Symbolism In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath
In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, a novel about the hardships of an Oklahoma family, the Joads, migrating to California in hopes for a better life during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl after the bank stripped them from their home. Steinbeck uses narrative description and symbolisms of a land turtle, through contextual and cultural content; the turtle being hit by a truck, and the turtle’s hard shell and his ability to withstand the damage and proceed with his life. The turtle symbolizes the new life and struggles of the journey to the west, the promise land.
The turtle appears throughout giving the contextual symbolism of the struggles of the Joad family’s survival during the family’s travels to the west and new life. The turtle’s travels alongside the highway on the hot pavement and survives an attack by a driver who purposely swerved to hit the turtle, “And now a light truck approached, and as it came near, the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it. His front wheel struck the edge of the shell, flipped the turtle like a tiddly-wonk, spun it like a coin, and rolled it off the highway. The truck went back on its course along the right side”

(Steinbeck, 15). The driver of the truck works for a large company, that tries to stop the migrants from going west, the driver’s attempt to hit the symbolizes the big powerful man, like the Bank, trying to flatten or kill the little man, the turtle/the Joad family.
Throughout the novel Steinbeck uses symbolism to portray the illusion of the Bank as a monster, “...

snub-nosed monsters, raising the dust and sticking their snouts into it, straight down the country, across the country, through fences, through dooryards, in and out of gullies in straight lines”(Steinbeck, 35). The author uses symbolism of the banks breaking the Joad family and the rest of the inhabitants living in Oklahoma, down like driver’s attempt to hit the turtle, the bank is taking away their only home and what they previously knew. The history of the Joad’s family, a part of them, was within the soil of the land. The banks are stripping away a part of them much like the driver’s attempt to strip the life of the turtle away from it as the driver swerves to hit

it.
The turtle’s hard shell protects it from the trauma and saves his life, “But at last its legs waved in the air, reaching for something to pull it over. Its front foot caught a piece of quartz and little by little the shell pulled over and flopped upright.” (Steinbeck, 15), the turtle endures the pain of being stripped from his connections to it whole self and almost his life, much like the Joad family. The turtle is described as being ancient, old and wise; horny head, yellowed toenails, indestructible shell, humorous old eyes, “the humorous eyes looked ahead, and the horny beak opened a little. His yellow toe nails slipped a fraction in the dust” (Steinbeck, 16), much like the state of the Joad’s home, the farm the family has lived on for many generations. The connection of the turtle lies between his body and rest of the world, his shell. On the contrary, the Joad’s “shell” lies within the land and the past lives that have lived on it. On the Joad’s journey to the West, California, they figure out that their true shell is family.
Steinbeck refers to the cultural theme of humanity and the need for continuing and surviving several times throughout the chapter. The turtle represents the hope for the trip being successful for the migrants, the Joads. The turtle further represents the migrant’s struggles against nature/man by overcoming every obstacle he encounters: the red ant in his path, the truck driver who tries to run over him, being held captive in Tom Joad's jacket. Everything the turtle encounters tries its best to stop the turtle from making his journey. The turtle advances on, ironically to the same direction of the people migrating; the West. The driver of the truck, red ant and Tom Joad's jacket are all symbolisms of nature and man, they attempt to stop the turtle from continuing his journey westward to the promise land. The promise land of California where there’s work and an opportunity to start fresh. The turtle helps to develop the theme by showing his struggle against life/ comparing it with the Joad struggle against man. Furthermore, the turtle represents new life but also the transportation of life to a new place, “the wild oat fell out, and three of its spearheads stuck in the ground. And as the turtle crawled on down the embankment, his shell dragged dirt over the seed.”(22), much the new life inside of Rose.