Alves Redol s Gaibéus, and John Steinbeck s The Grapes of Wrath are novels that present similarities in theme and style, besides revealing a lively portrait of agricultural life in Portugal and in the United States during de 1930 s. Considering the Neorealism or New Humanism as the basis for a comparative approach between these works, this thesis proposes firstly an analysis on some cultural and social aspects that influenced the creation of these books, as well as the criticism on them in their countries. The main purpose of this work is to prove that, through a double point of view, comprising both the Marxist focus of historical materialism together with the reader-response theories, it is possible to determine the similarities between the dialectics employed by the authors and the implied aesthetics elements, which make these two novels similar in artistry and content.