Thursday, January 11, 2007
Chapter 23
In this chapter we see various "pleasures" the migrants enjoy to relieve their suffering. Choose one of these pleasures and discuss the benefits vs. the disadvantages of indulging in such. Also, how do people today try to alleviate suffering through pleasure? Try not to repeat anyone else's answer
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One of the many pleasures the migrants chose to participate in was drinking. The drinking made them forget their troubles for a while and enjoy themselves for a short period of time. However acohol could be addicting and it doesnot feed their family. Plus, it also had horrible after affects. The pain it caused in the end should have helped those in need, but instead it lead them on a whole new course of horror. Today people still try and drink their troubles away. If you talk an alcoholic one will find that they know their troubles don't leave they just sidstep their mind.
A way that the migrant workers tried to relieve their sufferings was drinking alcohol. The alcohol was a comforter for most. It eased their troubled minds and took the pain out of their systems untill the next day. Today many people lean on drugs and alcohol to solve their problems even though they are taught (mostly anyways) from an early age that leaning on drugs and alcohol for support of their problems is a bad idea, and often leads to larger problems.
The migrants enjoyed a dance every Saturday night in the government camp. It was good because it took the migrants' minds off of the fact that there was little work and that they were poor. It was also bad because of the things that the dancing lead to. Preachers criticized the camp for the way some people left to find satisfaction in one another.
America today seems to have a similar problem with overcoming suffering by satisfying one another. Kids in high school are very bad at falling into this habbit. If they have a problem they don't solve it, they find satisfaction.
One thing that the migrants did was to participate in making music and telling stories. This was a good source of human interaction, and helped distract the migrants for a short period of time. The bad thing was that they had to step out of this imaginative time and face reality again. Facing reality was hard for some people. Today, people do many things to alleviate suffering. Many people seek companionship. A geat deal of others indulge in reading or playing video games to distract them from some other activity that they should be focusing on.
The movies distracted some migrants from their dismal surroundings. By going to the movies migrants could pretend that they were in Hollywood and they would imagine that their world was like that of the people in the movies. These people went back to the camp and told the story of the movie, reliving their enjoyment, but from that moment on, their lives are back to the slums.
Today many people stay busy as bees to avoid confronting what is going on in their lives. Some people become workaholics to avoid being at home faceing some trouble.
Storytelling, and story listening, was a pleasure that many migrant workers took pleasure in. In this chapter migrant workers shared tales of the fighting “Injuns” and army regiments. One benefit of storytelling is the unity that is created within the community. The workers would engage their interests with other migrants and come together to listen to the storytellers. This strengthened the camp community and brought people together. Another benefit is that storytelling takes the people’s mind off of their troubles. For a brief period of time their cares are cast aside and forget that they are in poverty. However this could also become a disadvantage if used too often. If the migrant workers lost complete touch with reality and lived through stories it is only harming them. If they use storytelling as a way to get away from their sufferings, the problem is still evident and not solved. Storytelling, although a way to bond with others and take a break from grueling lives, is not a solution to alleviate sufferings. Today this can be compared to television. Millions of people watch television, it is everywhere in society. It is a way to get away from problems and a way to put yourself in a better disposition, however the sense of community is lost in television and there is zero interaction with actual human beings in television, unless someone is watching television with another person. People who attempt to alleviate suffering through watching television might get their mind off of their suffering for awhile, but it will not make it go away and the problems will be just as prominent when the remote switches the TV off.
One of the things that the migrants enjoyed doing to get their minds off of the hardships that they were going through was singing and dancing. They seemed to truely enjoy each other's company, and would have a good time socializing with everyone. The only flaw in this was that they would enjoy each other's company so much that they wouldn't want to get back to traveling and trying to survive the next day. People still do this today by watching tv, sleeping, eating, or doing anything else other than doing what they don't want to do but still need to do.
Many migrants also tried a different path to pleasure than mentioned above. They would attend a vigorous religious gatherings and thrive on the ecstasy of being saved and baptized. Being saved gave them a new view that they were new people, that they would never sin again and that they could live in peace and have a humble life. Of course, like all the other pleasures seeked by the migrants, the pleasure only lasted so long until they were back into the pattern of their lives. The same thing happens today as well.
Like others have mentioned, one pleasure the migrants took part in was alcohol comsumption. Alcohol was able to take people from reality and put them into a sense of oblivion, forgetting about their problems. Unfortunately, being drunk is never going to be more than a temporary feeling. It provides a false sense of security and eventually just adds to people's problems. In today's world, people drink to enjoy themselves, have a good time, be more outgoing, or relax after a rough day at work. In moderation, this sense of "letting go" is alright, but too many people go to alcohol for comfort and it becomes their dependency causing even more pain to themselves, and those around them.
Throughout the Dust Bowl, money was scarce. Although production of food was not an issue and overproduction was in fact more of a problem, being able to sit down with your family and eat a nice meal became a pleasure in itself. Despite the fact that eating a meal together brought the family together able to talk about their lives, indulging in food also had its drawbacks. One of these shortcomings was the fact that once the food was gone, there wasn't always an easy, quick way to regain this pleasure unlike indulging in listening to music or dancing. Therefore, if a person did not savor every morsel of food they were able to eat, they did not always receive the optimal amount of pleasure.
Today, people also try to alleviate suffering through pleasure. This suffering can range from stress to family problems. People tend to pamper themselves through various methods. Many of these common both today and during the time of the Joad family. Both now and then, people partake in alcohol consumption, sexual intercourse and intake of food as pleasures in modern society. Today, more and more people are looking down on others for gaining pleasure through food however. As obesity rates are on the rise, those who treat themselves to a candy bar or McDonald's after work are thought of as the same people who lack self-control. However, self-control was vital in the Dust Bowl too. Not enjoying the food that was available was not thought higher of and enjoying too much of the food that is available is frown upon today.
I agree mostly with the ideas and response to the drinking. The migrants were able to set things aside, become social, and even have a different character take control. Just as many people, over 21 of course, do. It is and was a way to let black out that issue or stress in ones life. Sadly it does not fix the issues, but it allows that moment of stress free and careless living.
Of course, one of the 'pleasures' that was often pursued was intimate activity with people of the opposite gender. This outlet is sought out particularly by Al, but also by the other man in the novel. Even Casy discusses how all men need intimacy with women.
This issue provides the perfect symbol of a larger issue: the search for love which exists in the novel just as much as it exists today. In the text, the pleasures are sought out to try and forget the pain and find some sort of entertainment to keep them going. In today's world, people seek these same pleasures to try and hide from the real issues at hand. Increasingly, especially for younger people, intimacy is the pleasure of choice. This shows society's lack of love and the clear desperation for love or some sort of feeling that pushes people to turn to such intimacy. Even if people find the idea of intimacy being a cover up for a lack of love too cliche, no one can deny that a teenager's turn towards intimacy is in reality some search for some kind of real, tangible feeling.
Booze, it's always a fan favorite, freeing you from any and all sense of conscience or societal limitation. A magic elixir of alteration the drink can be, with the power to elminate men's fear and women's ambitions. It's the next morning were the trouble begins, for wherever sobriety returns after a lengthy absense regret will surely follow. You come to realize that you will be held responsible for your ridiculous shenanigans and they hold traditionally negative consquences.
The novel talks of people having harmonicas, guitars, and fiddles. This led to the inevitable miniature concert. Music was something people had always had, and now they used it as a way to escape the pain and suffering. The only disadvantage to this was the reality check when the music stopped playing. Overall, though, music was comforting. Even today people will use pleasures to rid themselves of their troubles. Drinking is the most obvious answer that one can think of. We hear stories of people hitting the bottle when something goes wrong, but there is a better way to deal with the suffering. Music can be extremely soothing. Songs can take you back in time, they can take you to a fantasy land, or they can give one a motive to recollect good times in their own life.
Telling and listening stories and watching movies were, and still are, pleasures people indulge in to ecsape pain and suffering. Hearing about another's good life and watching movies where life is perfect can be very beneficial in renewing hope in an oppressed person. But, as some have said with other indulgances, there is always a sort of shock when they are forced to return to the real world and face their problems.
I think that people still turn to T.V., movies, and stories to escape the pain and suffering in thier own lives. This is not always a negative thing, if they understand that nobody really has the perfect T.V. life. When I was younger, I would "escape" boredom and frustrations by reading the Harry Potter books. By "leaving" for another world, our feelings of unhappiness can be, if anything, decreased and we can handle the "real" situations with a more positive outlook.
Suffering is not always alleviated by pleasure. It is blanketed or pushed out of the mind by pleasure. Any indulgence at this time whether it is movies or stories or alcohol does not change the fact that these people will still face issues the next day. These indulgences are not all bad though, relief from disaster is essential for a clear mind will help solve a problem better than a mind constantly tormented by the current issues one has in their life. One indulgence today that was obviously not as common in the Dust Bowl is television. If one has a certain show that they watch that can entertain them and help them get their mind off the issues they currently face it will keep the mind healthy and improve its capability to solve these issues.
One of the most common ways that the migrants dealt with their difficult situation was through jokes and humorous stories, as mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, some were specific to Indians. This not only brings up the topic of using humor to deal with diffuculty, but also that of picking on someone else to feel better about your own situation. The migrants weren't necessarily serious about their Indian jokes and stories, but it still supports the theme, that often in times of crisis, we still are better off than other demographic populations. Even though the migrants had been thrown off the land by banks, Indians had been expulted from their own homelands by the government. The parallel between the Indians and migrants is ironic, particularly because of the Indian jokes.
As others have said the migrants enjoyed relieving their stress in a humorous stroy, or a new flick at the theatre. From my research done on the town of albuquerque I found that the people moving west let go of their hardships as they entered into the theatre for an evening of chatting with friends. This was their escape from reality. Sadly this was just a short lived escape. As soon as the migrants stepped out of the theatre reality hit once again. They had to go back to dealing with their lack of everything. Yes, the stories could be retold after the theatre, but once again it was only a short escape from what their lives really held.
Although the migrants engaged in various activities to help relieve stress and pressure of their situation, one that was a key part of their very existance was listening to radical preachers weave stories of salvation.
On the benefits side, religion increased hope, which definetly decreased hostilities and instilled within the immigrants a sense of responsibility and freedom.
On the con side, by listening to these erratic "Men of God" people began to believe that only these preachers were right. This caused conflict and strife - the worst enemies of migrants.
Today, people still try to place their hope into another being. This is both a curse and a blessing. On the pro side, those who regularly attend church quickly reach the highest level in the Hierchy of Needs presented by Abraham Maslow. On the flip side, people sometimes (not always, thank goodness!) become an intricate part of the religion one is studying without looking at another branch.
The migrants, many of whom had been on the road for some time, were able to have a nice cooked dinner with their family--a nice change from eating scraps while driving. People were even making multi-family meals, sharing each others ingredients. This closeness to their family that they had lost since the time of their departure really made all the difference in the hard times they were experiencing. However, over-indulgence in food could leave them shorthanded for the following week. If they for some reason they ran out of money and they wasted all their food, the migrants would be in a real pickle. Obviously, food as a comfort is still widely common today, seeing as obesity numbers in America, and even the world, are rising. Gluttony is just now beginning to be looked down upon, despite that it has been considered a sin for many years. It's easy to see why people find comfort in food however, being slightly gluttonous myself. Food doesn't make them feel bad, it never rejects them, and it can bring back memories of the way life used to be.
Many of the migrants drank alcohol to temporarily relieve their suffering. While this may work for short periods of time, once they sober up the suffering returns, often times worse than before. Even today, people still use alcohol and/or drugs to relieve their suffering. The situation hasn't change much at all, however. Alcohol and drugs are still just a temporary escape from problems. As soon as the drunkenness wears away, the suffering begins again.
Occasionally, migrant workers would attempt to ignore problems by viewing movies. The benefits and disadvantages of this are similar. The workers watched movies and told stories in order to escape their lives. The advantageous thing about it was that it led them away from the daily grind of work and constant worries. In their stories and movies, they were able to relax and imagine a different life or remember the more content times of their past. On the other hand, that bit of hope of a better life could be rather unfavorable as well. The ray of optimism could escalate into an obsession of something that is simply unachievable. While others view as a harmless story, one could see as an ultimate goal that turns into an unattainable fixation.
Currently, people attempt to stop their suffering by cleanly ignoring it. While this may not seem to be an indulgence, it is clear that merely disregarding their problems would ease migrant worker's pain more than recognizing them.
After reading everyones entries i realized that nobody noticed one of the most popular 'pleasures'. Having the toilets, showers, and washtubs was probably the most used and appreciated luxuries that the migrants got. Being on the road all the time, the migrants never had the chance to shower daily and wash their clothes in hot water whenever they felt like it. And if they wanted to go to the bathroom all they did was pull over to the side of the road and pee in a bush or something like that. Its a common luxury that many people take advantage of, but that was one of their most prized pleasures.
Going to the movies would give the migrant people a time of peace. They could relax and forget about their worries for some time. They would also learn new things and see how other people's lives were. Then they would go back to the camps and tell about the movie and they things they saw and heard .The migrant people needed something to do or else they would go crazy.
A disadvantage would be that the migrant families would be wasting their money on gas and on the activities. They might not be wasting too much money but the families needed the money for food or gas. Danger would also be around them because they could cause trouble and risk getting arrested. The risks were high but they did not have many other choices.
One of the most common pleasures that the migrants chose to indulge was music. They would learn to play an instrument such as the harmonica, guitar, or fiddle. Doing so would allow them to relax and lose themselves and their problems in the hypnotic tunes of the music while also performing the same services for those around them. The only disadvantage of this pleasure was that it did cost money to purchase the instrument; a small price to pay for the obvious joys that it brought the families.
Today's society offers a nearly infinite variety of pleasure to choose from in order to forget ones troubles. To go into detail on these would take far longer than the time I have available, but a few examples are video games, excessive spending, and vacations. All options available provide some way for a person to get lost in the activity and to temporarily forget the stresses they have to deal with on a day to day basis.
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