Steinbeck's aim was to raise awareness of the plight migrant workers in Starvation Under the Orange Trees". They were extremely poor and lived in squalid conditions. Starvation Under the Orange Trees was one of the several articles that were commissioned by the San Francisco News and it focused on the American migrant workers during 1936. Steinbeck portrayed the hardships as well as the triumphs of the migrant workers during the Great Depression. They moved from farm to farm, harvesting crops for which they were paid a pittance.
