John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath，published in 1939，was followed tenyears later by A.B.Guthrie's The Way West.Both books chronicle a migration，though that of Guthrie's pioneers is considerably less bleak in origin.What strikesone at first glance，however，are the commonalities.Both Steinbeck's and Guthrie'scharacters are primarily farmers.They look to their destinations with nearly religiousenthusiasm，imagining their \"promised\" land the way the Biblical Israelites envisionedCanaan.Both undergo great hardship to make the trek.But the two sagas differdistinctly in origin.Steinbeck's Oklahomans are forced off their land by the bankswho own their mortgages，and they follow a 1 promise-that jobs await them asseasonal laborers in California.Guthrie's farmers willingly remove themselves，sellingtheir land and trading their old dreams for their new hope in Oregon.The pioneers'decision to leave their farms in Missouri and the East is frivolous and ill-founded incomparison with the Oklahomans' unwilling response to displacement.Yet，it is they，the pioneers，whom our history books declare the heroes.