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Literary analysis everyday use
Humanity in the grapes of wrath
The themes of the grapes of wrath
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There are plenty of fantastic inter-chapters, chapter five is another inter-chapter that discusses the tractors that would come to the land and plow through it. It destroys everything in its path. This chapter is an abstract conflict between the tenant farmer and the banks. The banks want to take over the land to make more money, but it is very difficult for the farmers to leave because the land has been settled by their grandfathers. One tenant farmers is so upset that he threatens to shoot the driver by saying “(he’d) be in the window with a rifle” (p. 51). Another chapter describes a tenant farmer that has to leave and is cheated into paying too much for a car. Chapter nine describes the generalized families who must sell their sentimental goods at absurdly low prices. These chapters represent the situations which the Joads encounter very soon. The Joads must leave their land and sell all of their things. Later in the novel, Grandpa threatens to kill the tractor driver who was plowing their land just like the tenant farmer who Steinback described. Also, the Joads buy a used car in order to get to California and are ripped off. The inter-chapters provided general social situations which the “Okies” have to face. Everything …show more content…
Steinbeck’s writing is filled with symbols in order to clearly show the importance of the ideas and main themes of the novel. Possibly the most important symbol in The Grapes of Wrath are the grapes. The actual grapes are not the symbol in the novel, but the idea of grapes represents hope in the beginning of the book. When Granpa tells his wonderful story about sitting in a tub of grapes, this shows his and his families hopes of prosperity once they reach California. Although the Joads start out as an optimistic family, the wonderful grapes that they dream of soon will turn into grapes of wrath. The wrath is shown through the many deaths and obstacles they have to face on their
The use of Intercalary chapters is a complex technique. Writers use this structure to break up the plot with separate excerpts inserted into the novel. Intercalary chapters help to give the reader background knowledge or important information. This can help further develop the novels impact on readers. John Steinbeck displayed this strategy throughout The Grapes of Wrath, interrupting the Joad family’s journey with chapters describing other aspects of the novel’s setting. These chapters help readers envision a time period that otherwise may seem alien to them. They can better connect to the people of that time period and their struggles.
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
However, many readers may not enjoy Steinbeck’s use of intercalary chapters. This could be because they do not like the transition from the Dust Bowl information to the storyline of the Joad’s family. In addition, they could also feel like the intercalary chapter take the focus away from the Joad’s family and feel the background information they provide is unnecessary. To conclude, the novel The Grapes of Wrath has intercalary chapters that serve as a literary device designed to show the general social and economic elements of America during the Dust
Within four pages, Steinbeck greatly clarifies and expands upon his story by examining the different emotions and reactions of his general character groups. He takes two sides of an argument and applies them to a third body rather than pit them against each other. By mastering the use of the intercalary chapter, he is able enrich his story with deeper thought and explore it outside the boundaries of his main characters. In this manner, Steinbeck is able to write a four-page chapter which holds great meaning to a 581-page novel.
The armed and intoxicated group of men let the Joads know in no uncertain terms that they aren’t allowing any Okies in their town. Steinbeck shows the frustration and anger of Tom Joad as he deals with this internal struggle to strike out against the men, “Tom shivered all over…And Tom tried to restrain his hard smothered sobbing” (382). Furthermore Steinbeck expresses the Joads support of one another with the comforting actions of Ma Joad towards Tom as she tells Tom “You done good,” Ma said tenderly. “You done jus’ good’” (382). Steinbeck concluded this event with the prejudice men with a rather emphatic statement by Ma Joad proclaiming that “...people like us will go on livin’ when all them people is gone…they ain’t gonna wipe us out…” (383).
One of the most argued topics throughout history is the conflict of law versus morality. It is hoped that law and morality would work together hand in hand. Unfortunately, there are many instances where law is corrupted and subdues morality. Even in the modern age injustices caused by the law seems like a common occurrence. Literary figures like John Steinbeck and Mark Twain believed that it was important to remain devoted to one's morality, or find new morals when law is corrupted. Through Twain and Steinbeck's most influential works Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Grapes of Wrath clearly show the authors' view on the significance of morality. Examples in the novels include the depiction of suffering caused by the law, the idea of
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written by John Steinbeck, which focuses on an Oklahoman family that is evicted from their farm during an era of depression caused by the Dust Bowl. The Joad family alongside thousands of other refugees (also affected by the dirty thirties) migrates west towards California seeking employment and a new home. John Steinbeck’s purpose for writing this novel was to inform his audience of how many of their fellow Americans were being mistreated and of the tribulations they faced in order to attain regain what they once had. As a result, The Grapes of Wrath triggered its audience’s sympathy for the plight of the Dust Bowl farmers and their families.
From a more romantic perspective one might be inclined to say the main theme behind this story is choices made by man as a unit when obstacles and circumstances arise, perhaps perseverance through hardship. But this book rarely displays romantic or idealistic interactions among the characters or moments in the plot. Although there is one example of slight romantisicm at end, the book for the most part is an excellent illustration of naturalism in a piece of literature. To shine this main theme under a naturalistic light, the reader must be allowed to examine the deep psychological, emotional and physical connection between man and his land so often demonstrated and greatly emphaisized throughout the book. The cliffsnotes state that this connection is a basic fundament to the Jeffersonian agrarian theory. A great example of when Steinbeck incorporates this philosophy is when the representatives of the bank are telling the tenant farmers that they need to get off the land. They feel that since they lived and died on the land, it is rightfully theirs. "Funny thing how it is. If a man owns a little property, that property is in him, it's part of him, and it's like him (37)." Since the bond between the farmer and his property is so strong, once it is broken the people loose their self-respect, dignity, and meaning. Steinbeck uses this idea to foreshadow and help explain the events of Grandpa's death and to further drive the ideas Casy preaches. Casy suggests at the funeral that Granpa died the moment he was torn from his land. He also speculates that only if the band together and make sacrifices for the unit, the Joads and the Wilsons can they survive. "We on'y got a hundred an' fifty dollars. They take forty to bury Grampa an' we won't get to California (140)." They decide that for the family the best thing to do is to bury him on the road.
In the Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters to provide background for the various themes of the novel, as well to set the tone of the novel".
Although both the novel and movie form of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath are considered to be American classics, the novel provides a deeper understanding of the story's time and meaning. Absent from the film, the novel's interchapters provide a greater understanding of the time in which The Grapes of Wrath takes place. First, in the movie it is unclear why the Joads are forced to abandon their farm. It is described very briefly by Muley Graves, leaving the audience in a state of confusion. However, in the novel, Chapter 5 explains exactly why the farmers are forced to leave. In this interchapter, Steinbeck uses a dialogue between a farmer and a representative from a bank; the farmer is forced to leave because the bank, or the"Monster" as Steinbeck says, needs to make a profit, and if the farmer cannot produce any goods to pay off debts, then the bank forecloses the land. This happened to many farmers in the 1930's due to a dr...
In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck illustrates the Joad’s endurance by his use of extended metaphors in intercalary chapters. Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters to provide background for the various themes in the novel. He effectively foreshadows upcoming events by telling of the general state of the local population in the intercalary chapters. He then narrows it down to how it effects the main characters of the novel, which are the Joads. Setting the tone of the novel in the reader’s mind is another function of Steinbeck's intercalary chapters.
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.
The exploitation of "Okies" continued but was haltered by unions and organizations such as those Tom Joad planned to lead. Being faced with several accounts of adversity coming not only from the national and eventually global economic depression, the farmers of America had only one chance to subsist, and that was to maintain a sense of endurance. This sense was evident in several actions of the Joad family during their trek to California and the actions taken by general farmers of America as their "grapes of wrath (began) ...growing heavy for the vintage."
Grapes of Wrath is the true American novel about the migration of the people in the Midwest during the dust bowl. It is full of hope that is built up by the characters, the Joades, and how they deal with the problems they dealt with on their travels to California. Throughout the novel there are multiple scenes that show that people like the Joades can make it through almost any situation. The book is full of scenes that bring a sense of hope, however, the conclusion scene of the book takes all of this hope away. Steinbeck’s chose for the conclusion of his novel has been criticized numerous times. It was even excluded from the film, but that was partially because Rose of Sharon allowed a stranger to drink from her breast. Three criticisms of the ending of Grapes of Wrath are as following, the idea of Rose of Sharon’s baby being born as a stillborn, the rising floodwaters, and the image of the breastfeeding being the end of the novel.
The Grapes of Wrath combines Steinbeck adoration of the land, his simple hatred of corruption resulting from materialism (money) and his abiding faith in the common people to overcome the hostile environment. The novel opens with a retaining picture of nature on rampage. The novel shows the men and women that are unbroken by nature. The theme is one of man verses a hostile environment. His body destroyed but his spirit is not broken. The method used to develop the theme of the novel is through the use of symbolism. There are several uses of symbols in the novel from the turtle at the beginning to the rain at the end. As each symbol is presented through the novel they show examples of the good and the bad things that exist within the novel.