Comparing The Grapes of Wrath and The Power of One
"Two heads are better than one," it's always been said. But is another person always valuable, or can extra baggage keep an individual from achieving his goals? Both sides can be argued effectively, and both may be true depending on the circumstances. Two historical novels, The Grapes of Wrath and The Power of One, show how two sets of characters took different routes to achieve their goals and how they fared along the way. In The Grapes of Wrath, The Joads, a family of penniless migrant workers, travel to California to look for work, depending on the help of assorted strangers along the way, while The Power of One tells the story of Peekay, a young South African boy growing up alone in a hostile world bent on destroying his chances of success. The books portray very different views on life that are equally valid and convincing; while The Grapes of Wrath is a tale that emphasizes the power that can be achieved in numbers and the consequences of trying to survive alone, The Power of One is a testimony to the things one person can achieve when he is forced to depend on and trust in himself only.
The Joads, after they are forced to vacate their farm in Oklahoma, decide to pack all of their belongings and make the voyage to California, where there is supposedly so much work that everyone can make a living. But along the way, they quickly run into trouble. They have little money, an unreliable vehicle, a truckload of people to feed, and miles to go before they reach their destination. The Joads quickly discover something that becomes a major theme throughout the book: cooperating with others to achieve a common goal is sometimes necessary for surviva...
... middle of paper ...
...ss birds banished, their rocky nests turned to river stones"(513;Ch. 24)
Each of these novels, although powerful and influential in its own right, contrasts the other greatly in terms of theme. The Joads in The Grapes of Wrath had to rely on others to obtain their goal, while Peekay in The Power of One struggled to find his way in life completely alone. Though each book is very different from the other, each is an emotional story of life's obstacles and the tremendous human spirit, whether combined or individual, that it takes to overcome them.
Sources
Courtenay, Bryce. The Power of One. New York: Random House, 1989
Levant, Howard. "The Fully Matured Art: The Grapes of Wrath." John Steinbeck, Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 35-62.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 1978.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath, The Moon is Down, Cannery Row, East of Eden, Of Mice and Men. New York: Heinemann/Octopus, 1979. pp.475 - 896.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck had many comparisons from the movie and the book. In 1939, this story was to have some of the readers against the ones that kept the American people in poverty held responsible for their actions. This unique story was about the Joad’s family, who were migrant workers looking for a good decent job. They were also farmers from Oklahoma that are now striving to find some good work and success for their family in California. This novel was one of Steinbeck’s best work he has ever done. It was in fact an Academy Award movie in 1940. Both the movie and the novel are one of Steinbeck’s greatest masterpieces on both the filmmaking and the novel writing. Both the novel and film are mainly the same in the beginning of the story and towards the end. There were some few main points that Steinbeck took out from the book and didn’t mention them in the movie. “The Grapes of Wrath is a
John Steinbeck’s novels The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men reveal and confront the struggles of common individuals in their day-to-day lives. The Grapes of Wrath creates a greater verisimilitude than Of Mice and Men as it illustrates the lives of Oklahoma farmers driven west during the Dustbowl of the late 1930’s. Of Mice and Men deals with a more personal account of two poor men and the tragic ending of their relationship. Steinbeck expresses his concern for multiple social issues in both The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Tightly-knit relationships appear prominently in both books and provide the majority of the conflicts that occur. The decency of common people is written about to a great extent in The Grapes of Wrath and is also prevalent through numerous examples in Of Mice and Men. As in all effective writing that bares the soul of the author, each novel reveals Steinbeck’s core beliefs.
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
Grapes of Wrath. In the beginning of the novel The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads are faced with the challenge of traveling Route 66 all the way to California. This is their solution to being tractored off their land and having no way to support the large family. This challenge is similar to the depression of 1929, when many people lost their jobs, homes, and their whole lives.
Tom Joad eventually realizes the fact that “his people are all people” (Steinbeck 393), and that he has created one big family that will protect each other. With the realization that the biological family now has no meaning as a migrant farmer, the Joad’s are able to rely on their family, which is forged through loyalty and commitment, to get through harsh times. This big family, made up of the many migrants, is able to come together and rule themselves on the notion of fairness and equality, which makes it easier for these family members to rely on others for support to get through hard times. This is seen in the migrant communities, “were all the families shared the loss of their homes and they all shared the dream of going west and making a sustainable living.” (Steinbeck 342).
in The Grapes of Wrath that there is no one man, but one common soul in
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel written by John Steinbeck, which focuses on an Oklahoman family that is evicted from their farm during an era of depression caused by the Dust Bowl. The Joad family alongside thousands of other refugees (also affected by the dirty thirties) migrates west towards California seeking employment and a new home. John Steinbeck’s purpose for writing this novel was to inform his audience of how many of their fellow Americans were being mistreated and of the tribulations they faced in order to attain regain what they once had. As a result, The Grapes of Wrath triggered its audience’s sympathy for the plight of the Dust Bowl farmers and their families.
The tale of The Grapes of Wrath has many levels of profound themes and meanings to allow us as the reader to discover the true nature of human existence. The author's main theme and doctrine of this story is that of survival through unity. While seeming hopeful at times, this book is more severe, blunt, and cold in its portrayl of the human spirit. Steinbeck's unique style of writing forms timeless and classic themes that can be experienced on different fronts by unique peoples and cultures of all generations.
act or omission. It is also not clear, if the test is that there had
The narrative only tells the story of Tom Joad’s family. Without the intercalary chapters, we would not get to learn about other situations. A perfect example of this is chapter fifteen, in which Steinbeck incorporates a few different scenarios. First off, he explains an incident where a lady was crashed into by a reckless driver. “Drove like he’s blin’ drunk. Jesus, the air was full a bed clothes an’ chickens an’ kids. Killed one kid. Never seen such a mess” (Steinbeck 215). This shows that not every person’s story about moving westward had a happy ending, and not every story was the same as the family of Tom Joad. In this chapter, we also see different people’s money situation. There was a lot of negotiating done in order for people to get what they not only want, but need. This added to the narrative about Tom Joad’s
In the Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad learns a valuable lesson from the long trip with his family. Living in poverty taught Tom how poorly people in the United States were living and how it should not continue. His friend Casy started to lead a revolution and unfortunately died in front of Tom. This inspired him to do something similar, considering he could not stay with his family. Inspired by the words and actions of his friend Casy, Tom decides to start a revolution and fight for better living conditions, even if it leads to his death.
In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck illustrates the Joad’s endurance by his use of extended metaphors in intercalary chapters. Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters to provide background for the various themes in the novel. He effectively foreshadows upcoming events by telling of the general state of the local population in the intercalary chapters. He then narrows it down to how it effects the main characters of the novel, which are the Joads. Setting the tone of the novel in the reader’s mind is another function of Steinbeck's intercalary chapters.
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.
One of the big hoops one faces in the business of Small Business Operation is creating and presenting a business ...