English 11- Steinbeck Unit- 1930’s Literature “The Harvest Gypsies” (Non-Fiction) Overview- For this unit on The Dust Bowl, The Great Depression, and the resulting migrant movement in CA, students will read John Steinbeck’s newspaper articles The Harvest Gypsies, Chapters 1-7 , published in The San Francisco News, Oct. 5-12, 1936, and “Starvation under the Orange Trees” published April 15, 1938 in The Monterey Trader. Students may also watch the video, Surviving the Dustbowland/or view segments from the 1939 video of The Grapes of Wrath. Assessments may include answering guide questions, defining vocabulary words, taking a test, creating a project, and writing a paper. *Page numbers* The first set of page numbers listed is for the packet of The Harvest Gypsiesand the second set is for the book The Harvest Gypsies. Discussion Questions The Harvest Gypsies“Chapter One” pgs. 991-995 Packet- 19-25 Book 1.Why did the Californians both need and hate the migrants?Give specific reasons for their hatred. 2.Who are these new migrants?Where do they come from?How are they different from previous migrant groups in CA? 3.How are the newcomers resourceful and intelligent? 4.Why does Steinbeck call this new group “gypsies” instead of “migrants”? 5.What are Californians’ former methods of dealing with migrants, and why won’t these work any longer? 6.Explain the boy’s comment, “When they need us they call us migrants, and when we’ve picked their crop, we’re bums and we got to get out” (994; ch. 1)(23; ch.1). 1
7.Why is it an advantage for the landowners to import twice as much labor as necessary?What is the result?Why is it so important to be first?
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