Grapes of Wrath Essay
The Grapes of Wrath is a story of the Joad family during the Dust bowl, and about their journey to California in search of work. Throughout the book, you see how the characters treat one another in hard times, and how it effects them. Dehumanization and brutality plays a huge part throughout the story and it shapes the way the characters act, feel, and say.
The Joads are from Oklahoma, and are referred to as "Okies". It was originally used to describe people, but it soon becomes a hateful word, spoken with spite and bitterness. In Chapter 18, Ma Joad learns that the being an Okie isn't a good thing to be anymore. "The man took two steps backwards. "Well, you ain't in your country now. You're in California, an' we don’t …show more content…
In Chapter 13, the Joads stop for gas at a gas station along the way, and Tom and the owner do not get along very well. "Need some gas, mister." "Got any money?" "Sure. Think we're beggin'?" The truculence left the fat man's face "Well, that’s all right, folks. He'p yourself to water." And he hastened to explain. "Road is full a people, come in, dirty up the toilet, an' then, by God, they'll steal stuff an' don't buy nothin' Got no money to buy with. Come beggin' a gallon gas to move on." Tom dropped angrily to the ground and moved toward te fat man. "We're payin' our way," he said fiercely. "Yu got no call to give us a goin'-over. We aint' asked you for nothin'." (126) The gas station attendant’s assumption that the Joads have come to beg deeply offends Tom, showing that Oklahoman migrants are determined to remain self-sufficient and don’t take kindly to being disrespected. In Chapter 26 the Joads drive past a police blockade and protesting groups of migrants. "These here is our own people, all of 'em," Tom said. "I don’ like this." Suddenly the leading policeman turned off the road into a wide graveled entrance. The old car whipped after them. The motorcycles roared their motors. Tom saw a line of men standing in the ditch beside the road, saw their mouths open as though they were yelling, saw their shaking fists and furious faces." (368) The Joads are strike-breakers, working against the efforts of their own people, and they are not proud of their actions. But they are living in poverty and though they are fighting to stay alive and working long hours, are hardly compensated for their
The Grapes of Wrath is a story of the Joad family during the Dust bowl, and about their journey to California in search of work. Throughout the book, you see how the characters treat one another in hard times, and how it effects them. Dehumanization and brutality plays a huge part throughout the story and it shapes the way the characters act, feel, and say.
The Joads are from Oklahoma, and are referred to as "Okies". It was originally used to describe people, but it soon becomes a hateful word, spoken with spite and bitterness. In Chapter 18, Ma Joad learns that the being an Okie isn't a good thing to be anymore. "The man took two steps backwards. "Well, you ain't in your country now. You're in California, an' we don’t …show more content…
In Chapter 13, the Joads stop for gas at a gas station along the way, and Tom and the owner do not get along very well. "Need some gas, mister." "Got any money?" "Sure. Think we're beggin'?" The truculence left the fat man's face "Well, that’s all right, folks. He'p yourself to water." And he hastened to explain. "Road is full a people, come in, dirty up the toilet, an' then, by God, they'll steal stuff an' don't buy nothin' Got no money to buy with. Come beggin' a gallon gas to move on." Tom dropped angrily to the ground and moved toward te fat man. "We're payin' our way," he said fiercely. "Yu got no call to give us a goin'-over. We aint' asked you for nothin'." (126) The gas station attendant’s assumption that the Joads have come to beg deeply offends Tom, showing that Oklahoman migrants are determined to remain self-sufficient and don’t take kindly to being disrespected. In Chapter 26 the Joads drive past a police blockade and protesting groups of migrants. "These here is our own people, all of 'em," Tom said. "I don’ like this." Suddenly the leading policeman turned off the road into a wide graveled entrance. The old car whipped after them. The motorcycles roared their motors. Tom saw a line of men standing in the ditch beside the road, saw their mouths open as though they were yelling, saw their shaking fists and furious faces." (368) The Joads are strike-breakers, working against the efforts of their own people, and they are not proud of their actions. But they are living in poverty and though they are fighting to stay alive and working long hours, are hardly compensated for their