Which novel portrays the struggles of a migrant farm family during the Great Depression and highlights exploitation of workers?

• A. East of Eden
• B. The Red Pony
• C. Grapes of Wrath
• D. Of Mice and Men

Answer: (C)

The question is asking you to recognize a novel that centers on a migrant farm family during the Great Depression and shows how workers were exploited. Grapes of Wrath fits this exactly. It follows the Joads, a family driven from their Oklahoma home by the Dust Bowl and economic collapse, as they migrate to California in search of work. Along the way and in California, the novel vividly portrays the harsh treatment, meager wages, evictions, and degrading conditions migrant workers faced, highlighting the social and economic injustices of the era.

The other novels have different focuses. East of Eden is a broad California family saga about moral struggles, not a tight portrait of migrant labor exploitation. The Red Pony centers on a boy and his experiences on a ranch, not the broader migrant-worker experience. Of Mice and Men tells the story of two itinerant workers and their hopes and struggles, but it’s not about a migrant family or the systemic exploitation of workers on a larger scale like Grapes of Wrath.