Themes In John Steinbeck's The Grapes Of Wrath

I think some of the themes John Steinbeck tried to incorporate in his novel The Grapes of Wrath, were adversity, determination, and change. He portrayed the common American family during the early 20th century, as the “Joad” family. The Joads were forced to make big changes and sacrifices in their lives; including moving from their home of decades, to California, which offered many new job opportunities.

The Joads were a happy, middle class family; who lived in a small town in Oklahoma named Sallisaw. The main character in the story was Tom Joad. Tom just recently got out of prison and made his way across the state to get to his home with his family, which include: Ma, Pa Joad, Grama, Grandpa, Roseofsharon, and Connie. After Tom gets roughly halfway to his house he sees a turtle walking across the desert, trying to get to its home. We later in the story put two and two together, that the turtle represents the determination that the Joad family has to be successful in their lives, and to live the “American Dream.” As Tom …show more content…
When a person loses someone or something they truly care about, and almost live for, they start to give up; they stop taking care of themselves and eventually they die of cardiac arrest, or strokes. Grandpa died of a stroke, after being forced to leave his home; which if you really think about it, with the way John Steinbeck is able to show emotion in his characters, the way that they are able to speak and communicate with each other helps show us that Grandpa truly was sad, regretful, and possibly even depressed. Whether Grandpa died of a stroke or of heartbreak, leaving Oklahoma to go to California truly killed him on the inside, and I don’t think Grandpa was able to cope with the loss of his once fertile and beloved land. Most people at the time of the Great Depression were used to adversity, but grandpa just couldn’t seem to handle the change of leaving the only lifestyle he’s ever