The Grapes of Wrath Film and Novel Evaluation

592 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: 500 words papers on the grapes of wrath movie vs book

1. Who wrote the novel and who directed the film?
In 1939, John Ernest Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath. Born in Salinas, California on February 27, 1902, Steinbeck came from a family of “modest” means. John Steinbeck Sr. held multiple jobs, while Olive Steinbeck was a schoolteacher. Passing on a love of reading and writing to her son, from the age of 14 Steinbeck wanted to be a writer. After graduating high school, Steinbeck enrolled at Stanford in 1919; however, by 1925 he left college without receiving a degree. After a brief stay in New York, Steinbeck returned to California where he released his first novel Cup of Gold (1929). Many more novels were published including his first real success Tortilla Flats (1935), followed by Of Mice and Men (1937), and his most renowned work The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Written only a few years after the height of the Great Depression, the novel won Steinbeck a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1940, for portraying the hardships faced by migrant workers in California. The Second World War led Steinbeck to the New York Herald Tribune as a war correspondent. Finally in 1962, a few short years before Steinbeck would die of heart disease, he received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
John Ford, born John Martin Feeney, is hailed as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. Fords parents, John and Barbara Feeney, were Irish immigrants and John was one of 11 children. Born on February 1, 1894 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Ford followed his one of his older brothers to Hollywood. He began his career as a stagehand and would later direct his first film The Tornado. Directing over 140 films, Ford is best known for his Westerns, but he is also the famed director of the film adaptation of John S...

... middle of paper ...

...le the film transformed them into the individual. Another difference between the film and novel is the ending. Steinbeck’s unusual, yet memorable ending was not put in the movie, (but that is perfectly fine.) Even with important pieces of the novel missing, Ford did an amazing job bring the message of the novel to life. For a film made almost 75 years ago the movie translates beautifully to modern viewers. The film stays faithful to the novel, and goes one step farther to give the readers the visual representation of the story, and allows them to see the world with the same perspective as those that lived it.

Works Cited

“John Ford.” Biography.com. A E Networks, n.d. Web. 18 Feb 2014.
“John Steinbeck.” Biography.com. A E Networks, n.d. Web. 19 Feb 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes Of Wrath'

    1845 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Grapes Of Wrath Compare And Contrast Essay

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Grapes of Wrath

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    California in search for a brighter, economic future. The name Joad and the exodus to

    Read More

  • Grapes of Wrath

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men and the 1939 Film Version of the Novel

    2197 Words  | 5 Pages

    The main one being that the novel has left the reader to make up their own mind. about the characters in their own time but the film has a limited amount of time to do this, introducing the characters quickly and. getting straight to the story. Also, the book was written by Steinbeck. but the film was not produced by him, therefore we are seeing two interpretations of the novel, he said.

    Read More

  • Loyalty and Sacrifice in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Steinbeck was born in 1902, in California's Salinas Valley, a region that would eventually serve as the setting for Of Mice and Men, as well as many of his other works. He studied literature and writing at Stanford University. He then moved to New York City and worked as a laborer and journalist for five years, until he completed his first novel in 1929, Cup of Gold. With the publication of Tortilla Flat in 1935, Steinbeck achieved fame and became a popular author.  He wrote many novels about the California laboring class.  Two of his more famous novels included Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.  Steinbeck got the title for Of Mice and Men from a line of Robert Burns, a Scottish poet, “The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry."  In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck includes the theme of loyalty and sacrifice between friends.  Steinbeck illustrates the loyalty and sacrifice between friends through the friendship of Lennie and George.

    Read More

  • Grapes Of Wrath

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Grapes of Wrath

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    Because of the devastating disaster of the dust bowl, the Joad family was forced to leave their long-time home and find work and a new life elsewhere. They, like many other families, moved to California. "The land of milk and honey". The people in the dust bowl imagined California as a haven of jobs where they would have a nice little white house and as much fruit as they could eat. This dream was far from the reality the migrant farmers faced once in California. The dreams, hopes, and expectations the Joads had of California were crushed by the reality of the actual situation in this land of hate and prejudice.

    Read More

  • East Of Eden

    1559 Words  | 4 Pages

    In addition to East of Eden, Steinbeck produced many other novels and several volumes of short fiction in his early career. Most of Steinbeck’s novels and stories are set in the Salinas Valley in California where he spent most of his life. Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, Grapes of Wrath which makes him best known. According to John Timmerman, ”Grapes of Wrath studies the problems migrant workers encountered while traveling from Oklahoma to California.” (1) Steinbeck wrote eighteen books through his life span. Some of his novels included Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, The Moon is Down, The Red Pony, and many others. Of Mice and Men gained Steinbeck national recognition. Saint Katy the Virgin, Nothing So Monstrous, The Long Valley, How Edith McGillcuddy, and The Crapshooter are Steinbeck’s volumes of short stories.

    Read More

  • John Ford

    2837 Words  | 6 Pages

    Throughout his career, which spanned nearly fifty years, he worked for such studios as Universal, Fox Film Corporation, RKO, United Artists, 20th Century Fox, Republic Pictures, and Warner Brothers. John Ford was born to Irish immigrants on February 1, 1894 or 1895, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. His birth name was Sean Aloysius O’Fearna (Feeney). He changed his name when he began his career in the film industry. John’s brother, Frances Ford, took him under his wing and showed him the ropes.

    Read More

  • The Grapes of Wrath Novel Review

    602 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Glass Castle And The Grapes Of Wrath

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oftentimes, life is a treacherous and unforgiving place; coincidentally the underlying message of both “The Glass Castle” and “The Grapes of Wrath.” These texts include a series of challenges to the lives of two very different families in unique time periods. In order to survive, these families must overcome the challenges of addiction, poverty, and disparity in their own ways. Steinbeck’s, “The Grapes of Wrath,” details the lives of the Joads, Oklahoma farmers in the Great Depression of the 1930s; who travel west in search of a better life. A sense of community unifies the families and keeps the Joads together as a whole. Walls’s memoir “The Glass Castle,” tells of the highly unstable and nomadic life of protagonist Jeannette through the early stages of her life. The Walls children manage to prosper in their own individual ways, stemming from decades of suffering and adversity. The Joads and Walls’s alike share characteristics that help them get

    Read More

  • Intercalary Themes In 'The Grapes Of Wrath'

    354 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters to provide background for the various themes of the novel, as well to set the tone of the novel".

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast Of Mice and Men Movie and Book

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...rtrayed differently in the movie. Lennie is shown as being very mentally challenged, whereas in the book he is just a little slow and has a mind of a young child. Although some changes are made in the movie to make it flow better, it is still based on the same story as the book. The movie has the same plot line and characters, and some of the scenes are told in the exact same way as they are in the novel. As well, the movie and the book give out the same themes. This story is about how all the people in the Great Depression were trying to escape their unhappy, lonely lives, but weren’t capable of doing so. The movie stays very true to the book even though some things are removed or added. Everything that is added or changed still works very well and captures the film perfectly.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck and To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

    1318 Words  | 3 Pages

    “And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quicklime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is a failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath” (Steinbeck 349). John Steinbeck, the author of The Grapes of Wrath, portrays the migrant’s resentment of the California land owners and their way of life and illustrates that the vagrants from Oklahoma are yearning for labor, provisions, and human decency. Similarly in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee elucidates the concept that people should be treated with inclusive human dignity and be affected by good aspects rather than deleterious behavior. In addition to both novels, “Suffering with Them”, “Evil’s Fate”, and “To Hope” share the same concurrent theme. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Grapes of Wrath and “Suffering with Them”, “Evil’s Fate”, and “To Hope” illustrate a synonymous, thematic message that evil’s inhumanity, during corrupt times, induces a perception of hopefulness for good to conquer immorality.

    Read More

More about The Grapes of Wrath Film and Novel Evaluation

Open Document