Comparing The Grapes of Wrath and The Power of One
"Two heads are better than one," it's always been said. But is another person always valuable, or can extra baggage keep an individual from achieving his goals? Both sides can be argued effectively, and both may be true depending on the circumstances. Two historical novels, The Grapes of Wrath and The Power of One, show how two sets of characters took different routes to achieve their goals and how they fared along the way. In The Grapes of Wrath, The Joads, a family of penniless migrant workers, travel to California to look for work, depending on the help of assorted strangers along the way, while The Power of One tells the story of Peekay, a young South African boy growing up alone in a hostile world bent on destroying his chances of success. The books portray very different views on life that are equally valid and convincing; while The Grapes of Wrath is a tale that emphasizes the power that can be achieved in numbers and the consequences of trying to survive alone, The Power of One is a testimony to the things one person can achieve when he is forced to depend on and trust in himself only.
The Joads, after they are forced to vacate their farm in Oklahoma, decide to pack all of their belongings and make the voyage to California, where there is supposedly so much work that everyone can make a living. But along the way, they quickly run into trouble. They have little money, an unreliable vehicle, a truckload of people to feed, and miles to go before they reach their destination. The Joads quickly discover something that becomes a major theme throughout the book: cooperating with others to achieve a common goal is sometimes necessary for surviva...
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...ss birds banished, their rocky nests turned to river stones"(513;Ch. 24)
Each of these novels, although powerful and influential in its own right, contrasts the other greatly in terms of theme. The Joads in The Grapes of Wrath had to rely on others to obtain their goal, while Peekay in The Power of One struggled to find his way in life completely alone. Though each book is very different from the other, each is an emotional story of life's obstacles and the tremendous human spirit, whether combined or individual, that it takes to overcome them.
Sources
Courtenay, Bryce. The Power of One. New York: Random House, 1989
Levant, Howard. "The Fully Matured Art: The Grapes of Wrath." John Steinbeck, Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 35-62.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 1978.
Most of Steinbeck’s work conveys a deeper meaning or message to the readers, and The Grapes of Wrath presents no exception, as redemption’s prevalence influences the growth of each character. Although the book ends with a tragic flood after the family has faced the loss of Rose of Sharon’s newborn baby, the novel still ends in happiness, since characters such as Jim Casy, Uncle John, Tom Joad, and Rose of Sharon attain redemption and in doing so, become saviors for migrant families. Steinbeck manifests the idea the migration did not necessarily implicate the Joads would find prosperity in the promised land of California, but would instead fulfill the quest for absolution, which results in their heroic
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.
John Steinbeck’s novels The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men reveal and confront the struggles of common individuals in their day-to-day lives. The Grapes of Wrath creates a greater verisimilitude than Of Mice and Men as it illustrates the lives of Oklahoma farmers driven west during the Dustbowl of the late 1930’s. Of Mice and Men deals with a more personal account of two poor men and the tragic ending of their relationship. Steinbeck expresses his concern for multiple social issues in both The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Tightly-knit relationships appear prominently in both books and provide the majority of the conflicts that occur. The decency of common people is written about to a great extent in The Grapes of Wrath and is also prevalent through numerous examples in Of Mice and Men. As in all effective writing that bares the soul of the author, each novel reveals Steinbeck’s core beliefs.
The Joad’s were facing many conflicts and in the process of losing their house. They heard there was going to be work in California and wanted to take the risk and move out there to find a job to provide. The Dust Bowl and The Great Depression were pretty huge topics in history and the novel about The Grapes of Wrath had some pretty raw details about their journey and similar to both histories. The Joad family pushed each other to have a better life in California and did everything they could to have a job to provide and eat, and mainly survive to live another day. In the novel, the beginning, the Joad family faced and struggled with nature, dust nature, just like the people that experienced this during the Dust Bowl. The people in the Southern plains dealt with a huge dust storm and the Joad family were also faced with this storm but struggled from these dust storms because of no work. No work means you can’t eat and
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.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath, The Moon is Down, Cannery Row, East of Eden, Of Mice and Men. New York: Heinemann/Octopus, 1979. pp.475 - 896.
In conclusion the Grapes of Wrath is a literary masterpiece that portrays the struggles of man as he overcomes the adversity of homelessness, death, and the wrath of prejudice. Steinbeck fully explores each faucet coherently within the boundaries of the Joad family’s trials and
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.
In the novel The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, a fictitious migrant family, the Joads, travel west in search of a new life away from the tragedies of the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. Along the way, Steinbeck adds a variety of minor characters with whom the Joads interact. Steinbeck created these minor characters to contrast with the Joad’s strong will power and to reflect man’s fear of new challenges, and to identify man’s resistance to change. Three minor characters who fulfill this role are Muley Graves, Connie Rivers, and the tractor driver.
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.
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.
act or omission. It is also not clear, if the test is that there had
The narrative only tells the story of Tom Joad’s family. Without the intercalary chapters, we would not get to learn about other situations. A perfect example of this is chapter fifteen, in which Steinbeck incorporates a few different scenarios. First off, he explains an incident where a lady was crashed into by a reckless driver. “Drove like he’s blin’ drunk. Jesus, the air was full a bed clothes an’ chickens an’ kids. Killed one kid. Never seen such a mess” (Steinbeck 215). This shows that not every person’s story about moving westward had a happy ending, and not every story was the same as the family of Tom Joad. In this chapter, we also see different people’s money situation. There was a lot of negotiating done in order for people to get what they not only want, but need. This added to the narrative about Tom Joad’s
In the Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad learns a valuable lesson from the long trip with his family. Living in poverty taught Tom how poorly people in the United States were living and how it should not continue. His friend Casy started to lead a revolution and unfortunately died in front of Tom. This inspired him to do something similar, considering he could not stay with his family. Inspired by the words and actions of his friend Casy, Tom decides to start a revolution and fight for better living conditions, even if it leads to his death.
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