To reach our purpose, we rely on Jean Jacques Rousseau’s theory of collectivism mentioned and discussed in The Social Contract (1762) and Alexis DeTocqueville’s theory of individualism mentioned and discussed in Democracy in America (1835).The Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanized-and sometimes outraged-millions of readers.įirst published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads-driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. So, this memoire identifies how characters in both The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men acted collectively but at the same time looked for their self-interests. The clash between the two philosophies of collectivism and individualism is well illustrated in John Steinbeck’s novels The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and Of Mice and Men (1937) which reflect well the misfortune and despair of the American farmers who tried by all the means necessary including the creation of organizations so that to establish unions and agreements to put an end to economic and social problems, such as unemployment, homelessness and famine. This proves that despite their collectivity, the spirit of individualism they lived for so many years was still engraved in their minds. Within the collective bodies, they formed each one of them looked for his/her self-interests in the actions they organized. To overcome their plight, they found no solution (means) than acting and protesting collectively believing that collectivism was the only way to stop the abuses of government and the greediness of businessmen at that time.
In fact, due to the effects of the Great Depression (1929) and the Dust Bowl (1935) in the United States of America, American farmers faced difficult moments. Our aim through this memoire is to study the two philosophies of Collectivism and individualism in the light of John Steinbeck’s novels The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and Of Mice and Men (1937) in order to shed light on the conflict between the two opposing philosophies in the period of the 1930s.
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