Grapes Of Wrath Narrative Analysis

The Grapes of Wrath and The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, by John Steinbeck and Mary Rowlandson, respectively, are two stories that narrate a journey involving many hardships, such as: death, starvation, poverty, and captivity. The Grapes of Wrath tells the story of the Joad family, who were once a farming family, but were displaced during the great dustbowl and great depression. After the bank took away their land, they decided the promise of plentiful work in California was worth the journey. Along the way many bad things happened, such as the death of Grampa Joad and Granma Joad. Once they reached California, they realized they had been deceived and were unable to find proper work. Mary Rowlandson’s narrative describes the journey she takes when she is kidnapped after the massacre of her settlement, by Native Americans. Many hardships occurred on her journey as well, such as the death of one of her children, and being starved and humiliated by the Indians. Between a white puritan women who was captured by Native Americans, and a large family displaced by drought and economic downfall, both journeys share many common attributes, as well as some interesting differences.
Mary Rowlandson and Tom Joad are the protagonists of The …show more content…
For Mary Rowlandson, the end of her journey involved her making it back home to her husband; additionally, her children also eventually made it back. Mary ended up fine and able to live happily and peacefully. However, the Joad family experienced a much more unfortunate ending, which simply involved stronger family bonds and new outlooks on life for some of the family members. The Joads were never actually able to fix their main issue of getting a stable income. Even after the inspiring and touching final moments of the story, with Rose of Sharon, the Joad family still seems to be stuck in as bad a position as ever,