Migrant workers are looked at with little respect yet are a needed part of the economy.
When Steinbeck wrote Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath, the US was experiencing the Great Depression. At this time, migrant workers were pushed and pulled in and out of the US. This is particularly true of Mexican workers. This group was wanted when farm labor was needed and everyone was working and then were deported early on in the depression. They would later be brought back into the country during World War II to fill the void of labor once again. They would be thanked by Operation Wetback created by the Eisenhower administration to deport Mexicans once again. This group does the work no one else wants to but is essential to the day-to-day of the US.
