Dialectical Journal For The Grapes Of Wrath

1. The Grapes of Wrath was written by John Steinbeck and is historical fiction.
2. Tom Joad who has recently been released from prison for manslaughter goes back to his family farm in Oklahoma. He becomes acquainted with a preacher named Jim Casey. Casey believes that all life is holy, even the parts that are considered negative aspects of life. Jim goes back to Oklahoma with Tom. When they arrive they find that the family farm is deserted. The also find that the surrounding areas are abandoned. They run into and old neighbor, Muley Graves who tells them that Tom’s family has moved to California along with several of the others. Tom and Jim decide to go to Tom’s uncles house because they think they will find Tom’s family there. When

The story begins in Oklahoma, then on Route 66 and then in several areas of California. The story is set in the time period of the 1930’s in the middle of the Great Depression.
6. The story is mostly third person omniscient with occasional changes to first and second person. The narrator changes perspectives to help the reader understand the context of the time.
7. In the story, the west is a symbol of opportunities and a new beginning. During the travel west, the view west is described as “only the unbalanced sky showed the approach of dawn, no horizon to the west, and a line to the east” (67). The description of the skyline is interesting but the idea of no horizon is somewhat of a foreshadow to the no unsuccessful future ahead.
Rose of Sharon’s pregnancy is a symbol in the novel. In Chapter 30, in page 440-444, Rose gives birth to a stillborn baby. The pregnancy represents the prospects of new life, much like the life they could supposedly find in California. However a stillborn baby is born. The stillborn represents the failure of the opportunities in

Inhumanity is a theme in the book that is a target of satire. When comparing prison to the home they are living in now Tom Joad says “ "Oh, awright. You eat regular, an' get clean clothes, and there's places to take a bath. It's pretty nice some ways. Makes it hard not havin' no women […] They was a guy paroled," he said. "'Bout a month he's back for breakin' parole. A guy ast him why he bust this parole. 'Well, hell,' he says. 'They got no conveniences at my old man's place. Got no 'lectric lights, got no shower baths. There ain't no books, an' the food's lousy”. Prison sounds better than the areas the family is currently living in. This shows the inhumanity of the people running the camps and just how poorly they treated the individuals working there. Selfishness is also a predominant target of satire in the book. In chapter 13, while at the gas station the gas station attendant says “ Road is full a people, com in, use water, dirty up the toilet, an’ then, by God, they’ll steal stuff an’ don’t buy nothin’. Got no money to buy with” (126). The gas attenent’s description of the people who come to his store show the selfishness of the people and their general lack of common