Pride In The Grapes Of Wrath, By Richard Baldwin

Baldwin focuses on many recurring themes to create a certain culture and viewpoints towards some of the main characters and towards Christianity itself. For example, Baldwin keeps focusing on the theme of pride and its importance to the overall plot line of the novel. Pride can be seen very easily in the characters, but can be seen very subtle when it comes to focusing on Christianity. For example, I believe that out of all the characters found in the novel, pride most effects Gabriel and his relationships to the members of his family. Gabriel throughout the whole novel conveys a sense of self-pride in what he does and his connection to God. For example, Gabriel believes that he was sent by God to save Deborah by marrying her and to create a royal line of children that will follow in Gabriel’s footsteps when it comes to teaching the way of the Lord (Baldwin, 123 and 161). …show more content…
Gabriel's pride also affects his connection to the Lord because he believes that the Lord has forgiven him even though Baldwin hints at the fact that Gabriel has not been forgiven for the death of Esther and Royal. In the last chapter, Florence explains to Gabriel that the Lord is not a man like him and Gabriel cannot fool him into forgiving him (Baldwin, 251). Gabriel’s pride has once again steered him into believing that he is above all else and his sin is less than those around him. This recurring theme of pride also conveys through Gabriel that Christianity is very prideful and can sometimes push followers into a wrong teaching or