<P> Set during the Great Depression , the novel focuses on the Joads , a poor family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by drought , economic hardship , agricultural industry changes , and bank foreclosures forcing tenant farmers out of work . Due to their nearly hopeless situation , and in part because they are trapped in the Dust Bowl , the Joads set out for California . Along with thousands of other `` Okies '' , they seek jobs , land , dignity , and a future . </P>
where does the grapes of wrath take place
Oklahoma California