Tom Joad experiences many struggles in The Grapes of Wrath. Due to his struggles, he undergoes an immense change that causes him from being unconcerned and impassive to being contemplative and expressive. The journey with Casy and his family affects how he achieves success to become a true, strong character. With his responsibility of taking care of the family, he carries great burden and doubtful decisions of leading them to California. Throughout the journey, he faces trials and sufferings that lead him to have an inner conflict with himself in order for his family to have the golden opportunity to live prosperously in the scarce but hopeful land. His moments of feeling helplessness and vulnerability in the position of a deterred migrant, …show more content…
The moment when Casy says, “You don’t know what you’re a-doin,” and the aggressive man, who was afraid of the monster, the fear and the anger boiling into wrath, and the desperation of surviving, hits him in the head and kills him with a white pickhandle (Steinbeck 386). Tom’s companion and closest friend, who shared his thoughts and beliefs and gave him advice, is murdered in front of him. Tom must have been into deep shock that he didn’t notice the men with the aggressive man trying to kill him. After being hit and injured, he hides and goes back to his family in the cabin. He realizes that he needs to leave before someone in the farm finds him. Tom wants to leave since he wants to protect his family and to recollect his thoughts and feelings about Casy’s death. He goes away temporarily only to get into the truck with his family and go to the boxcar camp. At the boxcar camp, Tom is stuck in the same plight as last time at the farm. Using the time of being away from his family, he must have been pondering over what Casy must have thought before he was murdered and why he said his last words. Tom must have put himself in Casy’s shoes to figure out what he meant by the people having one huge soul and how there is no sin and virtue. Contemplating in the dark for a long time, Tom has an epiphany about the Oversoul and how the migrants who are subjected to the monster’s tyranny should unite to overcome the relentless cruelty and oppression. He tells his mother, “I’ll be ever’where—wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there” (Steinbeck 419). From this, Tom recognizes where he stands
John Steinbeck once stated: “If he needs a million acres to make him feel rich, seems to me he needs it 'cause he feels awful poor inside hisself, and if he's poor in hisself, there ain't no million acres gonna make him feel rich, an' maybe he's disappointed that nothin' he can do 'll make him feel rich.” The classic text Grapes of Wrath contains several characters with a considerable amount of depth. Characters like Tom and Ma Joad are usually celebrated for their symbolism and dialogue. I feel as though Grandpa Joad is a highly underrated character in Steinbeck’s text Grapes of Wrath.
Al Joad is a fairly skinny guy of medium built who starts out being a
When times get tough, many people turn away from everyone and everything. It must be part of human nature to adopt an independent attitude when faced with troubles. It is understandable because most people do not want to trouble their loved ones when they are going through problems, so it is easier to turn away than stick together. Maybe their family is going through a rough patch and they reason they would be better off on their own. This path of independence and solitude may not always be the best option for them or their family, though. Often times it is more beneficial for everyone to work through the problem together. It is not always the easiest or most desirable option, but most times it is the most efficient and it will get results in the long run. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck makes this point very clear through several characters. Many characters throughout
In the 1930s, America’s Great Plains experienced a disastrous drought causing thousands of people to migrate west. As their land was devastated by the Dust Bowl, deprived farmers were left with few options but to leave. The Grapes of Wrath depicts the journey of the Joads, an Oklahoma based family which decides to move to California in search of better conditions. Coming together as thirteen people at the start, the Joads will undertake what represents both a challenge and their only hope. Among them are only four women embodying every ages: the Grandma, the Mother and her two daughters, the pregnant Rose of Sharon and the young Ruthie. Appearing in Chapter Eight the mother, who is referred to as “Ma”, holds a decisive role in Steinbeck’s novel. She is, along with her son Tom (the main character of the book), present from the early stage of the story until its very end. We will attempt to trace back her emotional journey (I) as well as to analyze its universal aspects and to deliver an overall impression on the book (II).
or fear." Thus, if Ma acts as if everything is all right, then the family
Character arcs, a primary method of keeping the reader’s emotions tied to the novel and its characters in order to maintain their interest. This method of character development is often implored by writers such as John Steinbeck; this can be observed in his novel The Grapes Of Wrath. An example of such a character arc is Tom Joad’s spiritual and emotional development, as he gradually becomes Jim Casy’s spiritual heir and student. Fully understanding this dramatic development is started by one analyzing three different stages that Tom undergoes throughout his life; starting with his philosophy and actions as a young child, when he finally meets Jim Casy and the acceptance of the new way of thinking, concluded by when he decides to act on the
In conclusion the Grapes of Wrath is a literary masterpiece that portrays the struggles of man as he overcomes the adversity of homelessness, death, and the wrath of prejudice. Steinbeck fully explores each faucet coherently within the boundaries of the Joad family’s trials and
John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath is one of the most influential books in American History, and is considered to be his best work by many. It tells the story of one family’s hardship during the Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. The Joads were a hard-working family with a strong sense of togetherness and morals; they farmed their land and went about their business without bothering anyone. When the big drought came it forced them to sell the land they had lived on since before anyone can remember. Their oldest son, Tom, has been in jail the past four years and returns to find his childhood home abandoned. He learns his family has moved in with his uncle John and decides to travel a short distance to see them. He arrives only to learn they are packing up their belongings and moving to California, someplace where there is a promise of work and food. This sets the Joad family off on a long and arduous journey with one goal: to survive.
In John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, there are many characters who have major influential roles in the overall development of this dark and twisted story. Characters such as Tom Joad, Ma Joad, and Roasasharon Joad are big characters who in some way, shape, or form impact the plot of this novel. Perhaps one of Steinbeck’s most important characters is Jim Casy. This character influences the entire Joad family, but ends up leaving a huge impact on Tom as the end of the story draws near. Steinbeck cleverly describes Jim Casy’s appearance, uses him as a symbolic figure, and gives the Joad family an overwhelming peace.
The plot of Grapes of Wrath follows a simple flowing pattern where every event leads clearly into the next. There are no points in the novel where the reader is taken off track from the main plot of the story. The ending to the novel is neither happy nor unhappy. The Joad family has been largely split apart, however, Tom has decided to take a moral position that could possibly better the lives of many migrant workers. Ma Joad and the rest of the family are forced to leave their newest home because of a horrible rainstorm. But Ma Joad's strength and w...
In literature as in life, people often find that they must make difficult choices in order to survive. The reasons behind their decisions and the results of their subsequent actions affect our opinion of them. In the Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, the author portrayed situations where two main characters became involved. The nature of their choices, the reasons behind their decisions, and the results that followed affected them greatly. However, the choices that they made were surmounted successfully. Ma Joad and Tom Joad are two strong characters who overcame laborious predicaments. Their powerful characteristics helped to encourage those that were struggling.
Throughout history man has made many journeys, both far and wide. Moses’ great march through the Red Sea and Columbus's traversing the Atlantic are examples of only a couple of men’s great voyages. Even today, great journeys are being made. Terry Fox's run across Canada while fighting cancer is one of these such journeys. In every one of these instances people have had to rise above themselves and overcome immense odds, similar to a salmon swimming upstream to full fill it's life line. Intense drive and extreme fortitude are qualities they needed to posses during their travels.
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is a realistic novel that mimics life and offers social commentary too. It offers many windows on real life in midwest America in the 1930s. But it also offers a powerful social commentary, directly in the intercalary chapters and indirectly in the places and people it portrays. Typical of very many, the Joads are driven off the land by far away banks and set out on a journey to California to find a better life. However the journey breaks up the family, their dreams are not realized and their fortunes disappear. What promised to be the land of milk and honey turns to sour grapes. The hopes and dreams of a generation turned to wrath. Steinbeck opens up this catastrophe for public scrutiny.
In the novel The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, a fictitious migrant family, the Joads, travel west in search of a new life away from the tragedies of the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma. Along the way, Steinbeck adds a variety of minor characters with whom the Joads interact. Steinbeck created these minor characters to contrast with the Joad’s strong will power and to reflect man’s fear of new challenges, and to identify man’s resistance to change. Three minor characters who fulfill this role are Muley Graves, Connie Rivers, and the tractor driver.
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work.