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Although Sparknotes is a very stereotypcial website on novels, it's still a very effective source of information. It makes blatantly clear the fact that the rich, aristocratic upper class is mainly responsible for the poverty and economic devastation in the country. The rich get richer at the cost of the destruction of the lower class. The workers are treated poorly in an effort to keep them desperate, which in turn keeps the rich people rich. Selfishness and greed, key themes in practically every novel read so far, is clarified and pointed out. The condition of the migrants is no accident, it's an intentional, deliberate plot to oppress them. Their only hope is through unity.

This source goes over the jungle and discusses the historical facts it presents on the treatment of the workers and the horrors of the meatpacking industry that Sinclair goes into.

"is destroyed by his devotion to a worthless woman and by his confusion of money with love"

This quote shows again how the rich characters in Fitzgerald's novel have clouded vision, and cannot see that money is not the answer to all a persons problems. This is mainly due to the reality that they can get out of any situation with their money.

"and similarly criticized the rich thugs with no values, tapped into cultural pessimism, and gave readers a glimpse into chaos. The Great Gatsby is the tale of the irresponsible rich"

This quote shows that the overview look on The Great Gatsby is about the irresponsible rich, who do not take responsibility for their actions, because they believe their money excludes them from ethics.

Some Muslim guy calls the Jews racist; just like Malcolm .His point: even though both Jews and blacks are minorities, the Jews end up rich and powerful, while the blacks end up poor, in ghettos, and oppressed.

no im not saying you do, im just saying that farrakhan is an idiot because he is hahaha

You would post this.

Discusses class conflict in the 1930s and, the New Deal's support of unionization. This article presents the views on the financial turmoil of the time from both the rich and poor, breaking down the reasons they dislike eachother

While Barbara Ehrenreich has a powerful quote in this article, Andy Sterns is much more so, "Well, the good news is this isn't Rwanda or Darfur or some impoverished country. This is the greatest country on earth with the greatest amount of wealth. The problem isn't about the wealth. It's about distribution. And the truth is we are seeing America's growing apart instead of growing together."

This quote epitomizes the problems that the American economy faces today. The rich keep getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. The problem is not a lack of wealth, but rather a deeper division between social classes. The ideals of this nation have not come to pass.

The rich are benefiting from the labor of the poor. The rich hardly have to work to make money anymore.

Discusses the impact of setting on the plot and purpose of the novel, and how the various rich groups have corrupted the American dream from an innocent, ambitious hope for fortune into greed, debauchery, and misbehavior

"Money, as he had learned from his flamboyantly spoiled wife Zelda, is only the starting point for a different functional relationship with the world"

"Wealth is certainly the stuff of envy. When the dispirited have-nots, despairing of their ability to create a better life for themselves, rebel, they are likely to massacre the haves, as they did during the French and Russian revolutions. "

This article discusses the differences between wealthy people and the rest of the population. The article tells of the upbringings of wealthy offspring and the different priorities they are taught. The importance the rich place on image and status is one such priority Daisy and others place above all else. The source is great for a paper focusing on social disparity and social consciousness.

An overall summary of the depression/GOW. It especially hits on the selifshness of the rich, who seek to keep the poor divided, as well as on the unity of the poor, who die and sacrifice for each other. It contains an EXCELLENT quote from Steinbeck which cynically describes human nature, basically saying that nice guys are admired, but they never get ahead. Greedy, mean guys are hated, but they are admired for their success.  Again, later  it ties into crushing the migrants' dreams in order to keep them down and divided.

Steinbeck shows the pain of the people through poor treatment by using dictions such as "denunciation" and "crime". As the tangent is established between the fields and the "Hoovervilles" is seen, it shows the contrast between the lives of the rich and the poor and how poor working conditions affect them

"Ehrenreich then examines the general social issues underlying her experiences. The constant problem of housing is caused by the rich competing with the poor for living space, with the rich inevitably coming out on top."

The following article gives a brief summary of the novel. The article tells of Ehrenreich's purpose and method of finding minimum wage jobs to support herself. Ehrenreich comes to the conclusion that the cause of the terrible conditions of the poor class is do to social inequality. Social inequality leds to competition which always ends with one side losing to benefits the other.

This compares Ehrenreich's book to Orwell's (who did a similar thing but took it more seriously) and speculates on possible consequences of the novel, pointing out a lack of a plausible solution.

"Why is an author who slams the "corporate overclass" suddenly so popular with the corporate overclass? The usual masochism of the affluent accounts for some of it. The rich like to be told they're wicked, both because it confirms that they're powerful and because it makes them feel slightly less guilty." This article explains why Nickel and Dimed has popularity, even with the upper class. The rich, while they still may be wicked in some regards, have come to accept this fact rather then shy away from it. By knowing and accepting that they are the fittest in Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" theory, which has carried over to American Capitalism, they feel "that they're powerful". The article shows interesting perspectives on which types of person read the novel and for what reasons.

Discusses appearance vs reality and  talks about the hypocrisy of the morality of the time period: rich people can have the poorest morals of everyone, yet it is more acceptable than poor people with good morals

Talks about themes such as setting and appearance vs reality. Clearly, people aren't focused on internal qualities such as politics or religion; the rich care only about how they are perceived and how they appear. The need for social acceptance gives way to the appearance vs reality theme

The American Dream is something many aspire to, but in the reality of things, it is fair to question how far someone can actually get to that dream. One can have wealth and go for it, but in reality, there are so many factors that make one seem like swimming against the current of the super rich and powerful.

"But there was not enough work for everyone who came. Instead of immediate riches, they often found squalor in roadside ditch encampments." This was exactly the problem for most of the migrant workers, including the Joads. They had false hope of finding a better life in California when in reality they had just been deceived by the higher ups .

This article describes FFN as a modern day Jungle, but continues by saying that it is more that just 'muckraking.' Rather, Schlosser exposes the motives behind large businesses and how they effect unionization and social equality.

This article portrays not only the similarity between modern day working conditions of workers to those in the early 1900s, but it also illustrates the "declining power of labor unions" which illustrates the power of companies strengthening and unfairly taking advantage of these workers.

Fast Food Nation was acclaimed a modern day version of The Jungle when first published. However, this article shows that it was more than your average muckracking novel. It explains that the power of unions fell as the "Fast Food Nation" rose. Also, Schlosser's piece explained the widening social gap of Americans, as the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

"Women earn less money than men, have fewer assets, and are far more likely to live in poverty. Furthermore, the gap between the rich and poor is growing wider."

The following article deals with women in the work force and more specifically their incomes. The article is relevent due to the fact Ehrenreich is a women in the work force. The article compares the wages of women and men to see discrepencies among the genders. The article deals with what women face as part of the labor force as well.

"...and she examines how corporations often strip employees of their dignity. Random locker searches and drug testing occur despite what she routinely observes to be honest, hard working co-workers"

That's true. But if you don't keep your employees absolutely paranoid and full of stress, it's possible they might rebel or cause insurrections. So of course, you HAVE to oppress them and take away their pride so that they'll have no self esteem or confidence left.

I agree with Evan because this quote displays a business tactic in which companies continuously strip their workers' of their rights, which leave them with very little hope. However, as seen in GOW, this little bit of hope, along with their lack of money, will allow these workers to stick to their jobs in these environments.