Abeka American Literature Test 12 Practice

This question hinges on recognizing a 20th-century novelist famous for using fiction to critique social injustice, and who wrote The Grapes of Wrath. The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, follows a family of migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, exposing poverty, exploitation, and the harsh realities faced by the poor. That combination—a powerful social critique embedded in a vivid, human story—defines this writer. John Steinbeck is the author referenced here. His work is closely associated with social protest in American literature, using empathetic portrayals of ordinary people to spotlight inequality and injustice. The other writers mentioned are notable for different focuses. One is known for novels about mid-20th-century suburban life and private, personal themes rather than broad social protest. Another wrote about wealth, disillusionment, and the Jazz Age in the 1920s, not the migrant-crisis narrative of the Grapes of Wrath. The last is a major Southern writer whose concerns lie in legacy, identity, and race within a different regional context, not the Grapes of Wrath.