Study guide for a collaborative project of the Alabama School of Fine Arts and the University of Alabama at Birmingham 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17 18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30
	DISCUSSION PROMPTS for Chapter 22:  · How is the Weedpatch government camp an ideal socialist model?  · Discuss the ways Jim Rawley and Lisbeth Sandry represent the good and evil inherent in humanity. What imagery surrounds them that reinforces them as symbolic? (Hint: begin with color imagery and work from there.)  · How does Ruthie's experience at the croquet game embody the difference between the "I" and the "We"? Related web sites: Official Site of the Weedpatch Camp, formerly known as the Arvin Federal Government Camp: While writing the book, Steinbeck visited this camp, then known as the Arvin Federal Government Camp which he portrayed as the "Weedpatch Camp." The camp exists today and is still used by migrant workers. This site has sections including History, Life in the Camp, The Federal Government Role, Personal Reminiscences, another links page, many covered in this website, as well as a page about their Dustbowl Days Festival beginning October 15th, 2005. Lee, Russell. “Rows of tents at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) migratory farm labor camp mobile unit. Athena, Oregon.” 1941. America from the Great Depression to WWII Photographs from the FSA-OWL, 1935-1945 The Library of Congress collection "Voices of the Dustbowl" includes scores of authentic sound bites of meetings in these government camps, recorded by government sociologists around California between 1939 and 1941. For example: Bits of recordings from Camp Councils, including part of the minutes of a previous meeting, part of the Treasurer's report, problems in showing movies in the camp, and the condition of the camp washing machines. The Government Camp Song,- composed by teenaged migrants Mary Treat, Betty Campbell, and Mary Campbell, probably in 1941.