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John steinbecks use of imagery and language in the grapes of wrath
Essays on american fiction
Parallels in john steinbecks grapes of wrath and his life
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Caitlin Noyce
Mr. Mead
American Literature
22 September 2015
Grapes Essay In today’s world, symbols, ideas, and even important events add to the importance of our everyday lives. Throughout literature, symbols and images are often used by the authors to add to the novel’s overall significance. The use of these devices is used to emphasize themes and even to provide significance to the greater idea. In John Steinbeck’s novel Grapes of Wrath, the scene towards the end of the novel emphasizes the development of Rose of Sharon’s character from the beginning of the novel to the end of the novel. Additionally, the closing scene of this twentieth century novel serves and represents the idea of a solid family surviving through a tough time. Throughout the duration of the
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In the beginning of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, Rose of Sharon is often seen as perverse and conceited: “she was pleased with herself , and she complained about things that didn’t really matter ”(Steinbeck 129). At this point in the novel, Rose is more or less solely focused on herself and the future addition to her family with her husband, Connie. Although Rose of Sharon is made out to be mostly insensitive until this point, she “lay beside [Granma](145)” and comforted her grandmother following Granpa’s death. Among all of her insensitivity and self-indulgence, Rose of Sharon has a caring moment where she drops what she is doing to care for her Granma. As the amount of tragedies occur within the family, Rose of Sharon gradually becomes more obnoxious and worried regarding
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.”
People just don’t seem to give up, they continue fighting till the very end rather than lay down and succumb to the challenge faced. In “The Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck uses symbolism and religious allusions as unifying devices to illustrate the indomitable nature of the human spirit.
When Rose of Sharon is first introduced in The Grapes of Wrath, we learn that she is expecting a child from her new husband, Connie Rivers. She is described as a mystical being whose primary concern is the well-being of her child, even at the almost ridiculously early stage of her pregnancy at the start of the novel. It is this concern that illustrates Rose of Sharon’s transformation from misfit to Madonna through the Joad’s journey.
Within Steinbeck's story, "Chrysanthemums," the main character, Elisa Allen, is confronted with many instances of conflict. Steinbeck uses chrysanthemums to symbolize this conflict and Elisa's self-worth. By examining these points of conflict and the symbolism presented by the chrysanthemums, the meaning of the story can be better determined.
Another point of controversy lies on The Grapes of Wrath's closing sequence. In this finale, an old man nurses from Rose of Sharon, a young women whose baby was delivered stillborn. Some believe this is pornographic, sexually oriented, and improper, especially for young children. In fact in some states, the sequence is taken out. This sequence may be a vulgar, but it is an essential element to the novel and is in no way pornographic.
The Grapes of Wrath displays one of America’s greatest stumbles during the establishment of our country. The story follows a family hit with the struggles of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Drought, economic hardship, agricultural changes, and bank foreclosures rip the Joads from the quaint town of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, forcing them to take the dreadful journey across the country. Nevertheless, the Joads drag their feet along the trodden path, dragged on by an unassured perseverance. The Joads were driven by a burning fire of desperation, grounded by the hope promised by orange handbills laden with the deceitful lies of the rapacious. For the hopeless seek hope, an elusive destiny sated by lying promises. Steinbeck’s unique style of writing inculcates an abortive hope in the minds of the readers, instilling a lust for the untouched and unloved land which in turn reveals the impossibility of the “American Dream”; through complex symbols and innovative themes, Steinbeck also educates the ignorant, blinded by the vague history books that blot out the full intensity of the calamities and suffering endured by hopeful Okies on their treacherous journey into the unknown.
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.
There are numerous symbols in The Grapes of Wrath that through analysis provide additional levels of insight and understanding into the novel. These symbols enhance the reader’s overall experience and provide a deeper meaning to the novel. They encourage readers to look beyond the surface to identify parallels in the text that foreshadow future events or represent certain ideas that the author is trying to stress. One of the major symbols of the entire book, is Tom himself. He represents the mental attitude experienced by the migrant families throughout the book. Tom accurately represents the hope burning inside of every migrant. As we learn about Tom throughout the novel, we come to know of the murder that he committed. Although it may not have been completely intentional, he is still forced to abandon his family. When he reunites with his family, he is immediately accepted back into their family, and he joins them as they begin to embark on their journey to California. He is with them every step of the way to California on Route 66 and constantly encourages them to persevere even through the difficult times. While in California, history is repeated, and Tom kills yet another man out of anger. He is forced to hide away and is of no use to the family anymore as he can no longer work. Later, he is forced to abandon his family yet again. This all directly correlates to the hope found in every migrant. It all began in Oklahoma, where hope hurt farmers during the Dust Bowl. After the hope had hurt them, it abandoned them. A quote in Chapter 1 of The Grapes of Wrath represents this, “The children stood near by, drawing figures in the dust with bare toes, and the children sent exploring sense out to see whether men and women would break...
John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, uses dehumanized "Okies" and personified cars to aid in the explanation of hardships of making it in a new society and how in order to survive, change must take place. Steinbeck’s novel portrays a family as they struggle in the heartless world. Both the usage of dehumanized workers and personified cars helps portray the deep fear and uncertainty the migrant workers began facing. By using figurative language, Steinbeck captures the general endeavor all the Okies who were unwillingly labeled as one class: scum. Ultimately, each willing family tossed aside their past, surrendering to their new foreign life.
In the short story “The Chrysanthemums” John Steinbeck uses symbolism to reflect the characteristics of his main character Elisa Allen. Elisa, a married woman uncovers her deeply smothered femininity in an inconspicuous sense. Her life in the valley had become limited to housewife duties and the only sustenance that seemed to exist could merely be found in her chrysanthemum garden. Not until she becomes encountered with a remote tinker-man out and about seeking for work, does she begin to reach many of the internal emotions that had long inhibited her femininity. The tinker subtlety engages an interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemum garden that encourages Elisa to react radically. When Elisa realizes that there are other ways to live she attempts to lift the lid off of the Salinas Valley, but unfortunately the tinker’s insincere actions resort Elisa back to her old self and leaves Elisa without any optimism for her hollow breakthrough. Steinbeck’s somber details of the setting, strong description of the chrysanthemums and meaningful illustration of the red flower-pot reveal the distant, natural, ambitions Elisa Allen desired to attain.
Symbolism is one of the oldest and most well-used technique used to give an alternate meaning to something concrete other than its literal interpretation. The author Flannery O’Connor is one that has often used symbols designed to leave a lasting image in her readers’ minds. An expert at drawing the reader to the conclusion that not only was an item a symbol, but that it was an in depth and thought-provoking one, she understood that her work meant something, not only to herself, but her readers. She showcases this talent of hers in the short story “Good Country People.” In this narrative, symbolism is used throughout the story in order to help the reader understand the characters. Each symbol adds something to each person that previously may
In John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath there is a man who is poor due to the dustbowl and he’s traveling to California. He comes across a diner and he asks for a loaf of bread, the waitress working there doesn’t let him have it until the end. The man that asks for the loaf of bread is humble throughout the whole time when he was asking for the bread and Mae was refusing. The man’s insistent and inflexible humility influences Mae’s (the waitress) behavior because Mae felt sympathy towards the man at the end even though she was being rude and sarcastic at the beginning. She was being prejudiced at first but later she felt sympathetic.
Steinbeck challenges the typical character archetypes throughout his literature. Women are not automatically labeled the damsel in destress that need to be saved. Men are not necessarily the Heroes doing the saving either. Rose of Sharon character evolved in many ways, starting off as Star-Crossed lovers with Connie, damsel in distress when he left the family and finally into a mix of Earth Mother and Platonic Ideal when saving a sick man in a barn. Tom Joad assuming the role as hero in the beginning or returning young man but falls into the role of the outcast
In both J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, symbolism is used through the employment of imagery and metaphors. These are utilized to convey universal themes, such as alienation, pressures of conventional expectations, and sexuality. Symbolism is also utilized to portray significant and meaningful messages to the audience.
In the short story by John Steinbeck, The Chrysanthemums, symbolism, allegory and foreshadowing flood the story from start to finish. Steinbeck’s chosen words to describe the setting, plot and conclusion allows readers to evaluate and analyze the story in many ways. The story begins by describing the setting as enclosed, gray and repressive. Elisa Allen is introduced as the central character of the story, onto which the symbolism and allegory mainly affect. As the story develops further, Elisa’s encounter with a Tinker, leads her to “explode those repressed desires,” (Shockett) which have been suppressed by the symbolically “closed pot” (Steinbeck) in which the story takes place. The use of literary techniques