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How violence is used as a tool in literature
How violence is used as a tool in literature
Hostility in the grapes of wrath storyline
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“Violence is one of the most personal and even intimate acts between human beings...It can be symbolic, thematic, biblical…(pg 88).” As always, Foster reverts back to the idea that an act is not simply just an act in chapter eleven of ‘How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Already being established as a symbol for evil and greed, the pearl in hand leads to acts of violence in Steinbeck’s novel. One act taking place during the middle of the night as Kino awakes to see his wife fleeing---He realizes that she has the “pearl of the world” (pg 28) in hand. It is clear that she is prepared to throw the pearl into the ocean. And thus, “He struck her in the face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders (pg 73).” Now, this most closely
When times get tough, many people turn away from everyone and everything. It must be part of human nature to adopt an independent attitude when faced with troubles. It is understandable because most people do not want to trouble their loved ones when they are going through problems, so it is easier to turn away than stick together. Maybe their family is going through a rough patch and they reason they would be better off on their own. This path of independence and solitude may not always be the best option for them or their family, though. Often times it is more beneficial for everyone to work through the problem together. It is not always the easiest or most desirable option, but most times it is the most efficient and it will get results in the long run. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck makes this point very clear through several characters. Many characters throughout
Steinbeck's relationship to the transcendentalists [Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman] was pointed out soon after The Grapes of Wrath appeared by Frederick I. Carpenter, and as the thirties fade into history, Jim Casy with his idea of the holiness of all men and the unreality of sin seems less a product of his own narrowly doctrinaire age than a latter-day wanderer from the green village of Concord to the dry plains of the West.
John Steinbeck was perhaps the best author of all time. He was the winner of a Nobel Prize, and among other accomplishments, Steinbeck published nineteen novels and made many movies during his lifetime. All of his experience and knowledge are shown through his novels. A reader can tell, just in reading a novel by Steinbeck, that he had been through a lot throughout his life. Also, Steinbeck worked very hard to accomplish everything that he did during his lifetime. Nothing came very easily to him, and he had to earn everything he owned. This helped him in his writing, because he was able to write about real people and real experiences. John Steinbeck got his inspiration from life experiences, people he knew, and places he had gone.
The Power of The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck has become one of my favorite writers -- for the love he has for his characters, the loveliness of his language, and the clear-eyed conviction with which he writes. Originally, I failed to see the beauty in Steinbeck's people, though it is plainly there. Perhaps I hadn't seen enough of the world myself, yet. There was a lot I didn't understand about people. What Steinbeck does so well is to show people's struggle for simple human decency in the face of meanness and ignorance.
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is a realistic novel that mimics life and offers social commentary too. It offers many windows on real life in midwest America in the 1930s. But it also offers a powerful social commentary, directly in the intercalary chapters and indirectly in the places and people it portrays. Typical of very many, the Joads are driven off the land by far away banks and set out on a journey to California to find a better life. However the journey breaks up the family, their dreams are not realized and their fortunes disappear. What promised to be the land of milk and honey turns to sour grapes. The hopes and dreams of a generation turned to wrath. Steinbeck opens up this catastrophe for public scrutiny.
“He who wants everything everytime will lose everything, anytime”- Vikrant Parsai. This famous quote supports the theme of “Greed and materialism left unchecked, can lead to immoral behavior such as violence” in the book, The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Kino and Juana find the pearl of the world while Kino gets a little too obsessed with the pearl. Juana tries to hide it and make everything better, but everything backfires on her . Kino goes crazy about what Juana tries to do to help him and does things no one would ever imagine.With this in mind, all the readers will look at how greed is expressed through characters,and even Kino himself and symbolism.
For example, when Juana argues with Kino about the pearl, she tells Kino, “The pearl is like a sin” (38). The pearl is compared to a sin using a simile and reveals how Juana truly feels about the pearl as it connotes evil, envy, and greed. This supports the fact that the pearl converts Kino and that it isn’t benevolent. In addition, when Juan Tomas tells Kino to leave the pearl, Kino tells Juan, “The pearl has become my soul” (67). Kino is shown to have an obsession with the pearl and that it controls him. His commitment to the pearl connotes obsession, delusion, and compulsion. The pearl and it’s hold on Kino is why he is dehumanized as the book progresses
Steinbeck begins his novel by introducing the conflict that puts Kino on his quest. Kino awakens to find his child bitten by a scorpion. After rushing to the doctor’s house, he realizes that he did not have a sufficient amount of money to pay for the doctor’s service. Later that day, the narrator reveals that Kino’s wife, “had not prayed directly for the recovery of the baby she had prayed that they might find a pearl for which to hire the doctor to cure the baby…” Therefore, as Kino was searching, he came upon a pearl that he knew would be enough to save his son. At the end of chapter 2, this is where Kino begins his quest to find a buyer and save his son.
For example, when Steinbeck writes “Kino closed his eyes again to listen to his music… The song of the family”, he is giving Kino an impression on the reader that makes the reader know that Kino loves his family(Steinbeck 2). Subsequently, In the scene with the dog Kino is characterized as a self-centered person who is only worried about himself because of his lack of observation towards the dog. This is shown in the line, “...the scraping crickets and shrilling tree frogs and croaking toads”(steinbeck 28). The Author used this scene to re-characterize Kino to show how much the pearl is altering his
Throughout this novella there is consistent symbolism that shows this is a story about good versus evil. The pearl itself could be seen as the main antagonist in this novel. The pearl is what caused Kino to kill a man and even Juana (Kino’s wife) has stated… ‘’Kino, this pearl is evil. Let us destroy it before it destroys us.” Juana knew nearly everyone wanted this pearl, she knew that it would cause Kino to go crazy however Kino sadly kept it. Not only that but the less
The pearl in The Pearl by John Steinbeck shows traits of the characters in their worst moments, but the pearl mostly showed the trait “greed” in Kino because of how his life was before he almost got wealthy. The greed and coveting overtook his mind and personality and changed him who he was as a person. The author showed this throughout the book in many different ways. Steinbeck uses the symbol of the pearl to show the power of greed through Kino’s constant list of desires, his hunger for money, and his constant violence.
An uncomplicated life based on one’s needs rather than their wants is not to be taken for granted. The author of The Pearl, John Steinbeck centers his novel on this theme. The novel focuses on Kino, an unwealthy diver, who’s baby gets stung by a scorpion, so he must find a way to pay for a doctor. One day Kino finds the pearl of the world, his first intention is to use the pearl to pay for medical expenses however, the pearl ends up creating many problems for Kino. Although readers believe that Juana choose correctly to give the pearl back to Kino, she should have disposed of the pearl when she had the opportunity to but it is understandable as to why some may believe
In the story, the pearl symbolizes wealth. Kino, when he found it, was filled with hope, and the thought of the riches he would receive gave him comfort and security. But it didn't
In the novella, The Pearl by John Steinbeck, the main theme is the battle between good and evil. Throughout the story, evil will enter the lives of a certain Mexican-Indian family. This evil is represented in different symbols. Alongside evil were the voices of reason. Though prominent, good still did not overcome evil.
In the novel, The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, we meet Kino, his wife, Juana and their baby, Coyotitio. Kino’s family lives in a grass hut in the poor, fishing village of La Paz, Mexico in the 1920’s. Their lives are disrupted when a vicious scorpion bites Coyotito. The only way that they can get help were they live is to have enough money to pay the local doctor. Kino goes pearl diving and discovers a pearl that is worth “millions.” It appears that Kino has gone from having nothing to being able to get whatever his dreams desire. But in literature, as in life, things are not always as they appear to be, and the pearl ends up bringing them things that they never expected.