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The Grapes of Wrath displays one of America’s greatest stumbles during the establishment of our country. The story follows a family hit with the struggles of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Drought, economic hardship, agricultural changes, and bank foreclosures rip the Joads from the quaint town of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, forcing them to take the dreadful journey across the country. Nevertheless, the Joads drag their feet along the trodden path, dragged on by an unassured perseverance. The Joads were driven by a burning fire of desperation, grounded by the hope promised by orange handbills laden with the deceitful lies of the rapacious. For the hopeless seek hope, an elusive destiny sated by lying promises. Steinbeck’s unique style of writing inculcates an abortive hope in the minds of the readers, instilling a lust for the untouched and unloved land which in turn reveals the impossibility of the “American Dream”; through complex symbols and innovative themes, Steinbeck also educates the ignorant, blinded by the vague history books that blot out the full intensity of the calamities and suffering endured by hopeful Okies on their treacherous journey into the unknown.
Though the novel is classified as historical fiction, its immense collection of historical accuracies transform it into a history book played out through the lives of the Joads. Through its fictional aspects, it might even have the possibility to spark further insight into the trials experienced by a farmer and his family during the 1930s. Steinbeck would be the best candidate for this task because he had written several articles on the overall lifestyle of California migrant workers while he worked for his local newspaper agency. (D, Nathan K., "Critical Analysis...
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... for the Joads and a burning hatred against the greedy landowners who crushed the hearts of the destitute. It establishes a desire for the unloved land owned by selfish landowners. The once comforting scenery is instead spiked with an intense lust for the land and an ensuing hatred for those who own it. But still, the Joads held on to a stubborn hope, the only comfort they had and the only reason they continued to fight. A quote from Chapter 20 of The Grapes of Wrath explains this, “Why, Tom - us people will go on livin' when all them people is gone. Why, Tom, we're the people that live. They ain't gonna wipe us out. Why, we're the people - we go on.” (Steinbeck 359) Steinbeck’s writing style effectively develops these opinions of the readers, preserving the sympathy for the migrant workers for years to come. (Shmoop Editorial Team, "The Grapes of Wrath Analysis")
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck had many comparisons from the movie and the book. In 1939, this story was to have some of the readers against the ones that kept the American people in poverty held responsible for their actions. This unique story was about the Joad’s family, who were migrant workers looking for a good decent job. They were also farmers from Oklahoma that are now striving to find some good work and success for their family in California. This novel was one of Steinbeck’s best work he has ever done. It was in fact an Academy Award movie in 1940. Both the movie and the novel are one of Steinbeck’s greatest masterpieces on both the filmmaking and the novel writing. Both the novel and film are mainly the same in the beginning of the story and towards the end. There were some few main points that Steinbeck took out from the book and didn’t mention them in the movie. “The Grapes of Wrath is a
Steinbeck strikes at the fear in every man’s soul, with his portrayal of the poverty stricken life of the Joads as they travel from one stage of abandonment and what would seem like a helpless state to a journey of enduring perseverance. The Joads, Steinbeck’s creation in the Novel Grapes of Wrath is a large close-knit family living in Oklahoma during the “Dust Bowl” era. Steinbeck documents their journey beginning with their homelessness due to the crop failures to them surviving in a box car at the end of their journey. I think Steinbeck’ intention is to illustrate to the reader that being poor doesn’t always equate with being helpless. The Joads demonstrate this by their resilience to overcome homelessness, death, and prejudice.
In The Grapes of Wrath, Stienbeck illustrates such powerful images using his own values. When the Joad family starts deciding to move to California for a better life, the story begins. Tom comes home from prison and the family is reunited. The hopes of all are refreshed and the move seems to be a good idea. And here we have one of Steinbecks greatest value, the family or the group, and the ties that lie within it. This value is seen through many different examples in this novel.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck followed the struggle of farmers recovering from the 1930’s Dust Bowl and accepting their new identities as migrants. Throughout the book Steinbeck used detached diction, a mocking tone, and pathos to point out the social vices that plagued the migrants in hopes of potentially making people angry enough to cause change.
When Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, our country was just starting to recover from The Great Depression. The novel he wrote, though fiction, was not an uncommon tale in many lives. When this book was first published, the majority of those reading it understood where it was coming from-they had lived it. But now very few people understand the horrors of what went on in that time. The style in which Steinbeck chose to write The Grapes of Wrath helps get across the book's message.
John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath is one of the most influential books in American History, and is considered to be his best work by many. It tells the story of one family’s hardship during the Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. The Joads were a hard-working family with a strong sense of togetherness and morals; they farmed their land and went about their business without bothering anyone. When the big drought came it forced them to sell the land they had lived on since before anyone can remember. Their oldest son, Tom, has been in jail the past four years and returns to find his childhood home abandoned. He learns his family has moved in with his uncle John and decides to travel a short distance to see them. He arrives only to learn they are packing up their belongings and moving to California, someplace where there is a promise of work and food. This sets the Joad family off on a long and arduous journey with one goal: to survive.
In the book ,The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family was forced out of Oklahoma because there wasn´t work there anymore. Therefore they had to move to California for work. This means for them to go to California they have to take route 66. This route will take them through Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. First they had to go through Amarillo, Texas. They would have had to drive through a desert that has many mountains. The animals that are commonly seen and live here include: antelope, bighorn sheep,and many differnt kinds of wild pigs. They would have seen that before arriving in a town. Next they would have to go through New Mexico to get to Califonia. There are many animals that live here. Many of them are foxes, wolves, cyotes, and bocats.
In his novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck portrays the movement of a family of migrant workers, the Joads, from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression. Steinbeck's novel, though it is surprisingly lacking in surface-level symbolism, was "conceived [on] simultaneous levels of existence, ranging from socio-economic determinism to transcendent spirituality" (DeMott, xiii). One of the many levels on which this novel can be read is as a parallel to the stories of Christ and the Exodus (Louis Owens, John Steinbeck's Re-Vision of America, quoted in DeMott, xiii). Steinbeck intertwines allegories based on these two stories throughout his novel. Through these intertwined religious textures, and the destitution and depression that constitutes the greater part of the novel, Steinbeck conveys the message of the impending "death of religion" while at the same time establishing his novel as a sort of new gospel for the people.
... John J. "Steinbeck and Nature's Self: The Grapes of Wrath." John Steinbeck, Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 125-140.
John Steinbeck wrote the The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 to rouse its readers against those who were responsible for keeping the American people in poverty. The Grapes of Wrath tells the story of the Joad family, migrant farmers from Oklahoma traveling to California in search of an illusion of prosperity. The novel's strong stance stirred up much controversy, as it was often called Communist propaganda, and banned from schools due to its vulgar language. However, Steinbeck's novel is considered to be his greatest work. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and later became an Academy Award winning movie in 1940. The novel and the movie are both considered to be wonderful masterpieces, epitomizing the art of filmmaking and novel-writing.
The direct quote including the grapes of wrath states, “in the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage” (Steinbeck 449). This has a very tragic meaning. It describes how “children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange” (Steinbeck 449). Even though food is wasted and rotting, children die of malnutrition due to greed and money. This relates directly to the theme of greed existing as the root of all evil. Because food “must be forced to rot,” people die, and this causes “the eyes of the hungry [to grow with] wrath” (Steinbeck 449). The greed and the grapes cause suffering for everyone else, causing their souls to grow “heavy for the vintage” (Steinbeck 449). Human beings hope to go back to a simpler time where people did not die of malnutrition due to rotting food. The Joads initially do not know about this horror when they first bring up the topic of California. Grampa claims he is “gonna get [him] a whole big bunch of grapes off a bush an’ [he’s] gonna squash ‘em on [his] face” (Steinbeck 107). Little does he know that people die due to other people’s ignorance and frivolousness. The grapes serve as anger and hatred spurred by human greed. However, the grapes do not symbolize hatred alone; they also have to do with perseverance. They grow as hearty plants “swelling from the old gnarled vines, [cascading] down to cover the trunks” (Steinbeck 445). Like the Joads and many other families, they can get through difficult times, and relate directly to how human beings can pull through and come out as triumphant. (Word Count:
My appreciation for The Grapes of Wrath comes not from its enticing plot, its historically accurate, poignant portrayal of the American farmer’s plight in the 1930s, or its several allegorical interruptions, but rather, my appreciation comes from Steinbeck’s courage and outright audacity in publishing a novel so shamelessly yet vitally challenging. Steinbeck undertook the virtually insurmountable task of convincing a firm-footed, capitalistic American society that it needed to change its cutthroat ways. When I began reading The Grapes of Wrath, my viewpoints coincided with those of the proverbial car salesperson, the capitalist, the social-Darwinist. However, the Joad family’s perilous journey depicted in The Grapes of Wrath provides Steinbeck’s readers, myself included, with an untold perspective that calls American social and economic practices into
“The land of the free,” this is the dogma that many American children grow up on. Freedom in America is the basis for nearly every institution. For example, capitalism, the economic philosophy practiced in the United States finds itself rooted in the basic right to freedom. Americans are raised to believe that capitalism gives them the freedom to choose their work, and their residence. Alternatively, Americans believe that socialism limits these freedoms, and limits the peoples’ right to choose. It is then no surprise that a book that deals so intimately with the themes of capitalism would be controversial in such a country. At the time of its publishing, The Grapes of Wrath was a highly debated novel mostly for its perceived support of socialism. To this day, a debate wages on as to whether or not Steinbeck was truly a socialist. In reality, The Grapes of Wrath is no socialist manifesto; it is not so much a pro socialist work, as it is a critique of capitalism, and its ills; This is made evident by the books constant criticism of the capitalistic financial system that led to the downfall of the markets, its treatment of socialism as being simply reactionary to the issues that arise with the use of capitalism, and its critique of the modern capitalist for his apathy toward the common worker.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a novel depicting the struggle and distraught brought towards migrant workers during the Great Depression. The Grapes of Wrath follows one Oklahoma family, the Joads, as they journey down Route 66 towards the earthly paradise of California. While on route to California, the Joads interact with fellow besieged families, non-hospitable farmers, and common struggles due to the Depression. Steinbeck uses these events to show strong brotherhood through biblical allusion, character development, and inter chapters.
Critics have commented extensively upon Steinbeck's thematic counterpoint in The Grapes of Wrath. Most Steinbeck scholarship posits that the two narrative modes provide mutual rhetorical reinforcement. But the politics articulated in the interchapters and the fictional narrative do not precisely mesh with one another. The prophetic voice remarking upon the larger context and meaning of the Joads' experience formulates insights about politics and history considerably more revolutionary than those achieved by even the most left-leaning of the fictional characters. Casy's intuition that "all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of"...and Tom's promise that "wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there"...remain within the discourse of a militant humanism. But the voice who hectors the growers--"you who hate change and fear revolution"--and warns them of their imminent downfall has undertaken a more searching analysis of the economic crisis: "If you who own the things people must have could understand this, you might preserve yourself. If you could seperate causes from results; if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin, were results, not causes, you might survive. But that you cannot know. For the quality of owning freezes you forever into 'I,' and cuts you off forever from the 'we.'" The threat here is barely veiled: the growers will not "survive." Tom's and Casy's actions demonstrate the openness of the disenfranchised masses to revolutionary practice; the prophetic voice articulates revolutionary theory.