Directions: Use the themes, questions and video clips below to teach and learn with portions of C-SPAN's American Writers program featuring John Steinbeck, and The Grapes of Wrath. Link to the complete video clip list to identify clip descriptions and create your own lessons. Each theme contains questions and video clips appropriate for varying grade levels. Lesson Credit:
Curriculum Advisory Team Member, Pat Perry.

1. What are some common images, myths or perceptions about America and the "American Dream"? About which of these did Steinbeck write?
2. How does The Grapes of Wrath illustrate the causes and effects of the pursuit of "The American Dream"? Did travelling from the Dust Bowl to California represent movement of Americans to a "Promised Land"? and therefore toward the "American Dream"?
3. What were Steinbeck's views of capitalism as an economic system? To what degree is the "American Dream" dependent on capitalism? Are the migrants more of a symbol of the excesses of capitalism, or the costs of the pursuit of the American dream? What would Steinbeck say? What would you say? Explain.
4. How did he view people and human nature? How are these views reflected in the types of characters he chooses and they way in which he portrays them?
5. How does Steinbeck use the theme "good vs. evil" in his texts? How would Steinbeck say this theme is present in American culture and daily life?

1. What impact did The Grapes of Wrath have? What did the rest of the country learn about California?
2. What social, political and economic conditions led Steinbeck to write The Grapes of Wrath? What mood led him to write?
3. What did he perceive those injustices to be? Do those injustices still exist today for migrant workers?
4. In addition to his writing, what other action did he take? How else did Steinbeck participate in politics?
5. Using Steinbeck as an example, compare the work and impact of a journalist or a politician seeking to remedy perceived social injustices?

1. Who was Charley, in Travels with Charley? In Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck writes about a journey he took to "rediscover" America. What can you learn by travelling around the country that you can't learn in your own back yard? How might having a dog as a companion change your perspective?
2. It was said that his books "explore the world we inhabit." What does Steinbeck show readers about how to "live in the world"? What does this reveal about his perspective as a writer?
3. What is meant by calling Steinbeck an "ecological" writer? How was this perspective unique?
4. Explain the phrase, "when you set foot in the tidepool…you change the tide pool." Everything matters or none of it does.
5. Draw a connection between Steinbeck's concern for the migrant workers with his concern for the environment. Examine the state of the country during the Great Depression. How does Steinbeck's description of the Dust Bowl and the forces that caused it demonstrate the bond between man and the land on which he lives?