The Animals Funeral
During the early years of the Depression, livestock prices dropped drastically. People believed that the prices were down because farmers were still producing too many commodities like hogs and cotton, which can be related back to the Joads who were farming such things like cotton. Unfortunately, since the prices dropped so drastically, all the livestock such as cattle and hogs were buried. The farmers must simply get rid of it or sell them for almost nothing, with absolutely no profit. This status of the animals being killed simply because livestock is not selling is noticed here throughout the 1930s. The new agricultural business monopoly of big companies started to take shape during this time and drove the price of food so low that small farmers could not survive, such as the Joads. They are now not only forced to leave their homes, but forced to find work in a different state with only farming experience and skills. What lied ahead for the Joad family was unexpected, and the historical context connected to this and The Grapes of Wrath can only mean bad news for the Joad family.