The Grapes of Wrath Novel Review

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In The Grapes of Wrath the chapters go off from vignettes to regular chapters. The vignettes describe how the dust bowl and the workers migrating to California affect other people and surroundings. They also foreshadow the events of the Joads and migrant workers on their journey. In chapter 3, Steinbeck describes a turtle crossing a road and getting hit by a car. “And over the grass at the roadside a land turtle crawled…at last he started to climb the embankment…the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it,” (Steinbeck, 20-22). In later chapters, Steinbeck describes the turtle as he gets picked up by Tom Joad and tries to sneakily crawl away. The turtle represents the migrant workers and their journey to California through determination, hardships, and feeling out of place. During the time we learn about the turtle, it faces several hardships. First, the turtle attempts to cross the road, “Pushing hind legs strained and slipped, boosting the shell along, and the horny head protruded as far as the neck could stretch,” (Steinbeck, 21). Second, the turtle has to tr...

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