On this particular Independence Day at this particular moment in history, I’m thinking about The Grapes of Wrath, the 1939 novel by John Steinbeck. It’s the story of a Dust Bowl family from Oklahoma heading west on a roll of the dice, in search of a better life that may or may not even exist. It’s also the story of a young man trying to make sense of the oppression and injustice he encounters along the way, perpetrated by the few against the many.
Toward the end of the book, young Tom Joad – the de facto head of the Joad family and the protagonist of the story – kills a strikebreaker in a heated moment, then makes the decision to separate from his family to keep the law from coming after them. In his last words to his mother before leaving her, he’s not sure where he’ll go or what he’ll do next. He wonders if he’s not just one soul but part of a bigger soul that exists everywhere all the time, in all the big and small moments that define who we are.
“I’ll be all around in the dark,” he says. “I’ll be everywhere, wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there…I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build – why, I’ll be there.”
Eight and a half decades have come and gone since The Grapes of Wrath won critical acclaim and scored a Pulitzer Prize for Literature. A lot has changed since then, but a lot is still the same. Whatever our moment in history, we’re still called upon to be all around in the dark, paying attention to the big events and small details, watching for things that others might not see, finding strength and courage in a community that’s bigger than ourselves, and pushing back against oppression and injustice – even when we’re tired and discouraged and not sure where to go or what to do next.
Happy Fourth.