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john steinbeck writing style grapes of wrath
The Grapes of Wrath essay
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Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath: The Purpose of the Interchapters
Initially, I found the interchapters to be annoying, interruptions to the story. It was only when I realized the point in having the interchapters that I understood that not only did they not interrupt the story, but they added to it tremendously. The interchapters provide indirect comments or general situations which suggest something about the personal tragedies of the main characters. These comments and situations help give the reader an understanding of what the characters are going through by either showing metaphorically their present or future triumphs and struggles or explaining the history of the period that they lived in.
Chapter three is an interchapter. It describes a concrete highway that a land turtle struggled to cross. The turtle was finally almost there when it was hit by a truck and its shell was chipped and it was thrown on its back. The turtle had to struggle even hard but it did get going again.
This chapter represented the continual struggle of that the Joads would have to face throughout the entire story. Throughout the novel the Joads meet many hardships. They are forced to leave their home, lose family members such as the grandparents and Noah, work for low wages, and suffer from hunger floods and cruel prejudices in California. But, just as the turtle refused to be swayed from his purpose so will the Joads.
Chapter five is an interchapter that discusses a tractors hired by banks or a corporations that would come to the land and plow through it, destroying everything in its path. The chapter is an abstract conflict between the tenant farmer and the banks and shows the pain of a tenant farmer upon leaving the land that was settled by their grandfather. The tenant farmer was so upset that he threatened to shoot the driver . Another chapter describes a tenant farmer who has to leave and is cheated into paying to much for a car. Chapter nine describes the generalized families who must sell their sentimental goods at absurdly low prices.
These chapters present the situations which the Joads come across very soon. The Joads have to leave their land and sell all their things.
As the Joad family faces the same trials that the turtle faces, and as the desperate farmers have to deal with car dealerships, the intercalary chapters help to set the tone of, as well as integrate the various themes of The
Much like the turtle from chapter three, the Joads had to face many great hardships in their travels. The planes of Oklahoma, with their harsh summer weather, were the Joads desolated highways. The truck driver represented the Californians, who Buried food and killed livestock to keep the Joads and others like them away from their dream. And their ants and hills were sickness. Even through all of this, the Joads persevered. They were driven by two great motivating powers, poverty and hunger. Just as the turtle searched for food, the Joads were searching for paradise, "The Garden of Eden.
Tom Joad is an ex-convict that was only into his own self-interest and lived by a mantra of live your life day by day and not concerned with the future, to becoming a man who thinks about the future and someone with morals and an obligation to help others. Ma Joad is a typical woman of the early 1900’s whose main role was a mother only with a role of caring and nurturing. Later in the novel, she becomes an important figure for the family and is responsible for making decisions in keeping the family together and emphasizes the importance of unity. Another important transition in the book is the family starting off as a single close knit unit to depending on other families to survive. This common interest and struggle bonded the community of individual families to a single one. Steinbeck wrote this novel very well, by having great character dynamics and development that displays the characters strengths and also their
“A mother knows what her child has gone through, even if she didn’t see it herself” Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The relationship between a mother and her child is said to be the strongest bond that two people can have. I asked my mother what it was like to give birth to another human being and she said that “Having the opportunity and privilege to bring another human into this world is the highest honor and gift a person can do” Michele Dieterich. In the book,The Grapes of Wrath, Ma Joad acts as the maternal character throughout the book and relates to the theme of families stick together.
Shortly after they begin their journey, Granpa falls ill and evidently dies. “‘He didn’ suffer none. Not after this mornin’. He’s just stayin’ with the lan’” (Steinbeck 146). As a result, the family is shaken and but faces their sorrow and forges ahead. Further along, Noah Joad decides to abandon his family to live a simpler life along the riverbed where they stopped to rest. Tom tries to stop him, but Noah no longer wanted the pressure of travelling any longer. “And he watched Noah drowning smaller on the edge of the river, until he disappeared into the willow at last.” (Steinbeck 209). Furthermore, Granma Joad follows suit of her husband a few days after, and passes. “‘Well she was ol’. Guess her time was up’ Al said, ‘ Ever’body got to die.’” (Steinbeck 229). The Joads’ goals of staying together rapidly fall apart as they travel to California, some leaving through their own free will, and others not being strong enough to make to journey. The harsh realities of the world hits the Joad’s hard, notwithstanding of their best
The Joad family members were facing hardships from the beginning. Before the journey, Tom Joad had been in prison and that was a downer to everyone. In the scenes of overcoming this problem, Tom was released and his family was so excited and full of joy to see him. Before they could celebrate too much, they found themselves having to leave the land that most of them were born on, raised on and labored for. They decided that as shady as it was to be forced off their own land, the drought had shattered any hopes of prospering from it anyway. With the hope of a better life out in California and a flyer that said pickers needed, they set out for the proclaimed promised land.
California in search for a brighter, economic future. The name Joad and the exodus to
Throughout the novel, Steinbeck portrays the Joads and other exiled "Okies" as animalistic. They often talk about their dilemma in simplistic terms that hint that they are not initially aware of the specific conditions that force them to abandon their home. For example, Muley Graves tells Tom Joad and Jim Casy that the rest of the Joads, with their house destroyed, are "piled in John's house like gophers in a winter burrow” (63). This illustrates a family of animals that are bundled together, hoping to fend off a predator with their superior numbers. They see the societal problems around them in terms of a predator as well. For example, Casy asks a worker at a gas station, "You ever seen one a t...
Grapes of Wrath. In the beginning of the novel The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads are faced with the challenge of traveling Route 66 all the way to California. This is their solution to being tractored off their land and having no way to support the large family. This challenge is similar to the depression of 1929, when many people lost their jobs, homes, and their whole lives.
As the story comes to a close, the Joad family is almost all broken up. In a bigger perspective than the government camp, the final scene implies what Cassy was trying to say from the beginning; that nobody has an individual soul, but everybody's just got a piece of a great big soul.
The tale of The Grapes of Wrath has many levels of profound themes and meanings to allow us as the reader to discover the true nature of human existence. The author's main theme and doctrine of this story is that of survival through unity. While seeming hopeful at times, this book is more severe, blunt, and cold in its portrayl of the human spirit. Steinbeck's unique style of writing forms timeless and classic themes that can be experienced on different fronts by unique peoples and cultures of all generations.
...t at the end of the tunnel because if they stayed where they were they would surely have not survived. The Joads couldn't stay where they were and without a goal to reach, something to look forward to, one just wanders around life aimlessly and hopelessly. They kept the dream alive throughout the journey. Even through the harsh rumors they heard along the road. They still kept that fragment of hope in the back of their heads that California would be everything they hoped it would be. Even in their worst times in California they would still look forward to earning enough money and getting a little white house to live in. Their lives really were destroyed when the dust bowl hit but no one can except those facts so they must tell themselves it will be all right. We will go to California and everything will be even better there than it was here. Unfortunately that wasn't the reality of the situation and the Joads were forced to deal with that harsh reality once in California and on the hard long journey there. California was no dream land, but rather a sealed fate to a life of fighting for food and watching loved ones die. California was the pain of the migrants summed up in one word.
On the way to California, the Joad's encountered other people that had already been to California and were now returning. One of these encounters, with the ragged man with the sunburned face, is described on page 242. The ragged man had children that died because wages were too low and work was too scarce to afford food for his children and wife. His story was one of pain and despair and was evidence of the cruel and inhumane treatment which resulted from the California farmers prejudice towards the migrant workers.
... of the trials and hardship endured along the road to get to the Promised Land (California), the Joad’s survive as a family. It may not have been the perfect expedition and migration which was intended but when all hope was lost Ma was there to lead and comfort. The need to push on and reassurance that things would be ok was prevalent after the deaths. When one life ended another was started, and when situations were at their worst, there came a helping hand and were saved. These women are the foundation to the Joad family and help them successfully live their dream to make it to California. Without these four women possessing these archetypes they may have never made it as a family, with such hope and dreams as they did.
In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck brings to the reader a variety of diverse and greatly significant characters. However, the majority of each characters' individuality happens to lie within what they symbolize in the microcosm of the Joad family and their acquaintances, which itself stands for the entire migrant population of the Great Depression era. One such character is that of Jim Casey, a former preacher and long-time friend of the Joads. In this story, Casey represents a latter-day Christ figure who longs to bring religious stability to the burgeon of migrant families facing West.