Summary Of John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes Of Wrath'

) “The Bank isn’t like a man” (page 45)– Both of the land owners and the tenants seem to be entrapped by a bigger entity. Steinbeck includes the reader in the emotional suffering of the farmers by connecting the human predicaments associated with the Dust Storm. The real threats of security originate from the greed of the Banks, which are devoid of any human feeling and emotion. The owners of the land blame must tell the sharecroppers and farmers to vacate the land, and they blame the banks in the process. Greed also transcends onto this level because the owners passively accept the situation that allows them to make profits while they avoid the moral implications of such. The tractor is the main instrument that finalizes and carries out this

transition. The “Cat” (page 13) takes the place of workers and poor farmers, but it dehumanizes the land that it primes. The tenant system is replaced by this machine that is more ‘efficient’ and doesn’t require the amount of wages that tenants do. The tractor drivers are also slave to this “monster” (page 43)-the bank. He works for a comfortable salary, but feeds into the greed of displacing other people for his own security. Families like the Joads are at the pit of this revolving cycle. The poor farmers are no longer grounded because they have lost their hard-worked lands They then have to borrow money from the Banks to migrate and find work. This money gains the Bank profits, and the cycle resumes.

B) Joe Davis’s son is the despised tractor driver. He is the manipulator of the machine that displaces the generations of hard work done by the farmer family. He does this for the financial security and the assurance of food for his children and wife. I’m conflicted with my own thoughts of this situation. Wages are hard to come by at the time, and it does make sense to want to do the job. On the other hand, it is a question of morality. I neither agree nor blame him for it. The ideal Kantist value would be to denounce him for using other people to justify his means, but the economic predicament during the time is hard to relate to.

C) At the end of Chapter 5, the tractor crumbles the house with the final words “crushed like a bug” (page 52). This presents an emotion of insignificance that highlights the indifference that the Bank feels toward the farmers in its pursuit of profits. The generations of labor poured into the land by the farmers juxtaposes the ease with which the tractor crushed the symbols of the land.

3. The novel communicates the bond that people have with the land they live on, which is often viewed as a companion. When the people are forced to move away, they suffer because they lose a part of themselves. Mentally, Grampa is dead by the time the Joads cross Oklahoma. Even Muley’s refusal to follow suit conveys that he is emotionally and indefinitely attached to the land. “That’s what makes it ours-being born on it, working it, dying on it. That makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it” (page 45) cements the idea that ownership entails valuing the land- not monetizing it, but breathing in the soil. On page 51, the issue comes to light. If a man lives on his owned property, the property becomes a part of him. But if a man doesn’t live on the land, then the property is stronger than he is. “He is small; his possessions are big” (page 51). Here, we see that the land just becomes a possession, a disposable item. These differences aren’t as pronounced today, especially since we have (for the most part) become industrialized and capitalized. Moving houses and away from home isn’t taboo or an issue anymore. Moving away for college, for example, is the social norm, and even living across the country from family isn’t a big issue. The ease and availability of transportation diminishes concerns for staying connected to the land.

4. “Well for Christ sake why ain’t they more places like this?” (page 393) Weedpatch was a great resource for the migrant families because it was a drastic change from the harsh realities that they faced on the road. There probably weren’t more places like Weedpatch there was an undercurrent of instability under the façade of parties and friendly faces. In reality, its position was tentative. The camp was externally threatened by the enraged, bigoted, naïve, and wealthy Californians and unavailability of work. Internally, the camp was conflicted with its own awareness of social injustice and the inability to provide the families with the means to live the way they did before. Funding must be scarce and limited. It’s a safe haven, but it’s not an indefinitely sustainable resource.

5. The turtle represents the hardships and plight of farmers during the Dust Bowl era. The turtle struggled to cross the road, burdened with many obstacles such as the wall, the burning highway, and the relentless driver-similar to how the farmers must overcome the struggles that ensued from the Dust Bowl. Migrants, like the turtle, moved in search of their dreams and a new life. I think it also is symbolic of the Joad family and how they must overcome unfortunate events that try to overturn them. The turtle is trying to reach its destination, but meets anger and misunderstanding.

6.

As I view it, the novel’s three segments parallel biblical stories and events. The first segment may be called “Oppression and Hardship” because the plight of the farmers parallels the world of sin that the Jews endured in the Bible. The drought and dust storm in the Midwest tried the tenacity of their will, and the industrial Banks took away their prized possession (land).
The second part may be titled “Exodus”- their journey from the oppressed land to a new beginning. Moses led the Jews on their journey through the desert for ’40 years’ (which really means a super long time), which mirrors the migrants’ journey West. Their perseverance and faith were contested many times, such as their ties to family.
The last part should be “The Promised Land”. This is when the Joads finally reach California- the land of fruitful harvest and opportunity. California was regarded as the end-all to the Joads when they set out on their journey. At this point, they come to terms with the harsh realities that unfold before

them.

7.
A) The migrants are described as dangerous “new barbarians” (page 318) because they did not fit in with the normal values of society at the time: the accumulation of wealth, social success, amusement, luxury, and banking security. Instead, the migrants wanted just two things – land and food (chapter 19). These “barbarians” were backwards in time, they wanted to cultivate the lands even if they were beside the highway. They were a menace to industrialization and profits because the poor have greed in their intense desire for better wages, the right to good land, and to protect their families.

B) The Okies are seeking ‘milk and honey’ (Exodus 3:8) in the ‘Promised Land’. They want food and land that they can work- working the land means ownership and soul. To them, land means the product to be human. It’s their possession.

C) Okies as “dangerous as niggers the South!” (page 322) The Depression era migration to California stigmatized the migrant families as lazy and undeserving, hence a menace to society.

The society and institutions that diminished the families were not the families’ faults. They wanted basic human rights and to they wished to be able to support their families with a comfortable living wage. The Civil Rights era of the 1960s American South saw the same predicament. The African Americans were a menace to society because the society primed itself to view them as such. They too wanted basic human rights and to live comfortably without threatened safety, but they were against institutions that segregated and targeted them.

D) “And the association of owners knew that someday the praying would stop. And there’s the end” (page 326). These lines are ominous and allude to the fact that there will come a point in time when the oppressed workers will reach a ‘breaking point’. They will reach the limits of their own perseverance and acceptance and join in numbers to combine their power of the mass. Eventually, the corporate machines and monsters will be forced to capitulate. The people will carry on and one day they will be forced to take

action.