In the book How To Read Literature Like A Professor. Chapter Ten called “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow” helps bring the specific scene at the end of the The Grapes Of Wrath into a better and deeper understanding. The specific scene from The Grapes Of Wrath occurs at the end of the novel in Chapter 30 where it is shown by a sprinkle of rain beginning to fall and Pa carrying the left arm of Rose Of Sharon and Ma her right. The sky soon becomes black and the rainfall begins to increase as Ma, Pa, Rose of Sharon, Ruthie, Winfield, and Uncle John make there way to somewhere dry. As they walk on Ma examines the farmland and spots a blot of a barn on a tiny hill and they all end up hurrying to the barn with Ma and Pa partly pulling Rose of Sharon …show more content…
along with them. When they all reached the barn Ma said “they is hay” (616). Winfield however tells Ma to look in the corner where Ma sees a man on the ground and a boy next to him. Ma then asks the boy for a blanket and the boy hands over a dirty comforter and says “Fust he was sick but now he’s starvin” (617). Ma then tells the boy that his father will be alright and has Rose of Sharon change out of her wet clothes. Soon after Rose of Sharon changes her clothes Ma’s eyes pass her eyes and Rose of Sharon says “Yes” and has all of them go out. As the rest of the family and the boy leaves the barn. Rose of Sharon lifts her tired body and moves slowly to the corner where the dying man lay. She then nurses the half starving man with breast milk while looking up across the barn and smiling mysteriously. The meaning and significance of this scene using the ideas from “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow” demonstrates that “weather is never just weather” and so “it’s never just the rain” but much more.
The rain demonstrates sadness, hope, and a new start. In “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow” it states“ Rain is a principal element of spring”...“Spring is the season not only of renewal but of hope, of new awakenings” (73). During the Joads trip to California they encountered many difficulties through which the weather was hot and bare and even when they did arrive in California it ends up raining which brings a feeling of sadness for them but also a hope for a new beginning. The meaning and significance of the scene of Rose of Sharon feeding the starving man is also to show that life can be both good and bad. For instance the Joads were experiencing hard times but when Rose of Sharon fed the man with her milk it brought hope to her and the Joad family which is also connected to the idea of rain because the rain brought a new start for them which helped the event of Rose of Sharon feeding the man bring a good shift for them all. In “It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow” it explains how “ Rain can bring the world back to life, to new growth”
(72). This scene fits into the overall meaning of Steinbeck’s work because Steinbeck wanted people to see from the Grapes of Wrath that there are many obstacles and struggles in life and that each day can turn out unexpected from both excellent or dreadful. Just like the Joads who’s journey from Oklahoma to California was not all that easy. My scene analysis fits into this purpose because it talks about the Joads experiencing bad days of hot weather that made the Joads journey hopeless but then a good day of rain which brought a new clean starting point for them all. And eventually it helped lead to the scene of Rose of Sharon doing a good deed which was what the purpose was getting at, about how events in life can turn out either good or bad and that there are many struggles and obstacles in life.
These chapters help readers envision a time period that otherwise may seem alien to them. They can better connect with the people of that time period and their struggles. Intercalary chapters throughout The Grapes of Wrath create a distinct visual of life during this time. Chapters 1 and 12 give detail to help readers feel the forces of nature, how it affected life and sent people traveling on a harsh, unforgiving path west.
In The Grapes of Wrath, the chapters go from vignettes to regular chapters. The vignettes describe how the dust bowl and the workers migrating to California affect other people and their 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).
The Grapes of Wrath explicates on the Dust Bowl era as the reader follows the story of the Joads in the narrative chapters, and the migrants in expository chapters. Steinbeck creates an urgent tone by using repetition many times throughout the book. He also tries to focus readers on how the Dust Bowl threatened migrant dreams using powerful imagery. As well as that, he creates symbols to teach the upper class how the Dust Bowl crushed the people’s goals. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck utilizes imagery, symbolism, and repetition to demonstrate how the Dust Bowl threatened the “American Dream.”
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
The movie begins with self-centered, materialistic Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), learning the death of his father. To settle his dad’s estate, he and his business partner/girlfriend, Susanna (Valeria Golino) travel to his home town Cincinnati. While he was hoping to inherit all of his dad’s estate, all he got was a car and a collection of rosebushes that he simply has no use for. The remaining $3 million fortune was put into a trust for an unnamed beneficiary. Charlie demands to know the identity of the beneficiary and finds out that it is a mental hospital where his long-lost autistic brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) resides with a caretaker, Dr. Bruner (Gerald R. Molen).
In the 1930s, America’s Great Plains experienced a disastrous drought causing thousands of people to migrate west. As their land was devastated by the Dust Bowl, deprived farmers were left with few options but to leave. The Grapes of Wrath depicts the journey of the Joads, an Oklahoma based family which decides to move to California in search of better conditions. Coming together as thirteen people at the start, the Joads will undertake what represents both a challenge and their only hope. Among them are only four women embodying every ages: the Grandma, the Mother and her two daughters, the pregnant Rose of Sharon and the young Ruthie. Appearing in Chapter Eight the mother, who is referred to as “Ma”, holds a decisive role in Steinbeck’s novel. She is, along with her son Tom (the main character of the book), present from the early stage of the story until its very end. We will attempt to trace back her emotional journey (I) as well as to analyze its universal aspects and to deliver an overall impression on the book (II).
Throughout the novel, The Grapes of Wrath there are intercalary chapters. The purpose of these chapters are to give the readers insight and background on the setting, time, place and even history of the novel. They help blend the themes, symbols, motifs of the novel, such as the saving power of family and fellowship, man’s inhumanity to man, and even the multiplying effects of selfishness. These chapters show the social and economic crisis flooding the nation at the time, and the plight of the American farmer becoming difficult. The contrast between these chapters helps readers look at not just the storyline of the Joad family, but farmers during the time and also the condition of America during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck uses these chapters to show that the story is not only limited to the Joad family,
These were the actions taken before Rose of Sharon helps the starving stranger in the barn by feeding him her breast milk. Even though the Joads have never met this man, they know what it is like to be hungry and to suffer. Therefore, Rose of Sharon makes a huge sacrifice to help someone in need.
Although Steinbeck parallels the characters to people in the Bible, he also has events that parallel, starting with their journey. During their long journey they are looking for their promised land, also known as California. This symbolizes the Israelites long journey into the promise land. Along their journey other bible related events happen as well. The Joads get to a cotton farm and the rain starts coming down very hard. It rains so much that the rain starts flooding the boxcar. Much like the biblical story of Noah and the Ark, the rain brings hope and new life. During this flood Rose of Sharon goes into labor. She soon has a baby that is supposed to change the world. The baby comes out stillborn. The Joad family asks Uncle John if he would bury the baby. Uncle John decides instead of burying the baby he will float it in a box down the river so the people can see what they are doing to human life and
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...
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a novel that does not end with any sort of hope, but does end with the reader learning about how real this novel really was. You do not put this book down after you read it and smile and wish that you could have been living in this era. This is why he ended the novel the way that he does and not 40 pages earlier where he could have made it a happy ending. Steinbeck is just like his novel and he wants you to know what happened, and why it happened. All of this happened because people were forced out of their homes and the only place they had to go was west and almost all of the families ended up like the Jones; with no money, nowhere to go and nothing to look forward to. Even though this is not the way that you wanted the ending of this novel to go, there was no other way that it could have ended.
The role of relationship you have with other people often has direct influence on the individual choices and belief in the life. In the short story “on the rainy river”, the author Tim O’Brien inform us about his experiences and how his interacted with a single person had effected his life so could understand himself. It is hard for anyone to be dependent on just his believes and own personal experience, when there are so many people with different belief to influence you choices and have the right choices for you self. Occasionally taking experience and knowledge of other people to help you understand and build from them your own identity and choices in life.
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work.
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Right after the line, “final uneasiness.” (16) the poem’s intended audience changes. The audience shifts from lovers and their experience with love to a more specific person/intended individual love to him. This is important to understand because it further demonstrates the emotions the speaker has. After the shift, the speaker says “Love, if you love me,/….Be for me, like rain,” (17-19). In this he is demanding that if someone wants to love him or be with him they need to be like rain. The image of rain falling outside is something simple and beautiful. Rain, to some people can be a calming sensation to feel on their cheeks. It is interesting how rain is used in a positive light to describe love because rain is not something one would typically assimilate to love. Rain is beautiful, like love, but to compare the two to illustrate a meaning is thought-provoking. Why would the speaker use rain to describe love? Possibly because it is beautiful like love and has characteristics one may desire in love? This may be true, but conversely it can be assumed that love is difficult to comprehend and that through the use of something out of the ordinary maybe some understanding of the abstract emotion can be facilitated. At the end of the poem the speaker leaves his intended audience with the final phrase of “Be wet/ with a decent happiness.” (23-24). This final phrase is significant because it tells the audience and those who desire