The Grapes of Wrath was written about the hardships and struggles foretold about life in the Great Depression. Steinbeck expressed in great detail about the struggles and the reality of living in America at that time. Steinbeck describes the suffering of one family named "The Joads". Steinbeck wrote this piece of work as evidence to show the problems that affected millions of people during this time, which was recurrent throughout the novel.
In the start of The Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad, which is the second oldest son of Papa Joad, has just been released out of prison after four years. When Tom was released from prison, Tom hitchhiked a ride with a man that wasn't supposed to let him ride with.So we got to set here an' just skin her along 'less we want to take a chance of getting fired like I just done with you,” (Steinbeck 9) . The man dropped him off at the road where Tom thought his parents still lived at. As Tom walked down the road, Tom ran into his old preacher, Casy. Then they have a chat and catch up from the lost time, where they hadn’t talked since Tom had gone to prison.
After a long talk, Tom convinced Casy into revisiting his parents’ house, and Casy agreed. As they approach the house, Tom and Casy realize that the house is rough, so they rush in, only to find the house had been abandoned, with hardly anything in the house, but a few possessions of the Joads’ left behind. Most of the items were sentimental to his family and Tom.
When Tom and Casy begin to leave, they notice that there is a person walking down the road. As the man approaches closer, Tom and Casy realize that it’s one of their old friends, Muley Graves. While they finish up talking after catching up, they start talking about what has happened to th...
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...istance away from the last camp, and got his family a place to stay and once again another job, but this time at picking cotton. While all the cotton was almost picked, Tom couldn't work, from the risk of getting seen, so he had to hide. Once the cotton was all picked, Tom had no where to go with his family, and little money to support them.
Later that night, Rose of Sharon was going to have the baby. While the women were trying to save the baby, the men were keeping the flooded waters from drowing them. The efforts made by the men were worthless. The boxcar was flooded and the baby was a still birth.They moved to a nearby barn. Rose of Sharon had to save a dying man, “Rose of Sharon loosened one side of the blanket and bared her breast. "You got to," she said” (Steinbeck, 313).
Works Cited
Steinbeck, John E. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Viking, 1939. Print.
Not in decency, anyways ... Sometimes a fella got to sift the law" (Steinbeck 179). As the seeds of change and defiance began to set in, both Huck and Tom decided to help free people from their bondage. After talking to Casy for the last time, Tom reached a realization that he can be a catalyst to change by bringing all the migrants together. He vows to free the migrants from their unjust treatment and use the festering "grapes of wrath" inside them all to produce their change. "I been thinkin' a hell of a lot, thinkin' about out people livin' like pigs, and the good rich lan' layin' fallow. An' I been wonderin' if all our folks got together an' yelled, like them fellas yelled –" (Steinbeck 536). Tom wants to save the starving kids and migrant workers from the hardships pushed onto them by the unspoken laws that are established to target them. He wants to overcome the legality of the situation by doing what he believes to be morally
This early characterization keeps readers interested in Tom and what he will do throughout the novel due to his intriguing early rebellious behavior and personality. To start analyzing Tom’s life one must start with the earliest mention of him as a child, this being a scene of Tom harassing young girls during his own baptism, ignoring those who tell him to stop. This shows early rebellion and an apt for trying societal rules, revealing that he does not care about the outcome of any situation as long as he is enjoying himself. This is backed up later in his life when Tom gets into a fight at a bar and ultimately kills a man, resulting in him going to jail for multiple years, in which he does not break maintaining sanity revealing his aptitude and strength in his ways of leading his life. This philosophy would follow him through his life, ultimately starting to take a new shape when he would later meet again with the preacher who baptized him, Jim
California in search for a brighter, economic future. The name Joad and the exodus to
When Tom is first introduced in the novel he is returning home from jail to find his family, and even though his family was not at his house he ventured to go locate them. Joade always looked out for his family during the journey out west, he would help take care of his elderly grandparents, the children, and his pregnant sister; even Connie that he had never met before his jail time he protected against any threat. When Connie ran off in the middle of the night, leaving Tom’s sister alone and pregnant, he wanted to chase him down because he had hurt his baby sister. Tom left the instant he knew it would put h...
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.
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.
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.
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,
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".
Tom is good natured and deals with what life throws at him, during the long trip towards work the family has realized the can count on Tom to help protect them. His past isn't going to define his future or change the way he feels about his family. As they arrive to California they get the devastating news that work is sparse and many people are dying of starvation, including Grampa who dies of a stroke. When the major change of losing a family member Tom realizes that life can be gone faster than you think and you see him changing into a more considerate person and a more sentimental person towards others. After they have buried Grampa, Tom comes across a “one eyed mechanic” who he helps fix his touring car. An act that he would probably never do in his past. Steinbeck shows Toms development into a more considerate person as the book
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.
John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath in response to the Great Depression. Steinbeck's intentions were to publicize the movements of a fictional family affected by the Dust Bowl that was forced to move from their homestead. Also a purpose of Steinbeck's was to criticize the hard realities of a dichotomized American society.
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.