The Grapes of Wrath #4

The novel, The Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, was written in the 1930's. This was a time when cars were a new thing. There were all different types of cars. There was Ford, Cheavy, Buick, Cadillac, and many more. The Joad family drove a Hudson Super Six. The car was a popular car between 1910 and 1920. These cars were not made very well and they broke down a lot. The Joad family had a son named Al. Al likes to fix cars. He wanted to work in a garage somewhere and fix them. He always fixed the car when it broke down. Gas back then was also cheap, for us. The novel said it was about fifteen cents per gallon. I do not know what kind of gas milage that the cars got. The cars made traveling a ton easier. An average car could travel about forty five miles an hour. These helps to cut the travel time in half. Cars are expensive. Nice cars could cost anywhere between a thousand to two thousand dollars. Cheap ones could be bought for about two hundred and fifty dollars. These are very efficiant ways to travel. The Joads packed all their belongings into the car along with all thirteen people in the car also. It was also convient for the travelers because they could travel at their own pace and they can pack as much as they need. The only bad part is paying for gas and all the breakdowns the cars have.
Another big thing in this time period is the television, radio, parlor games, and electronics. FM radio was a big invention because it allows the people to listen to broadcasts and to baseball games and many more important things. The Joad family was not fortunate to be able to have these luxeries. They probably did not know about these inventions too much and they probably wished they had one, just like all unfortnunate people do when they have what they can not have. This time period really shaped the way our country to how it is today.