The Grapes of Wrath as communist propaganda The Grapes of Wrath can be read as an indictment directed at the American capitalist system of the beginning and mid-twentieth century. While the book on a superficial level can be read quite easily as an anti-capitalist book, it goes beyond that. The book both implicitly and explicitly advocates for structural changes in our country's economic institutions. Therefore, it can be argued that Grapes of Wrath is communist propaganda. Propaganda, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is “the dissemination of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the opinions and interests of those persons who support such doctrine or cause.” ." The book fits this definition by attempting to change the reader's views on the economy and society as a whole with the author's anti-capitalist views. The plot itself centers on the supposed evils and greed resulting from unbridled capitalism. Communist views are echoed in Casey and Tom. The very structure of the novel lends itself to an emotional appeal to a broader concept through its 80% specific and 20% general division. Finally, the general chapters suggest an impending social uprising. The entire plot of the book centers on a forced exodus. Regardless of one's views on naturalism, it is almost indisputable that the impetus for the Joads' exodus was due to economic forces beyond the Joads' control by the established power: the faceless bank, the employees along the street, the owners and managers of the farms, the police. A sense of impersonality and inhumanity dominates the description of the banks, and as such of the entire economic system that perpetuates them. When the peasant dispossessed and trampled as... at the center of the paper... is increasingly an emotional ploy to convince the reader of the problems of capitalism, and advance the author's case for large-scale social change. Steinbeck, in The Grapes of Wrath, was trying to do much more than simply show the plight of a family. He wanted to show the plight of the working class; he felt that people should know about the suffering and injustices suffered. Therefore, the novel had a decidedly anti-capitalist and pro-communist sentiment. This was inherent to the plot and events of the novel, as well as implicitly stated through the characters themselves. The novel went further by almost explicitly telling of an imminent revolution. Finally, the very structure of the book makes an emotional appeal to the reader about the life of a family and tries to get the reader to draw conclusions and generalities about the country and society as a whole..