The question of "What are the causes, gains, and losses of the conflict dealt with in the book?" could be answered by many of the conflicts in the book, but I am going to address the conflict of the Joads having to move to California in order to find work. The past summer was one with extreme heat and a drought, causing the land to be unusable and no money was raised in which to pay the loans owed to the bank. The cause of the conflict is the bank repossessing the Joad's family farm. The bank kicks them off their land because they are unable to pay their loans, forcing the family to find somewhere new to live and to find a new job.
The losses involved in the journey to a new life in California were substantial. Grampa, Granma, Casy, Rose of Sharon's baby, all perish before the goal of steady work and housing was accomplished. The journey is a hard one because the only people who try to help the Joads are in the same situation and can only offer morale support. The government has a nice camp, but there are not enough of those to go around. Noah, Connie (not really because he wasn't really mentioned in the book), Al, and Tom all abandon the family in hopes for better prospects for themselves. Ma and the rest of the Joads suffer the loss of the family breaking apart.
The gains on the other hand are few and far between. Al finds a wife, Casy finds a new calling in life (before he dies for the calling), and Winfield and Ruthie have an adventure into real life and the West. The Joads are starving and their belongings are flooded when the book ends. There was no happy ending, and nothing was gained to the trip to California. They are still homeless and without work. Basically they are worse off then they were back in Oklahoma when they had to leave their farm.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.
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