• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.53-59
• /
• 2024

The novel "The Grapes of Wrath" shows the painful reality of Americans during the Great Depression through the migration journey of the Tom Jod's family, who had no choice but to move from Oklahoma to California and their hardships in California. This presents empathy for their wrath and offers hope for a brotherly solution. This article presents institutional solutions against each novel situation from the perspective of the Constitution, labor law, and competition law. From a constitutional perspective, the poverty of Oklahoma's smallholders is not a result of choice, but is caused by the natural environment and capital concentration, so it is suggested that the government have to intervene to guarantee a minimum standard of living to realize equal rights. From a labor law perspective, worker supply projects are unconstitutional because they constitute intermediate exploitation of labor, and immigrants like the Joad family have the right to form labor unions. From a competition law perspective, it was shown that the large landowners' setting of fruit prices constitutes predatory pricing, and the farmers' attempts to pay similarly low wages constitute collusion. Through this, the attempt was made to recognize that the law is a means to resolve the public wrath that may currently exist, and to show that the story in the novel can bring empathy and understanding to minorities. It is hoped that reading novels can be a way to help interpret the law and sympathize with others as an indicator of a just society.