Dust Bowl Dance

The name-Dust Bowl Dance-is a direct reference to the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression. The song might not be a complete connection to The Grapes of Wrath, but there is a clear connection. During the Great Depression, the land in the Great Plains, from around the area of Oklahoma all the way to the west in California, was suffering a major drought, and the land became basically infertile. Many of the farmers in that area were tenant farmers, meaning they rented the land from the banks of the era, but the banks still owned the land, and when the land stopped producing, ("There was no one in the town and no one in the field, This dusty barren land had given all it could yield") the tenant farmers were evicted by the banks ("I've been kicked off my land at the age of sixteen And I have no idea where else my heart could have been", "Your oppression reeks of your greed and disgrace", "When you took it all from the weak hands of the poor?"). Many of these farmers put up a fight against the banks, and some even threatened the men with guns ("To face what I've done and do my time", "Well yes sir, yes sir, yes it was me, I know what I've done, cause I know what I've seen, I went out back and I got my gun I said, "'You haven't met me, I am the only son'"). An entire chapter of The Grapes of Wrath is dedicated to the eviction of these tenant farmers. The main character, Tom Joad, returns to his home from jail to find his family has been evicted and they are on their way to the western coast, where there are rumors of thousands of open jobs. By the end of the novel, Joad becomes a leader in the uprising against the banks.