. The intense descriptions set the stage for the sad situations many families experience in the dust bowl. When the family decides to leave and head to California, it is extremely difficult for all family members. Pa Joad was probably the most affected by the move to California. He had never been anywhere other than his family's land, and his connection to that land was extremely strong. Pa Joad had grown up on this piece of land since he was young. It was very difficult for him to pack his bags and leave permanently. He raised six children on that land and grew up farming the same land. To expect him to leave behind everything he grew up with and the life he built is asking a lot of a person. Before the family left for California, Dad stood in a field staring at the land. This scene was one of the few times we see Dad express extreme emotion. This event shows how important land can be to someone. These struggles continue to culminate in the first chapters of the novel. Soon after the Joads leave their homeland, the grandfather dies and must be given a proper funeral. This was very difficult for the family, especially for dad, because grandparents play an important role in keeping the family together. Later in the novel, when Grandma Joad dies, some other family members had begun to venture out on their own, leaving the security of a family. These two significant scenes in the novel reflect the idea that grandparents are essentially the glue of the family, and once the grandparents are gone, it is much more difficult to bring a family together for reunions. The connections between humans and nature are shown evident throughout the novel. One of the key points of this occurs in chapter 10 when Steinbeck writes: “And the family still stood there like walkers in a dream, their eyes focused panoramically, seeing no detail, but the whole dawn, the whole earth, the entire structure of the country at once. ” (Page#) At this point in the novel, we realized that the Joads.