Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Augsburg (Lehrstuhl für Amerikanistik ), course: Nature & Culture in American Fiction, language: English, abstract: This thesis paper analyzes how Steinbecks Joads in The Grapes of Wrath were discriminated and violated in their civil rights by fellow Americans under the banner of the 'Red Scare', effectively shutting the door on their personal American Dream for the time being, by stripping them off rights granted by the Founding Fathers to every American. This paper will look at facts why those tactics and methods have been - and to some part - are still successful within the American society in dividing it and creating fear, anger and social unrest within society.