Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
John steinbeck writing style in the grapes of wrath
The grapes of wrath book review for essay writing
Grapes of wrath summary
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: John steinbeck writing style in the grapes of wrath
A Critical Review of: John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck wrote this book in the hopes that people would be able to see what was happening to our nation’s people. He wanted to open their eyes to see the hardships that migrants faced everyday and he accomplished this through the telling of the Joad’s family story. Starting with the day that their ex-convict son comes home on parole, the lives of the Joad’s never really go back to normal. After being evicted from their property by the bank, the whole family packs up and goes the only way they can…West. Their plight involves beginning a new life by casting away the methods of the past and being able to endure the misfortunes that life throws at them. Of course their progress is hampered by an unreliable truck and by the “quest for the dollar'; that all migrants had. Through their journey to find work and settle down, the Joad’s encounter many calamities that test their relationship as a family and their own limits as individuals. As in real life, not everyone succeeds with his or her goals, and this story of hardship is no different.
In the beginning of the book we get an early look at Steinbeck’s ideals when Muley Graves says,“…if a fella’s got somepin to eat an’ another fella’s hungry—why, the first fella ain’t got no choice.'; This is something that was very true back in the past and something that most people lived by. Families could not see people starve to death when they had food to eat themselves. Although they might be starting a new life, the ideals don’t change because that is what makes an individual unique.
Uncle John Joad said, “Go down an’ tell ‘em. Go down in the street an’ rot an’ tell ‘em that way.';
Steinbeck’s writing style, as always, is rich with colorful language and sensual images. His pages are filled with lines such as, “The dust-filled air muffled sound more completely than fog does,'; and all sorts of literary elements from similes to personifications. There is one thing that a reader will never get with The Grapes of Wrath and that is bored because of how descriptive the settings are. The passages of nature are especially vibrant and it would be those that you could imagine very easily because of the picture he paints. The dialogue of the book is unique in that it is written the way it was spoken in the past.
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
Steinbeck meets his standard by celebrating the migrant workers’ drive and sense of community in the face of the Great Depression. The Joad family and many others, are dedicated to conquering all odds: “[t]hus they changed their social life–changed as in the whole universe only man can change” (Steinbeck 196). There are no other options available for these tenant families than to take the trek to California in hopes of finding work. The fears they once had about droughts and floods now lingered with
Throughout the novel, The Grapes of Wrath there are intercalary chapters. The purpose of these chapters are to give the readers insight and background on the setting, time, place and even history of the novel. They help blend the themes, symbols, motifs of the novel, such as the saving power of family and fellowship, man’s inhumanity to man, and even the multiplying effects of selfishness. These chapters show the social and economic crisis flooding the nation at the time, and the plight of the American farmer becoming difficult. The contrast between these chapters helps readers look at not just the storyline of the Joad family, but farmers during the time and also the condition of America during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck uses these chapters to show that the story is not only limited to the Joad family,
An important point that Steinbeck tries to deliver is the significance of memory. “The bitterness we sold to the junk man—he got it all right, but we have it still.” Despite having rid themselves of the physical presence of reminders of past woes, the mental image and pain still remain. Just because there isn’t anything around to provide evidence of something happening doesn’t mean that it will go away. “You and me—why, we’re all that’s been,” he wrote—people are defined by their experiences as memories, not by what is around them. One’s character is shaped from within, by his mind and his thoughts, not what he surrounds himself with in the external world.
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 wrote a book, The Grapes of Wrath, which would change forever the way Americans, thought about their social classes and even their own families. The novel was completed in 1938 and then published in 1939. When this novel was released the critics saw it as being very controversial. Some critics called it a master piece, while others called it pornography. Steinbeck's attack of the upper-class and the readers' inability to distinguish the fictitiousness of the book often left his readers disgruntled. The time period in which this book was written was the 1930's while there was a horrible drought going on in the Oklahoma pan handle and during the Great Depression. Thousands of Oklahoma families were forced off their land because of their failure to farm and as a result they were unable to pay their bills so the banks were foreclosing on their houses. This resulted in a huge population of people all migrating west to California, because they were promised work by big fruit plantations. Unfortunately, when this mass of people showed up the jobs with high wages advertised on the pamphlets were not there. This left them homeless and in deep poverty with no where to go. The families would stay in California though either in hoovervilles or government camps. Steinbeck brings you along with the Joads on their journey to California. Although Steinbeck shows some comparisons between the Joads and the greater migrant community, the Joads do not serve as a microcosm of that culture because they differ in regards to leadership of the family and also the Joads' willingness to give to anyone.
In The Grapes of Wrath, Stienbeck illustrates such powerful images using his own values. When the Joad family starts deciding to move to California for a better life, the story begins. Tom comes home from prison and the family is reunited. The hopes of all are refreshed and the move seems to be a good idea. And here we have one of Steinbecks greatest value, the family or the group, and the ties that lie within it. This value is seen through many different examples in this novel.
In the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck the author uses excessive profanity, religion, and migrants to show the hard times family’s had to go through in the 1930’s. Most people believe that Steinbeck novel is too inappropriate for high school students because of its content. This novel should be banned from the high school curriculum.
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.
From a more romantic perspective one might be inclined to say the main theme behind this story is choices made by man as a unit when obstacles and circumstances arise, perhaps perseverance through hardship. But this book rarely displays romantic or idealistic interactions among the characters or moments in the plot. Although there is one example of slight romantisicm at end, the book for the most part is an excellent illustration of naturalism in a piece of literature. To shine this main theme under a naturalistic light, the reader must be allowed to examine the deep psychological, emotional and physical connection between man and his land so often demonstrated and greatly emphaisized throughout the book. The cliffsnotes state that this connection is a basic fundament to the Jeffersonian agrarian theory. A great example of when Steinbeck incorporates this philosophy is when the representatives of the bank are telling the tenant farmers that they need to get off the land. They feel that since they lived and died on the land, it is rightfully theirs. "Funny thing how it is. If a man owns a little property, that property is in him, it's part of him, and it's like him (37)." Since the bond between the farmer and his property is so strong, once it is broken the people loose their self-respect, dignity, and meaning. Steinbeck uses this idea to foreshadow and help explain the events of Grandpa's death and to further drive the ideas Casy preaches. Casy suggests at the funeral that Granpa died the moment he was torn from his land. He also speculates that only if the band together and make sacrifices for the unit, the Joads and the Wilsons can they survive. "We on'y got a hundred an' fifty dollars. They take forty to bury Grampa an' we won't get to California (140)." They decide that for the family the best thing to do is to bury him on the road.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is considered a classic novel by many in the literary field. The trials and tribulations of the Joad family and other migrants is told throughout this novel. In order to gain a perspective into the lives of "Oakies", Steinbeck uses themes and language of the troubling times of the Great Depression. Some of these aspects are critiqued because of their vulgarity and adult nature. In some places, The Grapes of Wrath has been edited or banned. These challenges undermine Steinbeck's attempts to add reality to the novel and are unjustified.
The Grapes of Wrath is set in the horrible stage of our American history, the Depression. Economic, social, and historical surroundings separate the common man of America into basically the rich and poor. A basic theme is that man turns against one another in a selfish pride to only protect themselves. For example, the landowners create a system in which migrants are treated like animals and pushed along from one roadside camp to the next. They are denied decent wages and forced to turn against their fellow scramblers to simply survive.
Steinbeck’s novel demonstrates the value of members in a society to work in unison to achieve a common goal. Without each other, the Joads will have no way of coping with the loss of their land in Oklahoma and reach their destination in California. Unity as a family is the only option they have to endure this hopeless calamity. In addition, the collapse of the family results in their initial purpose and intention to fall apart. The Great Depression was an era that was detrimental to many individuals. It affected farmers drastically as it forced them to look for work elsewhere in the country. Regardless of how severe conditions were, many remained sanguine in anticipation of a brighter tomorrow.
In The Grapes of Wrath the chapters go off from vignettes to regular chapters. The vignettes describe how the dust bowl and the workers migrating to California affect other people and surroundings. They also foreshadow the events of the Joads and migrant workers on their journey. In chapter 3, Steinbeck describes a turtle crossing a road and getting hit by a car. “And over the grass at the roadside a land turtle crawled…at last he started to climb the embankment…the driver saw the turtle and swerved to hit it,” (Steinbeck, 20-22). In later chapters, Steinbeck describes the turtle as he gets picked up by Tom Joad and tries to sneakily crawl away. The turtle represents the migrant workers and their journey to California through determination, hardships, and feeling out of place.
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.