The Grapes of Wrath

The killers of the crops and economy, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression carry the hardships of the itinerant farmers, uprooting them West. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck captures the need of strength of the American migrant families to face their depressing reality. Throughout the novel, Tom Joad develops into the speaker for the American movement as he learns the importance of unity through Jim Casy. At the beginning of the novel, Tom Joad represents an individualist, but eventually…

“To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, they did not cut the scarred earth.” The novel of Grapes of Wrath begins with a graphic detail description of the landscape. The land is changing to drought and winds are creating dust bowls. At this time the economy is weak from the devastation of the crops and bankers are being to reclaim their land. Forcing families like the Joads to move westward. The Joads and many other Okis leave behind their home…

The Grapes of Wrath is a classic American novel written by John Steinbeck in 1939. It narrates the lives of American families, specifically the Joads, as they migrate from their homes in the Midwestern US to find work in California. Steinbeck discusses many social issues such as poverty, greed, abuse of power, social pressures, and gender roles, in a naturalist style throughout the novel. This paper will briefly and specifically analyze Steinbeck's commentary in the novel on gender roles and…

homes. John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath was awarded the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for it’s realistic representation of a migrate family being directly affected by the Dust Bowl. In the year 1940, John Ford was celebrated for his interpretation of Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath. By using character archetypes, as well as including mise-en-scene, Ford is able to effectively communicate…

Comparing people to an event or object makes it easy to comprehend the ways those people think, react, and feel. In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, it can be difficult to see the exact perspective of each character unless it is compared with subjects the reader understands. Rose of Sharon’s innocence and fear can easily be explained through comparison. In addition, indicating that her experiences are equivalent to something else makes it easier to make sense of her decisions. Rose of…

These occurrences, which were chronicled in John Steinbeck’s, “The Grapes of Wrath”, showed a considerably altered outcome of this decision than found in his earlier work, “Of Mice and Men”. While “Of Mice and Men”, demonstrated a result in which George and Lennie were able to move around and find work, “The Grapes of Wrath”, told a different story. “The Dust Bowl had drawn more than 300,000 refugees to California during the 1930s. Although California…

millions of migrants not have to suffer?“This Land Was Made for You and Me and Critics, Too” by The Tampa Bay Times highlights the message behind Woodie Guthrie’s song “This Land Is Your Land”, presenting the song’s communist sympathetic lyrics. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck exhibits anti-capitalist sentiments as a main theme of the novel. These works and the authors behind them both strive to depict the struggles of the common people in…

Perpetuating on through to chapter twelve depicts the movement of the migrants on Highway 66 as they traveled westwards to California (Steinbeck 117-122). In Chapter thirteen, the Joads are visually perceived traveling on Route 66 and spending the first night of their journey. Along the way, Grampa dies of a stroke and is buried by the roadside. Tom and Al repair the Wilson's car, and the two families decide to continue their travels together (Steinbeck 123-149). Chapter fourteen outlines the…

in particular human experience some significant symbolism of man's general destiny” (Lascelles Abercrombie). Symbolism is the use of an idea or object to represent a different idea. John Steinbeck employs the use of symbolism in his book, “The Grapes of Wrath” in many different ways, through the old turtle featured in chapter 3, a character in the novel, Jim Casy, the dog getting run over by the car, and Rose of Sharon’s pregnancy. One of the first symbols Steinbeck employs is in an…

circa 1920, and Mark Twain wrote his novels using the same settings as what he was accustomed to in Mississippi. John Steinbeck also fits into this statement, as he was influenced by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl to write his novel, The Grapes of Wrath. The Great Depression devastated the lives of millions of Americans throughout the 1930s. The American Depression officially began October 29th, 1929, with the collapse of the United States stock market. This single event put an end to…