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Recommended: Life
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
-Movie Review-
FROM A TRIBUNE MOVIE CRITIC VIEW POINT
People today realize that individualism in our time, of the Great Depression, doesn't work. The stock market is plunging; people are losing their jobs, money, and homes. The most well known people suffering through these hard times are the Okies. Okies come from Oklahoma, the major home of the Dust Bowl. The Okies continue to flock to the land of promise, California. Their motive is to find work and better living conditions. These independent minded individuals are struggling to take care of themselves during these hardships, hoping that with the help of government, things will improve.
The perfect examples of individualism verses community can be found in John Stinebeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath" and the new film presented by John Ford. Although the basic stories deal with the same issues, they also are different.
In the film, Ford's main character, Tom Joad, played by Henry Fonda, is a man just released from prison who finds his former life style as a simple farmer, has been turned upside down by depression, natural geological disaster, and economic changes. His views on life are manipulated by his prior society. Tom encounters a former preacher in the field of his hometown. The preacher, Casey, has lost his job, hope, and faith. Another character is Muley Graves, who was stubborn to stay on his lost land instead of moving west with his family. Muley informs Tom and Casey about the eviction of the Joad family and their staying on Uncle John's farm, soon to be taken over as well. Since the Joad family is forced to desert their land and now lost all their belongings, they start heading west. After the Joads arrive to California, they encounter several camps. Each camp differs from one another based on the living conditions; the government camps purvey a much healthier and comfortable existence than the non-government-funded camps.
The Joad family serves as an example of the many other migrant families who are pushed off their Dust Bowl farmland, and are forced to move out west, seeking better job opportunities. While struggling under the stress of hardship, all these families are trying to keep unity between their family members, as well as to overcome the oppression by large landowners. Although some lost hope, others continue the fight against the Great Depression that keeps them going.
In "The Grapes of Wrath", the realistic demonstration of the living conditions of our financial crisis by the actors is impressive.
Steinbeck strikes at the fear in every man’s soul, with his portrayal of the poverty stricken life of the Joads as they travel from one stage of abandonment and what would seem like a helpless state to a journey of enduring perseverance. The Joads, Steinbeck’s creation in the Novel Grapes of Wrath is a large close-knit family living in Oklahoma during the “Dust Bowl” era. Steinbeck documents their journey beginning with their homelessness due to the crop failures to them surviving in a box car at the end of their journey. I think Steinbeck’ intention is to illustrate to the reader that being poor doesn’t always equate with being helpless. The Joads demonstrate this by their resilience to overcome homelessness, death, and prejudice.
California in search for a brighter, economic future. The name Joad and the exodus to
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.
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 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.
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.
Okies Vs. Californians The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, is a novel depicting the Okies migration to California during the period in history known as The Dustbowl. In this novel, Steinbeck attempts to display the tensions between the Okies and the Californians. This display can be closely compared to today’s tensions between citizens born in the US and the immigrants. Great pieces of literature are timeless in the lessons they teach and the controversy they portray.
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.
On the way to California, the Joad's encountered other people that had already been to California and were now returning. One of these encounters, with the ragged man with the sunburned face, is described on page 242. The ragged man had children that died because wages were too low and work was too scarce to afford food for his children and wife. His story was one of pain and despair and was evidence of the cruel and inhumane treatment which resulted from the California farmers prejudice towards the migrant workers.
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".
The first and most obvious conflict the Joad family faces in the beginning of the novel is the ongoing struggle with nature. Beginning the novel is a description of the "Dust Bowl" and the families trying to work the land and make a living. The Joad family's home and land is taken away because they cannot grow any crop during the drought and are forced from their home by the bank. This is when they decide to move west to California and find work and a better life there.
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 Joad family members were facing hardships from the beginning. Before the journey, Tom Joad had been in prison and that was a downer to everyone. In the scenes of overcoming this problem, Tom was released and his family was so excited and full of joy to see him. Before they could celebrate too much, they found themselves having to leave the land that most of them were born on, raised on and labored for. They decided that as shady as it was to be forced off their own land, the drought had shattered any hopes of prospering from it anyway. With the hope of a better life out in California and a flyer that said pickers needed, they set out for the proclaimed promised land.
...ays build character. Another common American value established in this book is loyalty. Tom Joad remains loyal to his family and helps them through many of their struggles. Jim Casy continues to be devoted to the Joad family as they make their journey across the country to California. He even gives his life for those that he is organizing into unions. This is a sacrifice similar to that of Jesus Christ, with whom he shares initials with. A shift in social structure occurs among the migrant workers. They realize that they share the same burdens and dreams and unite. When they set up camps together, they support each other and try to share their supplies. “In the evening a strange thing happened: the twenty families became on family, the children were the children of all. The loss of home became one loss, and the golden time in the West became one dream.” (pg 193)